PH must say a firm 'no' to seabed mining

FROM July 29 to August 2, the International Seabed Authority (ISA), a UN-backed regulatory body primarily comprising executives from the global mining industry, will hold its annual meeting in Kingston, Jamaica. The objective of the meeting, which the group failed to achieve at last year's conference, will be the formulation of guidelines for the expanded exploration and exploitation of mineral resources found on the deep seabed in international waters. The Philippines, which has been embarrassingly hypocritical on the issue, needs to clearly add its voice to the growing chorus of national governments, global corporations and major financial institutions calling for a stop to seabed mining, either in the form of an outright ban or some form of moratorium until more research can be done to determine how it might be done without destroying the ocean environment.