54% of the world's seas are under international seabed mineral resources, which are managed by ISA for "the shared benefit of all humankind."
Established by the 1994 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, ISA seeks to guarantee the regulation and responsible management of all economic activities, including mining, on the deep seabed.
Its work supports the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and is mandated to guarantee the efficient preservation of the marine environment from detrimental consequences that may result from deep-seabed-related operations.
The race for rare earth minerals to meet global demand for lithium batteries and tech products, and plastic waste polluting oceans, are urgent issues ISA addresses as the sole international organization focused on the deep sea beyond national borders.
Which rare earth minerals may be found on the ocean floor? Nickel, silver, yttrium, zinc, neodymium, copper, gold, lanthanum, and cobalt, to mention a few.
Deep-sea mining is now permitted in nations' "exclusive economic zones" or territorial seas. But according to international law, no nation or company owns the deep bottom, ISA Secretary-General Leticia Carvalho stated in a recent opinion piece.
To meet renewable energy and tech demands, countries seek more rare earth mineral sources. Deep water holds abundant resources. The proposed mining code can assist.
ISA members are drafting a code to protect the marine environment, ensuring responsible deep-sea operations aligned with sustainability and global benefit, during its 30th session.
Plastic pollution is another key issue. In July 2020, ISA members adopted a global research agenda with 6 strategic priorities to address this and other urgent marine challenges. These priorities focus on deep-sea ecosystem understanding, data sharing, and insights into deep-sea plastics.
Sustainable ocean use may be impacted by this expanding global issue. Over 450 million tons of plastic were generated in 2019, with amounts predicted to rise, straining marine life and ecosystems. The "missing plastics paradox" refers to unaccounted plastics in the seas.
According to some studies, plastic garbage may sink to the deep sea, where its long-term persistence may endanger these ecosystems.
The new biobank that ISA established in June during the UN Ocean Conference in Nice, France, has also just started to be filled. The goal of the Deep-Sea Biobank Initiative is to improve access to genetic information and biological samples gathered from the global seabed region.
The effort aims to promote deep-sea research and inclusive scientific collaboration, especially for developing states, by creating a global biological sample repository and standard procedures to enhance data quality, sharing, and utilization.
Plans for environmental management are shaped by ISA's extensive data. Deep-sea exploration data aids decision-making and offers insights into ocean life.
ISA launched DeepData in 2019, the largest global library of deep-sea environmental data.
By May 2023, DeepData stored 6.9 million Instagram uploads (over 10 GB). It's widely used globally, with 2.4 million visitor hits and 160+ academic citations in 2022.