Lecture & Screening: Unearthing the “Blue Frontier”: The International Seabed Authority’s New Mining Code and the Costs of Deep-Sea Mining

Over the past decade, deep-sea minerals like polymetallic nodules containing copper and cobalt have gained attention as a potential resource for green energy technologies such as batteries, computers, and electric cars. Found mainly on the international seabed (as well as within territorial waters), these nodules are regulated by the International Seabed Authority (ISA), which will finalize a mining code in 2025 that determines future deep-sea exploration and exploitation. Following Singapore’s Deep-Sea Mining Act of 2015, Ocean Mineral Singapore, a subsidiary of Keppel Offshore and Marine conducted two deep-sea expeditions to the Pacific Ocean. While some argue this extraction is crucial for the green transition, Pacific nations warn of its harmful impact on marine biodiversity and climate change. This lecture will explore the environmental and societal implications of deep-sea mining, starting with a screening of the film Blue Peril, 2022 (INTERPRT / Professor Nabil Ahmed, Deep Sea Mining Campaign & Ozeanien-Dialog), a science-based visual investigation using architectural and spatial analysis to model the potentially irreversible effects of deep-sea mining in the Pacific Ocean. Paired with testimonies from Pacific Island communities, this film addresses the impacts on their economies and ways of life. Following this, Tara Maria Davenport (Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore and Deputy Director, Asia-Pacific Centre for Environmental Law) and Jonathan Galka (PhD Candidate, History of Science Department, Harvard University) will discuss the historic mining code and its future impact on resource extraction, drawing from legal, historical, and community perspectives.

🔗 Register here

⏰ Tuesday, 10 December 2024, 6:30 – 8:00 pm
📍 The Hall, NTU CCA Singapore
Block 6 Lock Road
#01-09 Gillman Barracks
S108934

🖼️ Model of the seabed plume in the Nauru NORI D licence area using Open Drift. INTERPRT, Deep Sea Mining Campaign & Ozeanien Dialog. Graphic visualisation by INTERPRT. 𝘉𝘭𝘶𝘦 𝘗𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘭, 2022, digital film still, 16 min. Courtesy the authors.

𝘊𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘛𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯: 𝘚𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘚𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴 Lecture Series is supported by the Singapore Ministry of Education Academic Research Fund Tier 3 Grant [MOE-MOET32022-0006] for the Climate Transformation Programme.