Climate advocates protest in downtown Kingston against deep-sea mining

A small group of environment and climate advocates took to the streets of downtown Kingston on Thursday afternoon in protest of deep-sea mining (DSM).  

The placard-bearing group shouted chants urging citizens to “say no to deep-sea mining” while standing at the Kingston waterfront across from the Jamaica Conference Centre, where the headquarters of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) is located.  

On March 18, delegates from various nations convened in Kingston to discuss the rules and regulations pertaining to DSM during the 29th session of the ISA council. The discussions that have been behind closed doors, will conclude tomorrow and it is expected that a decision will be made on whether a ban or an international moratorium will be imposed. 

Dahvia Hylton, research, policy development and advocacy lead of the Jamaica Climate Change Youth Council (JCCYC) shared with The Gleaner on Thursday that the ocean, which is home to thousands of species of marine animals and plant life, was too precious for business interests to be granted licence to mine the sea floor with the intention of extracting precious minerals.  

“If you can imagine mining on land and what it's done to Jamaicans and our communities, imagine in the sea...we do know that the impact is going to be huge because those plant life, animal life, they take a long time to recover. Life is much slower under the water, they rely on the light coming in. So imagine now that we go and we mess with the sediments that could take decades to settle even just from one year of mining,” she reasoned.  

She continued: “Yet the ISA is trying to give away licence to mine for 15 years for each company that is applying and there are 30 companies right now. We don't want them to go into the deep sea. We want them to stop it before it starts.” 

Dubbed a “destructive industry”, it is thought that the risks associated with DSM greatly outweigh the potential advantages for humanity, as there is a possibility of disrupting vital carbon storage and causing the full extinction of critical species and habitats on a large scale. 

Calls to ban DSM have been issued by 30 governments so far, some being Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Panama, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. 

Hylton stated that a substantial amount of metals were already on land to be used and urged stakeholders to create a recycling industry to fuel human needs, one of which is oxygen, of which approximately 80 per cent comes from the ocean. 

“We also need the ocean to exist as a carbon sink because climate change right now, as much as it's killing us that's with the ocean doing the best it can to protect us so without our oceans we are gone. Life started in the water and if we mess with it we could end it right there,” she said. 

She called on the Jamaican Government to stop “toeing the line” on this issue and to make its stance clear.  

“So, the ISA is headquartered here in Jamaica, it doesn't mean that we have to bow down to them. The ISA responds to all the country members and we are one of them, so, if we say no, everybody say no, dem cannot do anything,” she added.  

“I want the Jamaican Government to tell us that they care about us and say no to deep sea mining,” Hylton said. 

More discussions will take place surrounding the issue of DSM come July. The highly anticipated meeting of the ISA assembly scheduled for July 29 – August 2 will draw curtains on a series of meetings which started from March 4.  

Adrian Burton, a member of the public who joined in on the demonstration urged persons to consider how various sectors will be impacted.

“A lot of us here are professionals, I'm a realtor, there are teachers here, there are construction engineers, professionals from various industries. We all recognise that this not only has a detrimental impact to Jamaica's environment but also our economy and our productivity as a whole,” he said.  

“When these other countries are voting yes to deep-sea mining, it's things that will benefit them, but we can't vote yes with them just because we want to be a part of the cool crowd. We have to think about our own country's interests,” he said.  

- Asha Wilks

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