15 Apr 2025
US to counter China’s “dominance” of rare earth minerals Image description: Black and gold computer processor against a black background. Image by Pete Linforth / Pixabay The Trump administration is drafting an executive order to enable the stockpiling of deep-sea metals to counter China’s dominance in battery minerals and rare earth supply chains, […]
11 Mar 2025
The Hidden Sands project hopes new hi-tech surveillance could improve the enforcement of sand mining regulations and improve resilience for these riverbed communities. Photo by Pok Rie Sand plays a central role in modern society (e.g. smartphones – high-purity silica sand is essential for making silicon chips) and urban development (e.g. skyscrapers – […]
14 Sep 2021
Emmanuel Macron: ‘There is no vaccine for a sick planet’ – opening address and Guardian overview IUCN Marine News Issue 16 is here! IUCN’s one-stop source of ocean-related news from across the Union To mark the opening of the 2021 World Conservation Congress in Marseille, IUCN’s Global Marine and Polar Programme is releasing the 2021 edition of […]
19 Aug 2019
The high seas and their resources are the last major frontier in our attempts to manage the ocean. The process of formulating a High Seas Treaty continues at the UN in New York and this is prompting commentary and reports. These four articles gives you some sense of this. 1.Guardian: Gillian Anderson Overview Today, governments […]
07 Jul 2019
IUCN Briefing on Deep Sea Mining https://www.iucn.org/resources/issues-briefs/deep-sea-mining The National Oceanography Centre has produced a report outlining the impacts of deep sea mining Eco-Magazine ‘A new study shows that the impacts of seabed mining on deep-sea ecosystems can persist for decades. Scientists at the National Oceanography Centre (NOC) revisited a site exposed to simulated deep-sea mining […]
15 May 2018
Last month in China, the Mawei Shipyards launched the Deep Sea Nautilus, the world’s first ship designed for mining deepwater seabeds. The Deep Sea Nautilus is a 745-foot-long megaship capable of carrying 39,000 tons of ore—plus a 200-person crew and deep-sea mining robots. Nautilus Minerals, which owns the ship, plans to start gold and copper […]
05 Jun 2017
Two articles: 1. ATLAS Project: ‘EU-funded research is shedding more light on the depths of the North Atlantic maritime region – a better understanding of deep-sea habitats will inform the sustainable management of this vital resource. What happens in the depths of oceans has a profound effect on our environment and climate – currently a […]