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Ecologically Sustainable Development

In brief, Eco-Sustainable Development means managing our current needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs. It is about finding the balance between the needs of the Economy, Environment, Society and Culture now, with a view to future citizens as well.

Te Ipukarea have been active and pro-active in supporting/promoting ideas for Regenerative (green) tourism, offshore fisheries, and in helping to develop and implement Tourism Environmental Guidelines and the Mana Tiaki tick programme.

Our current focus is to:

raise awareness about deep-seabed mining risks and knowledge gaps, and

educate on the importance of a healthy ocean to life on earth.

Deep-seabed mining statement

The deep sea is home to a range of diverse and unique species and ecosystems. Some deep-sea areas within the Cook Islands Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) are also rich in polymetallic nodules, which contain valuable minerals. The nodules grow over millions of years in very stable environments, and are the target of commercial mining interest, both within our EEZ, and outside, in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (the international seabed).

Our Society is concerned that with the current level of scientific uncertainty around the deep sea and deepsea mining means that measures to mitigate or avoid environmental impacts will not be effective. Therefore our position is, that a minimum 10-year moratorium is the most appropriate application of the Precautionary Principle. This is consistent with the statement of over 660 marine scientists and policy experts who have signed a statement calling for a pause on deep sea mining（https://www.seabedminingsciencestatement.org/）.

We are a full member of the IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature) and our position aligns with the IUCN Resolution 122 which calls on all State Members of IUCN to support and implement the Protection of deep-ocean ecosystems and biodiversity through a moratorium on seabed mining. Refer full text of Resolution 122 here WCC_2020_RES_122_EN.pdf（https://portals.iucn.org/library/sites/library/files/resrecfiles/WCC_2020_RES_122_EN.pdf）

Our position would also:

align with the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development 2021-2030;

allow for more international scientific research to be carried out, particularly by non mining institutions, resulting in reduced uncertainty;

allow time to complete the Marae Moana Marine Spatial Plan;

allow time to further investigate the potential for a resource-efficient circular economy without the need to mine for new metals;

not interfere with the Cook Islands efforts to contribute to global biodiversity targets;

allow time for the Cook Islands Seabed Minerals Authority (SBMA) and the International Seabed Authority to improve efforts to transparently and effectively engage stakeholders in decision-making processes; and

allow time for the SBMA to invite independent research organisations to assist the Cook Islands with deep sea research, in order to avoid conflicts of interest that would inevitably arise if this research is carried out solely by mining companies.

While the Society are predominantly concerned with impacts of mining for polymetallic nodules in the Cook Islands context, we appreciate that Cook Islanders are also beneficiaries of the common heritage of mankind, and that the Cook Islands is a sponsor state to an exploratory contract in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone in the high seas. As such, we are concerned about all types of deep-sea mining, and the lack of scientific information around the entire deep-sea and the global industry.

Click here（https://tiscookislands.org/wp-content/uploads/Te-Ipukarea-Society-Position-Statement-5-November.pdf） to view our full Position Statement on Deep Sea Mining (November 2020)

Click here（https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5cca30fab2cf793ec6d94096/t/61bd2c5471f7db616092bcf3/1639787627843/TIS+Submission_Applicants+Responses） to view our submissions to the SBMA on the three applications for Exploration Licenses (December 2021)

Click here（https://tiscookislands.org/wp-content/uploads/Submission-on-the-Seabed-Minerals-Bill-final.pdf） to view our submission to the Cook Islands Seabed Minerals Act 2019

Click here（https://tiscookislands.org/wp-content/uploads/TIS-submission-on-SBM-Amendment-Bill.pdf） to view our submission to the Cook Islands Seabed Minerals Amendment Act 2020

The common heritage of humankind

The Cook Islands has an obligation to contribute to the protection of the common heritage of humankind

The deep seabed in international waters beyond the Cook Islands, is also referred to as the Common Heritage of Humankind. As a sponsoring State of an area proposed for mining in the Clarion Clipperton Zone, the Cook Islands has a responsibility to protect it, just as we do our own seabed.

Deep seabed mining (DSM) is at a crossroads of advanced technological capabilities and improved scientific understanding of the oceans.

We have the mechanisms to mine the deep, but we also know that, much like land-based mining, DSM is expected to cause significant environmental harm to not just the seabed but potentially the water column above it. (Drazen et al., 2020)

There is increasing market demand for development of the seabed and its minerals. This corresponds with an increasing number of scientists who are “expressing concern about the potential for long-term and significant harm arising from deep-seabed mining”. (Jaeckel, Gjerde and Ardron, 2017; Chin and Hari, 2020)

The United Nations Decade of Ocean Science (2021-2030) and the call for a 10-year moratorium on DSM are an international recognition of the ocean’s importance to our future wellbeing and the need to check our unprecedented exploitation of marine resources.

It can be a time to enhance our understanding of the oceans and fully integrate the UN Sustainable Development Goals that call for a circular economy and precaution-based uses of our global common resources.

The Common Heritage of Humankind

Alfrid Pardo was the ambassador of Malta to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (LOS) in the 1960s. Pardo, and other small island nation representatives, fought to designate the poorly understood deep seabed, beyond national boundaries, as the Common Heritage of Humankind.

As a result, the Earth’s largest ecosystem has been legally designated as a common resource. Under international law, this demands a continuing return to humankind over the generations. (Wolfrum, 2009; Lodge, 2012; Jaeckel, Gjerde and Ardron, 2017) Indeed, the Common Heritage of Mankind “informs every aspect of the seabed mining regime.” (Jaeckel, 2017, p. 81)

The Cook Islands is a sponsoring State alongside a mining company with a claim to mine in the international waters (specifically the Clarion Clipperton Zone). As sponsors, we have a role as global citizens to provide an important safeguard for environmental protection of our common heritage.

The principle of state sponsorship as an important component of protecting marine environments was upheld by the Seabed Disputes Chamber and the requirement for a precautionary approach in DSM activity was simultaneously reinforced (Freestone, 2011; see also the 2011 ITLOS Decision on Sponsoring States) The decision emphasized that sponsoring states have a “direct obligation” to assist the ISA in exercising its authority over the Common Heritage of Mankind. (Freestone, 2016)

The scientific understanding of the deep seabed and the water column above, although still minimal, has improved and we now know it to be a home of thriving ecosystems and unique species found nowhere else on earth (Miller et al., 2018) . As a “custodian of the common heritage of mankind,” (International Seabed Authority, 2018, para. 8) the ISA and the Cook Islands are responsible for ensuring that its development is done in a manner consistent with the international demand for sustainability and protection of biodiversity. (Hunter, Singh and Aguon, 2018)

The eyes of the world are upon us. As a sponsoring State, the Cook Islands plays a vital role in ensuring that DSM activities, both within its EEZ and without, do not cause significant harm to the marine environment. Without a 10-year moratorium to study and better understand this new frontier can the Cook Islands, or the ISA, adequately fulfill this role?

Note all references in the text are available on request.