(04-08-2019) Sunday Editorials
The Hindu Editorials (04th Aug 2019) Notes Mains Sure Shot (with 360-degree additional inputs of Arora IAS)
GS-1 Mains
Question – What is deep sea mining? Analyse its various aspects in the context of India.(200 words)
Context – India’s ambitious ‘Deep Ocean Mission’ is all set to be launched this year.
What is deep sea mining?
• The deep-sea mining refers to the extraction of minerals that lay on the ocean beds or sea beds.
• The sea bed is a repository of large amounts of black potato-shaped polymetallic nodules comprising copper, nickel, cobalt, manganese, iron and rare earth elements.
• They are key to making modern gadgets, from smartphones and laptops to pacemakers, hybrid cars and solar panels.
• As their supply is dwindling fast onshore – more and more countries, including manufacturing powerhouses like India and China, are eyeing the ocean.
Who is the main supervisory authority?
• The International Seabed Authority (ISA), an autonomous international organisation established under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, is the supervisory authority. It allots the ‘area’ for deep-sea mining.
India’s Polymetallic Nodule Programme so far:
• India was the first country to receive the status of a ‘Pioneer Investor’ in 1987 and was given an area of about 1.5 lakh sq km in the Central Indian Ocean Basin (CIOB) for nodule exploration.
• India did a detailed survey and identified an area of 70,000 Kms² where there were maximum chances of finding these polymetallic nodules.
• With more research India identified the best potential mining area to 18,000 sq km which will be the ‘First Generation Mine-site’.
• So India signed a contract in 2002 for 15 year exploration period with International Seabed Authority (ISBA).
• This period ended in 2017 and in September 2016, India signed a 15 year contract with the ISA to continue exploring polymetallic sulphide.
• At present Dr. Madhavan Rajeevan, Secretary, Union Ministry of Earth Sciences, announced on July 27 that the ₹8,000-crore plan to explore deep ocean minerals will start this year from October.
Which are other countries in the race?
• Apart from the CIOB, polymetallic nodules have been identified from the central Pacific Ocean. It is known as the Clarion-Clipperton Zone.
• According to the ISA’s website, China, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Russia and also some small islands such as the Cook Islands, Kiribati have joined the race for deep sea mining.
What are the environmental impacts?
• According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), these deep remote locations can be home to unique species that have adapted themselves to conditions such as poor oxygen and sunlight, high pressure and extremely low temperatures.
• The waste water released during processing of ores may carry sediments and heavy metal; undersea noise will disturb movement and breeding patterns of the benthic communities and there are also concerns about oil spills from vessels.
• At present there are only ‘exploration’ guidelines released by the ISA. There are no ‘exploitation’ guidelines i.e. how much can be extracted etc.
Way forward:
• The deep sea beds are one of the most unexplored areas of the world. There can be unique unexplored species and they can be extinct even before they are introduced to science.
• So, any deep-sea mining project needs to carefully handled and there should be extensive discussions with scientists and environmentalists before exploring and it should not be done in a hurry.
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