SEABED AUTHORITY TO MEET AT KINGSTON, 9-27 AUGUST; MINING CODE NEARS COMPLETION
Press Release
SEA/1620
SEABED AUTHORITY TO MEET AT KINGSTON, 9-27 AUGUST; MINING CODE NEARS COMPLETION
19990809 Background Release(Received from the International Seabed Authority.)
KINGSTON, 6 August -- New ideas to protect the deep seabed from environmental harm, and to regulate prospecting for deep-sea mineral deposits whose economic potential has only recently been brought to public attention, form the backdrop for the fifth session of the International Seabed Authority, meeting at Kingston from 9 to 27 August.
The 131-member Authority is on the verge of completing its first reading of formal regulations governing exploration for polymetallic nodules in the international seabed area, a topic on which its 36-member Council will concentrate starting next week. While a substantial part of this so-called Mining Code is aimed at ensuring that the marine environment is not unduly harmed by such activity, the Authority's Legal and Technical Commission will examine additional detailed guidelines for assessing the potential environmental impacts, especially on living organisms in the deep ocean.
Meanwhile, the Authority has been informed of a plan to convene next year a workshop on seabed minerals other than those on which its work has centred thus far -- the polymetallic nodules containing manganese, nickel, cobalt and copper naturally precipitated from seawater and lying in clumps on the ocean floor. This workshop, proposed last year by the Legal and Technical Commission, is to examine available knowledge on such resources as polymetallic sulphides, rich in zinc, copper and gold, precipitated from intensely hot solutions that have welled up from volcanic sources deep below the earth's crust. Last August, the Russian Federation proposed that the Authority adopt regulations for those minerals.
This week, from 3 to 6 August, the Authority has convened a workshop on proposed technologies for deep seabed mining of polymetallic nodules. Experts and practitioners from several countries have been invited to share information on nodule mining systems, including nodule collecting devices, undersea platforms and vehicles, and lifting mechanisms, as well as on extraction technologies that have been developed for undersea oil and gas mining. A number of the pioneer investors whose plans of work have been approved by the Authority were also asked to discuss their experiences. At its forthcoming three-week session, the Assembly of the Authority, composed of all 131 members, is to adopt a budget for 2000 and a scale of assessments for its financing. The Secretary-General of the Authority, Satya N. Nandan, has proposed a budget totalling $5,679,400, or $667,700 above the figure for 1999.
The International Seabed Authority is an organization affiliated with the United Nations, established under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the 1994 Agreement relating to the Implementation of Part XI (seabed provisions) of that Convention. It came into existence at Kingston in 1994 and has met there each year ever since. Under the Convention, the Authority is responsible for organizing and controlling activities in the international seabed area beyond the limits of national jurisdiction.
Seabed Prospecting Rules
The Council of the Authority is expected to devote at least half of its session to a resumed reading of draft regulations for prospecting and exploration for polymetallic nodules in the international seabed area. It began this paragraph-by-paragraph examination last August, working from a 33-article text, with annexes, drafted over two years by the Legal and Technical Commission. Based on the discussions so far, a revised text of regulations 2 through 21 has been prepared. At this stage, the Council is working in informal, closed sessions, with the aim of a formal review once the parts have been agreed by consensus.
The text sets out the framework for the exploration regime, while the annexes contain a model contract and standard clauses. Once the Council has adopted the regulations, they will be applied through a series of 15-year contracts between the Authority and the private and public investors whose plans of work it has approved. The first seven of these, known as "pioneer investors", had their plans approved in 1997.
The regulations specify how the Authority will oversee prospecting and exploration by contractors. They spell out financial and technical requirements that contractors must meet, offer guarantees of security of tenure and confidentiality of proprietary information, and require contractors to establish training programmes for personnel of the Authority and developing countries. The Authority would inspect operations and have the right to impose penalties for certain violations. Contractors would be obliged to "ensure the effective protection of the marine environment from serious harm", in the words of the original draft.
These provisions elaborate on clauses in the Law of the Sea Convention and the related Agreement of 1994. Much of the discussion last August revolved around such issues as protection of the confidentiality of information provided by contractors, their compliance with international standards, and the respective rights of contractors and of coastal States that might be affected by deep-sea activities.
The matter of rules to govern seabed resources other than polymetallic nodules was raised last August by the Russian Federation, which requested the Assembly to adopt rules, regulations and procedures for the exploration for polymetallic sulphides and cobalt-rich crusts. It cited research concluding that "deposits of these resources discovered in the international seabed area [in both Atlantic and Pacific Oceans] are comparable in size to the deposits on land". The Law of the Sea Convention states that such rules and regulations shall be adopted within three years of a request.
The Secretary-General, in his annual report on the work of the Authority (ISBA/5/A/1), states that the secretariat has already begun studying the topic and hopes to convene next year a workshop to assess available knowledge, in line with a proposal by the Legal and Technical Commission. Alluding to a recent grant by Papua New Guinea of exploration licenses for such minerals in its offshore Manus Basin, he states: "Recent discoveries in areas under national jurisdiction have led to the suggestion that mining of such deposits may become technically and economically feasible in the relatively near future."
Environmental Protection
The Legal and Technical Commission, meeting in closed session, will examine a set of draft guidelines for the assessment of the possible environmental impacts arising from exploration of polymetallic nodules. The draft was prepared at a workshop on this topic convened by the Authority in June 1998 at Sanya, Hainan Island, China.
As summarized in the annual report of the Secretary-General on the work of the Authority, the guidelines describe procedures to be followed by contractors in acquiring baseline data (environmental information on conditions before any human undersea activity), and in monitoring and reporting on their prospecting. The guidelines identify exploration activities not considered to have the potential for causing serious environmental damage and which would require no further environmental assessment, as well as activities that might be harmful. For the pre-commercial, or pilot, mining phase, contractors should be required to submit to the Authority in advance a mining test plan containing monitoring specifications. Impact reference zones and preservation reference zones are also proposed. The type of data to be collected, frequency of collection and methodology are listed.
In a follow-up to the workshop's recommendations, the Authority invited six experts in the benthic (deep-sea) environment for an informal consultation in Kingston last March. This group concluded that the resistance and resilience of benthic animal communities to undersea disturbances such as mineral prospecting were poorly understood, making it difficult to predict impacts. They, therefore, proposed a series of experiments to study the effects when layers of sediment are stripped off, or animals are buried under sediment raised in prospecting. They acknowledged that such experiments, given their cost and the need for research vessels, would be possible only if multiple institutions participated. The Secretary-General proposes, if possible, to hold next year a workshop to develop a standardized system of data interpretation.
Finances
The Council and Assembly will consider proposals by the Secretary-General to approve a budget of $5,679,400 for the year 2000 (ISBA/5/A/2 - ISBA/5/C/2), of which $3,811,400 would cover administrative and substantive expenses and $1,200,300 would be spent for conference services (for a two-part, four-week session of the Authority). Mr. Nandan says the budget continues to follow the evolutionary approach reflected in previous years, with growth corresponding to evolving needs. The 1999 budget, as approved by the Authority last August, totals $5,011,700.
The budget would finance a staff of 37 posts. The same number were authorized for 1999, though three posts have been kept vacant as an exceptional measure, in line with a recommendation of the Finance Committee. Much of the increase is due to the fact that the three posts vacant this year would be occupied from the start of the new year.
The Secretary-General also proposes that member States make a one-time contribution totalling $81,292 for the Working Capital Fund, a back-up reserve used to meet cash needs pending receipt of regular contributions. This would raise the Fund to $473,292, or approximately one-twelfth (a month's worth) of the approved budget.
Regarding the status of assessed contributions, the Secretary-General reports that, as of 12 July, 54 members have contributed a total of $4,042,834, or 80.6 per cent, of total assessments for 1999. For 1998, 85 members have contributed $3,283,248, or 69.7 per cent. Of the latter, 78 have given their full assessment while the rest have paid in part. Thus, 60 members, representing 30.2 per cent, have not yet paid for 1998, including four that ceased to be members when the status of provisional membership ended in November 1998. (The largest among these non-contributors is the United States, assessed at 25 per cent for 1998 but unassessed for 1999 as it is no longer a member; Japan is now the largest contributor.)
Other Matters
The matter of a permanent headquarters has yet to be resolved. In March 1998, the Jamaican Government offered the building currently occupied by the Authority for its permanent use and occupation. However, the Secretary-General sought clarification of several points affecting finances, such as maintenance costs, the structural condition of the building, the condition of major equipment, and refurbishment. He proposes to report to the Finance Committee on this topic during the forthcoming session. Pending resolution of this issue, the Authority has put off action since 1997 on a draft headquarters agreement with the Jamaican Government.
The Assembly is to begin its substantive work by discussing the annual report of the Secretary-General, setting out the work of the Authority since July 1998 and its plans for the year 2000. Before this, both the Assembly and the Council are to elect Presidents for 1999. They will replace Assembly President Tadeusz Bachleda-Curus (Poland) and Council President Joachim Koch (Germany). The Assembly will also have to elect two members to the Council to replace Canada and the United States, which are no longer members of the Authority.
The Authority also hopes to complete most of the remaining major tasks for its internal organization: adoption of Financial and Staff Regulations, and of the rules of procedure of the Finance Committee and the Legal and Technical Commission.
(Documents for the upcoming session are available on the Authority's Web site, www.isa.org.jm.)
Members of the Authority
The Authority currently has 131 members, down from 138 as of its 1998 session. The decline is due to the fact that seven States that had been provisional members -- Bangladesh, Belarus, Canada, Qatar, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates and the United States -- lost their membership when the provisional membership category expired in November 1998. That category had been established by the 1994 Agreement as an interim status for States which had declared their intention of adhering to the Convention but had not yet done so. (Belgium, Nepal, Poland and Ukraine, in the provisional category
last year, have since become parties to the Convention.) The membership now consists of all parties to the Convention, as follows:
Algeria, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Bahrain, Barbados, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Chile, China, Comoros, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Côte d'Ivoire, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Dominica, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, European Community, Fiji, Finland, France, Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mali, Malta, Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Micronesia (Federated States of), Monaco, Mongolia, Mozambique, Myanmar.
Also Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Palau, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Romania, Russian Federation, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Somalia, Solomon Islands, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Sweden, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Uganda, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United Republic of Tanzania, Uruguay, Viet Nam, Yemen, Yugoslavia, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
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