Deep-Sea Mining Governance and the Role of Geneva

In the context of growing demand for metals and minerals, deep-sea mining has gathered attention for its promises of allowing access to mineral deposits of the seabed. Deep-sea mining is currently in the exploration phase, with its impacts yet to be fully understood, but its consequence on climate, biodiversity and human rights could be catastrophic and likely to be irreversible.

Deep-Sea Mining

Deep-Sea Mining (DSM) is a proposed commercial industry that includes the exploitation (mining) of mineral deposits and metals from the deep-seabed (UNEP, 2024). While remaining widely unknown, parts of the ocean floor are known to be rich of nickel, copper, cobalt, manganese, zinc, gold and other rare-earth metals and minerals, of which demand is on the rise as these are essential for the future, including for the efforts to reduce emissions and fulfil internationally agreed goals, thus ensuring a just transition and enhancing the protection of everyone’s human rights.

Currently, no commercial activities of deep-sea mining exist, yet, several countries have expressed their interest for assessing the environmental impacts of the activity in their national waters or applying to the International Seabed Authority for approval to extract minerals and metals from the deep-seabed. Proponents of deep-sea mining often argue that this practice would have fewer negative impacts than land mining, which is associated with deforestation, pollution, human rights abuses and other environmental and social issues, although no guarantee that DSM would disincentivize or improve land mining is proven.

Others argue that this industry could lead to a catastrophic impact on climate and biodiversity and infringe on human rights, as studies indicate that the potential negative impact of deep-sea mining on marine biodiversity, ecosystems and their carbon sequestration potential is significant. As our current understanding of an unexplored and undocumented ocean remains insufficient, still no regulation is framing the exploitation of deep water mineral resources. As such, DSM moratorium proponents underscore that the precautionary principle, increasing independent scientific research and securing funding to enhance understanding of these ecosystems should be prioritized ahead of discussions about resource management.  This position has been reinforced by a statement signed by over 900 marine scientists and policy experts warning about the risks of deep-sea mining. 

Understanding the Deep Seabed

UNEP defines the deep sea (the areas starting from below 200 metres and stretching to 10,000 meters deep) as the oldest and largest biome on earth, which, despite remaining largely unknown, shows clear signs of anthropogenic impacts despite its remoteness. The seafloor is characterized by geological features, including abyssal plains 3,500–6,500m below the sea surface, volcanic underwater mountains known as seamounts, hydrothermal vents with bursting water heated by volcanic activity, and deep trenches such as the Mariana Trench. The deep sea is home to incredible biodiversity, with varied and highly diverse fauna that are uniquely adapted to harsh conditions, such as lack of sunlight and high pressure, and with many of these species believed to be still unknown to science (IUCN, 2022).

The deep-sea, as is the ocean in general, provides key ecosystem services and supports key planetary processes, including chemical regulation, food security for billions, and support for human health, cultural values, and well-being. Its integrity is essential to halting the triple planetary crisis of biodiversity loss, climate change and pollution. For further details, you may consult Chapter 2 of UNEP WCMC report “Deep-sea biodiversity and ecosystems” (2007).

Ocean basins as sources of types of non-fuel mineral deposits. Specifically, three types of deep-sea mineral deposits of commercial value between <400m and 6.5km:

• Polymetallic nodules: underwater (abyssal) plains with nickel, manganese, copper and cobalt and rare earth elements (REE considered sub products) at depths of between 3 and 6.5km;
• Polymetallic sulphides: may be located in the vicinity of vents at depths of between 1 and 4 km and with concentrations of copper, lead and zinc as well as gold and silver; and
• Cobalt rich ferromanganese crusts: between <400m and 3.5km on seabed also with nickel, copper and cobalt and REE and other rare metals.

The most economically promising nodules are found in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ) located in the equatorial Pacific Ocean. This area is believed to possess the highest concentration of minerals on the ocean floor globally, alongside the Central Indian Ocean Basin. In the CCZ, these polymetallic nodules extend over a vast expanse of 9 million km2.

A world map showing the location of the three main marine mineral deposits: polymetallic nodules (blue); polymetallic or seafloor massive sulfides (orange); and cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts (yellow). Redrawn from a number of sources including Hein et al. (2013). An Overview of Seabed Mining Including the Current State of Development, Environmental Impacts, and Knowledge Gaps | Frontiers in Marine Science | January 2018

Limits of Deep-Sea Mining

The growing interest in minerals and deep-sea mining in recent years is closely tied to the rising global demand for critical resources essential to the future. These minerals are crucial for advancing clean energy technologies—such as electric vehicle batteries, solar panels, and wind turbines—and for supporting efforts to reduce emissions and achieve internationally agreed-upon climate goals. Meeting this demand is key to ensuring a just transition, while also upholding human rights, including the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment.

Nevertheless, the necessity of further and extensive extraction is questioned. Forecasts about future demands and technological advancements vary widely and depend on the kind of minerals, and systemic transition towards a circular economy could lengthen the lifespan of these resources and reduce the need for primary extraction. In addition, it is argued that further expanding the mining frontiers to the deep seabed could economically disincentivize efforts to scale up recycling and force deep seabed mining companies to continue extracting to cope with initial costs (WWF International, 2021).

Impacts of Deep-Sea Mining

Deep-sea mining is currently undergoing exploration phases, and its effects on deep-sea ecosystems are yet to be fully understood. However, the available data has prompted scientists to caution that biodiversity loss, particularly, is expected to occur with such practices and is likely to be irreversible. Given that no current DSM activities are taking place, it potential impacts can be traced across a hypothetical lifecycle:

Biodiversity Impacts

The deep-sea bed remains the most unexplored and least understood ecosystem on Earth, yet research finds that multiple species are able to survive in its harsh conditions of lack of sunlight, low temperatures and high pressure (IUCN, 2022). Deep-sea mining would cause seafloor disturbance directly linked with loss of habitats and the possible loss of species found only in this ecosystem and unlikely to be able to recolonize (IUCN & Gallifrey Foundation, 2018). In 2019, the scaly foot snail became is the first species endemic to deep-sea hydrothermal vents to have entered the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™, due to the future threat of DSM. According to WWF, this habitat destruction and subsequent biodiversity loss would likely have wider impacts on the oceans, hampering efforts under the Global Biodiversity Framework targets 1-4, 7, 9, 11 and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 14 and 15.

Most of the damages of DSM into the deep-sea bed are linked to the various pollutants that its activities might introduce into the ecosystem.

• Sediment plumes: Deep-sea mining activities are foreseen to stir up fine sediments on the seafloor, creating plumes of suspended particles. Combined with mining ships discharging wastewater at the surface, these particles may disperse for hundreds of kilometers, and could smother animals, harm filter-feeding species, and block animals’ visual communication (IUCN, 2022; UNEP FI, 2021; Niner et al., 2018).
• Noise and light pollution: Although their impacts are not fully understood, light and noise pollution, caused by the introduction of light and noise sources from machinery where these are normally scarce or absent, could affect marine species, such as fish, mammals, and invertebrates, that are physiologically sensitive to acoustics and lighting. Potential adverse effects of noise on marine species could be behavior changes, reduced communication ranges and foraging ability, decreased predator prevention, and habitat avoidance. Lighting may induce temporary blindness or deteriorated bioluminescence functions. (IUCN, 2022; UNEP FI, 2021; WWF International, 2021; Niner et al., 2018).
• Release of toxic chemicals: DSM is expected to introduce several pollutants into the ecosystem. WWF finds that deep-sea mining activities would contribute high levels of pollution to the marine environment. Mining operations release toxic heavy metals into the water, such as copper, cobalt, cadmium, manganese, nickel and lead, at concentrations up to 15 times higher than the surrounding sea water. Additionally, DSM requires a lot of heavy infrastructure, which increases the risk of oil spillages and other types of pollution associated with large vessels and increased marine traffic (e.g., noise, light, microplastic, and heavy metal pollution from paint).

Climate Impacts

The ocean is considered the planet’s largest carbon sink. According to the International Seabed Authority, less than 1 per cent of the CO₂ sequestered in the ocean’s upper layers reaches the deep sea floor annually, amounting to approximately 0.30 gigatons of carbon per year, which is equivalent to 0.35 per cent of the annual global emission in 2021. As the carbon-based organic matter sinks to the bottom of the ocean, much of it is processed before reaching the ocean floor. In the upper layers of the deep-sea sediment, microbes and fauna will consume carbon-based organic carbon. At the same time, the remainder becomes buried in an ever-growing sediment layer over 300 meters thick. This burial is an integral part of the global carbon cycle occurring over millions of years and results in the long-term storage of carbon in the deep-sea. Understanding how deep-sea mining could hamper the carbon cycle requires further research, especially in relation to potential:

• Generation of GHG emissions through the mining of manganese nodules and related shipping and mineral processing emissions (WWF, 2025)
• Threats to the ocean carbon storage capacity

Socio-Cultural and Economic Impacts 

Fisheries: Another potential impact of deep-sea mining is the disruption of fisheries catches. As argued by J.M.A. van der Grient, and J.C. Drazen (Marine Policy, July 2021), while most countries’ catches intersect minimally with mining areas, there are several nations, including some developing or island nations, which could see moderate to large parts of their catches affected. In some of these cases, the high overlap was present at the extreme case (200-km zone), but in others, the extent of the overlap did not depend strongly on zone size.

Financial risks: With private sector actors increasingly recognizing the potential environmental risks of deep-sea mining and a growing number of companies and financial institutions explicitly distancing themselves from deep-sea mining by excluding deep-sea metals from their procurement policies and/or investment policies (UNEP FI, 2022); companies seen to be engaging in or supporting DSM may suffer serious reputational harm; excluded from the supply chains of companies distancing themselves from DSM.  Additionally, the current lack of a comprehensive regulatory framework creates significant risks for miners and investors.

As outlined by UNEP Finance Initiative Sustainable Blue Economy, DSM activities may have negative effects on blue economy sectors, including:

• Shipping: mining activities have the potential to conflict with shipping if mining occurs in or close to key shipping routes.
• Subsea cables: Submarine cables, which form the backbone of international telecommunications, extend across many areas of the deep seafloor, where exploratory mining licenses have been granted by the ISA. The liability and legal implications that would be triggered by mining activities that inadvertently damage such cables are unclear and untested.
• Pharmaceutical and scientific research: Deep-sea mining could potentially cause as yet undiscovered species to become extinct, potentially removing possibilities for finding novel drugs.

Human Rights Impacts

The precautionary principle is not only a pillar of biodiversity conservation, it is also a safeguard to avoid harm to human health or the environment. As the enjoyment of the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment is dependent on marine biodiversity and healthy oceans, potential deep-sea mining impacts, as highlighted by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, include:

• A clear commitment to respect, protect and fulfil the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment: Communities and livelihoods that depend on maritime ecosystems for their survival could be impacted in their enjoyment of their rights to work and life, health, food, water, housing, cultural rights, and self-determination, among others. The negative impacts of oceanic degradation in all its forms are particularly acute for Indigenous Peoples, subsistence fishers and persons living in small island developing States.
• Protection of the ability of future generations to enjoy their human rights: Before acting, decision-makers should fully understand and account for the intergenerational repercussions for children, youth, and future generations, who will inherit a degraded marine environment due to climate change, ocean acidification, loss of marine biodiversity, and other harmful human activities. Those who played little or no role in marine biodiversity and habitat loss will have limited opportunities to enjoy and benefit from these ecosystems, exacerbating inequalities, affecting food security, and potentially exposing them to hazardous conditions.
• A strong accountability framework for businesses: As recognized in the Guiding Principles on Businesses and Human Rights (UNGPs), States should set out clearly the expectation that business enterprises domiciled in their territory and/or jurisdiction respect human rights throughout their operations, which include areas beyond the limits of national jurisdictions. Safeguards should be in place to ensure that any engagement by the private sector is consistent with the corporate responsibility to respect human rights. Currently, many UN Member States have not yet done this.
• Guarantee access to information and public participation, including in environmental matters: All people have the right to access information, public participation and access to justice, including in environmental matters. Before permitting deep-sea mineral extraction, States must take effective measures to guarantee these rights. This has three essential elements: human rights assessments, participation of those potentially impacted and access to justice. Human rights assessments are needed. They should be guided by the best available science and provide public information about biodiversity, including environmental, social, cultural, or human rights impacts. These should be available, where applicable, in accessible language and format.

More resources:

• Key Human Rights Considerations on the Impact of Seabed Mining
• The ocean and human rights. Report of the Special Rapporteur on the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, Astrid Puentes Riaño (A/HRC/58/59) | 31 December 2024
• Deep sea mining. Mineral Exploration in the Pacific | Business and Human Rights Resources Center | March 2021
• Deep Seabed Mining and Human Rights Statement | IUCN | 28 March 2024

Global Calls for a Moratorium on Deep-sea Mining

Given such limits, opposition to deep-sea mining has become more vocal in the past years. From States to NGOs and businesses, many have been vocal in requesting the halt of deep-sea exploration for commercial purposes while environmental and socio-economic impacts become clearer and before rules, regulations, and procedures (RRPs) relating to the commercial exploitation of mineral resources from the deep sea are agreed upon. Various stakeholders requested either a moratorium or called for a complete ban of the practice.

• At IUCN 2021 World Conservation Congress, IUCN Member States, civil society, and Indigenous organizations overwhelmingly voted in support of a moratorium on deep seabed mining to protect life in the ocean.
• A Moratorium Alliance for resistance to deep-sea mining: President of Palau, Surangel Whipps, Jr., launched a new Alliance of Countries Calling for a Deep-Sea Mining Moratorium at the 2022 UN Ocean Conference in Lisbon. Since then, 39 countries have joined the alliance either asking for a ban (France); a moratorium (Canada, New Zealand, Switzerland, Marshall Islands, Mexico, Peru, and United Kingdom);  or a precautionary pause (Austria, Brazil, Costa Rica, Chile, Croatia Cyprus Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Finland, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Ireland, Kingdom of Denmark, Latvia, Malta, Monaco, Panama, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Tuvalu, Vanuatu).

Seabed Resources Governance

UN Convention on the Law of the Sea

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) was opened for signature at Montego Bay, Jamaica, on 10 December 1982. It entered into force 12 years later, on 16 November 1994. A subsequent Agreement relating to the implementation of Part XI of the Convention was adopted on 28 July 1994 and entered into force on 28 July 1996. This Agreement and Part XI of the Convention are to be interpreted and applied together as a single instrument.

The Convention establishes a comprehensive legal framework to regulate all ocean space, its uses and resources. It contains, among other things, provisions relating to the territorial sea, the contiguous zone, the continental shelf, the exclusive economic zone and the high seas. It also provides for the protection and preservation of the marine environment, for marine scientific research and for the development and transfer of marine technology. One of the most important parts of the Convention concerns the exploration for and exploitation of the resources of the seabed and ocean floor and subsoil thereof, beyond the limits of national jurisdiction (the Area). The Convention declares the Area and its resources to be “the common heritage of mankind”. The International Seabed Authority, established by the Convention, administers the resources of the Area.

International Seabed Authority

Established under UNCLOS in 1994, the International Seabed Authority (ISA) is the organization through which States Parties to UNCLOS organize and control all mineral-resources-related activities in the Area for the benefit of humankind as a whole. In so doing, ISA has the mandate to ensure the effective protection of the marine environment from harmful effects that may arise from deep-seabed-related activities.

Under the Convention, States have the sovereign right to exploit their natural resources in accordance with their duty to protect and preserve the marine environment. Marine organisms are associated with marine mineral deposits in all regions of the ocean. In activities relating to marine minerals, such as prospecting, exploration and exploitation, the protection and preservation of the marine environment needs to address the protection of marine organisms and the conservation of biological diversity (DOALOS & ISA, 2004).

Since the entry into force of UNCLOS in 1994 and the establishment of ISA in 1994, exploration activities for mineral resources in the Area are regulated under exploration contracts. Originally, exploration activities were predominantly undertaken by national agencies until 2010, when private companies became involved, and a polymetallic-nodule-mining industry was born. As of 2025, ISA has issued 30 contracts to 21 contractors sponsored by 20 countries for the exploration for the three types of mineral resources in the Area: polymetallic nodules PMNs (19 contracts), polymetallic sulphides PMS (7 contracts) and cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts CFC (4 contracts). The full list of contracts is available on the ISA website.

The Mining Code

Since its creation, ISA has worked on developing a comprehensive set of rules, regulations and procedures dealing with prospecting and exploration for mineral resources in the Area. As exploration activities progress, a major effort is currently underway to develop exploitation regulations through transparent and inclusive consultation and participation of all stakeholders. Once agreed, the exploitation regulations will join the adopted exploration regulations to form what will become a complete “Mining Code” for the Area.

At its 30th session in July 2025, the ISA Council continued to work in accordance with its July 2023 decision (ISBA/28/C/24), which sets a goal of finalizing the Mining Code during the 30th session if the regulations are ready for adoption. While the ISA Council continued discussion of the draft regulations and completed the second reading of the rest of the regulations (56-107), outstanding issues remain and the Council decided to adopt a thematic approach to the continuation of the elaboration of rules, regulations, and procedures relating to exploitation (ISBA/30/C/18).

Exploration Regulations

Three sets of exploration regulations are currently in place, covering the prospecting and exploration for mineral resources in the Area for:

• polymetallic nodules (ISBA/19/C/17 – Amended by ISBA/19/A/9)
• polymetallic sulphides (ISBA/16/A/12/Rev.1)
• cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts (ISBA/18/A/11).

These regulations are supplemented by a series of recommendations for the guidance of contractors and sponsoring States. The recommendations are issued by the Legal and Technical Commission and are periodically updated.

Exploitation Regulations

ISA has undertaken work since 2014 to develop regulations for the exploitation of mineral resources in the Area. Exploitation regulations aim to balance economic needs with rigorous environmental protection. Once in place, they will require any entity planning to undertake activities in the international seabed area to abide by stringent global environmental requirements.

Following a series of public consultations and progress briefings to the Council, the Legal and Technical Commission prepared and submitted draft exploitation regulations to the Council in 2019 (ISBA/25/C/WP.1). The draft exploitation regulations have been under consideration by the Council since then. The work of the Council has been carried out in plenary and in informal working groups established by the Council. →More information on the current status of the draft exploitation regulations.

The “Two-Year Rule” and the Plan of Work for Exploitation

In June 2021, to expedite the development of the regulations and begin commercial exploitation of deep-sea metal in minerals, Nauru submitted to the ISA its intention to apply for approval of a plan of work for exploitation, triggering the “two-year rule”. According to the IISD Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) analysis of the meeting, “[t]his rule is based on an Article in the 1994 Agreement relating to the Implementation of Part XI of [the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)], which states if a state notifies the ISA of its intention to submit an exploitation plan of work, the Council must finalize the relevant regulations within two years.”

The two-year deadline triggered by Nauru expired on 9 July 2023, making the 28th Session of the ISA discussion one of the most anticipated deliberations in the history of the organization and for the future of deep-sea mining. Following 11 Council and 4 Assembly days of confrontational debates and difficult negotiations, key moments and decisions of the Council included:

• The Council’s intention, regarding the timeline following the expiration of the two years, to continue the elaboration of RRPs, with a view to their adoption during the 30th ISA session in 2025.
• The inability of Member States at the General Assembly to put on the agenda the opening of a debate on the very principle of exploiting the ocean floor, as called for by France, Chile, and Costa Rica, as well as the archipelagos of Vanuatu and Palau. The objective of holding a debate was to obtain a position from the ISA in favor of a moratorium by the time of the next United Nations Ocean Conference, jointly organized by France and Costa Rica in Nice in June 2025.
• Inclusion of an item on “the Authority’s general policy on the protection and preservation of the marine environment” on the provisional agenda for 2024.
• More than 30 mining industry representatives were part of the official state delegations.
• Canada, Ireland, Brazil, Finland and Portugal have taken positions against deep-sea mining in international waters.

As of August 2025, following the 30th session of the ISA Council, discussions on regulations will continue to take place.

International Day of the Deep Seabed

In a landmark decision, the 30th session of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) Assembly established 1 November as the International Day of the Deep Seabed as proposed by the sponsoring countries, Fiji, Jamaica, Malta and Singapore. The annual observance will promote greater understanding of the deep seabed and its resources while fostering international cooperation in its sustainable management.

Role of Geneva

Organizations are listed in alphabetical order and include:

Center for International Environmental Law | CIEL

The  Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) aims to promote human rights and ensure a just and sustainable society by using the power of law to ensure environmental protection. CIEL works to raise awareness on the potential environmental and human rights impacts of deep-sea mining and provides legal support to organizations, as in the case of amicus curiae related to Don Diego, a seabed mining project in Mexico that raises environmental and human rights concerns. In October 2021, CIEL collaboration and support of these causes show an active engagement in demonstrating the human rights and international environmental law implications of deep-sea mining.

Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals and Sustainable Development | IGF

The Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals and Sustainable Development (IGF) is a voluntary initiative that provides opportunities for national governments with an interest in mining to work collectively to advance the priorities identified in the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation and—more recently—the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Agenda 2030.

International Union for Conservation of Nature | IUCN

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) enacts various activities such as data gathering and analysis, research, field projects, advocacy, and education in the pursuit of nature conservation and sustainable development. At the organization’s World Conservation Congress in Marseille (September 2021), IUCN Members adopted Resolution 122 to protect deep-ocean ecosystems and biodiversity through a moratorium on deep-sea mining unless and until a number of conditions are met, including scientific studies, risk assessment and precautionary principles.

UNEP Finance Initiative | UNEP FI

UNEP FI administers the UN Environment Programme’s Sustainable Blue Economy Finance Initiative (UNEP FI SBE),  working on the intersection between private finance and ocean health, supporting the implementation of the Sustainable Blue Economy Finance Principles. UNEP FI SBE is responsible for providing guidance and frameworks to ensure investment, underwriting and lending activities are aligned to the SDG 14. As part of its series of publications on harmful marine extractives, UNEP FI has published a briefing paper concluding that in its current form, financing deep-sea mining activities is incompatible with the Sustainable Blue Economy Finance Principles.

UN Special Rapporteur on the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment

The mandate of the UN Special Rapporteur on the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment was established to examine the human rights obligations relating to the enjoyment of a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment; promote best practices of the use of human rights in environmental policymaking; identify challenges and obstacles to the global recognition and implementation of the right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment; and conduct country visits and respond to human rights violations. The current mandate holder (2025), Astrid Puentes Riaño discusses the human rights implications of deep-sea mining in her report to the 58th session of the Human Rights Council (A/HRC/58/59), investigating and challenging the necessity of deep-sea mining to meet mineral demands. The report also calls for human rights considerations to be embedded in decisions about deep-sea mining and other ocean-related policies.

UN Trade and Development | UNCTAD

UNCTAD‘s work on trade of critical minerals addresses current and projected trends in critical minerals’ demand and supply as well as social, economic, and environmental impacts of the exploitation of these minerals and offer policy recommendations to facilitate sustainable exploitation, enhanced trade diversification, and domestic resource mobilization for structural transformation to achieve the SDGs. UNCTAD has been active on the topic since 2009 with the Natural Resources Information Exchange (NRIE) initiative, which aimed to create a repository of digital information, focusing on geoscientific historical data. The initiative is currently being revamped to strengthen the capacity of countries to manage their wealth of data. UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD), along with the UN Environment Programme and the UN Secretary-General’s Climate Action Team, serves as the secretariat to the UN Secretary-General Panel on critical energy transition minerals, playing a leading role in substantively serving two of the panel’s four workstreams: “Benefit sharing, local value addition and economic diversification” and “Transparent, fair trade and investments”.

Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights | OHCHR

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) stated its concerns over human rights violations related to deep-seabed mining in a July 2023 brief. Highlighting the false promise that mineral exploitation can lead to improved development and enjoyment of human rights, OHCHR warns about the dangers of human rights being trumped as States often allow businesses to foist costs on individuals not party to the transaction.

WWF

WWF has been vocal in its opposition to deep-seabed mining. Calling for a halt on deep seabed mining, WWF has produced and made available a number of resources on DSM’s potential harmful impacts on biodiversity and the environment. In addition, WWF collaborates with businesses, governments, and consumers to find solutions and alternatives to deep sea mining.

Other Key Actors for Resource Governance

At the global level, the International Resource Panel (IRP), based in Paris, and the World Resources Forum (WRF), based in Winterthur (Switzerland), provide expertise on deep-sea mining mineral resources governance.

International Resource Panel

The IRP was launched by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) in 2007 to build and share the knowledge needed to improve our use of resources worldwide. The panel provides advice and connections between policymakers, industry and the community on ways to improve global and local resource management. It includes scientists and governments from both developed and developing regions, civil society, industrial and international organizations.

World Resources Forum

The WRF is an international non-profit organisation which aims to mobilize action to promote sustainability and fairness in the global use of natural resources. Through various projects, mainly in the global South, its work focuses on resource extraction, circularity and recovery. WRF hosts a yearly multi-stakeholder conference to build knowledge and support for collaborative action on sustainable resources management. It acts as an interactive platform for sharing and discussing the latest research, policies and practices in the field. Several editions were held in Geneva. The last conference, World Resources Forum 2025, took place in Geneva from 2 to 3 September 2025, under the theme “Shaping Resource Strategies for a Sustainable Future”.

https://www.genevaenvironmentnetwork.org/resources/updates/deep-sea-mining-and-the-role-of-geneva/