LEticia Carvalho is clear what the problem is with the body she hopes to be elected to manage: “Trust is broken and leadership is lacking.” Later this week, at the headquarters of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) in Kingston, Jamaicanations negotiating rules on deep-sea mining face a critical vote that could affect the nascent industry for years: who should be the next leader of the regulatory body?
Carvalho, sponsored by Brazil, is in the running against the current Secretary General, Michael Lodge, a British lawyersponsored by Kiribati, a small Pacific nation.
The struggle for leadership may sound like a remote, technical problem to the average person. But the election of the authority’s secretary-general comes at a crucial moment for deep-sea mining and therefore for the future of the world’s oceans.
Calls for a pause on seabed mining are growing, with 27 nations now arguing that there is not enough data to start mining.
If deep-sea mining continues, scientists warn of large-scale, severe and irreversible damage to global ocean ecosystems already threatened by the climate and biodiversity crises.
The ISA is governed by 168 member states, plus the EU, and has a dual mandate: to authorize and control mining “for the common heritage of all mankind” and to protect the marine environment from harmful impacts.
During his eight-year tenure, Lodge was accused of proximity to the mining industry, exceed its neutral role and to preside over an authority that is lacking transparency. A New York Times piece published earlier this month also accused him of pushing countries to accelerate the start of deep-sea mining. He denies these allegations.
Carvalho, a Brazilian oceanographer and international diplomat, says it’s time for “meaningful transformation” at the seabed authority. “The current deep disagreement between the government departments in the council is largely due to the lack of trust and leadership, on top of whatever scientific gaps we may have or asymmetry of knowledge between the members.”
So far, the authority has issued 31 exploration contracts, sponsored by 14 nations, in an area covering 1.5m sq km of the world’s seabed, mostly in the equatorial Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and Mexico. These contracts, with countries including China, Russia, South Korea, India, Britain, France, Poland, Brazil, Japan, Jamaica and Belgium, allow exploration of the seabed, but not commercial mining.
No exploitation contracts that would allow mining to continue have yet been issued, but efforts by industry and some states have sped up the race to mine.
One firm, The Metals Company (TMC), based in Canada, has a partnership with the Pacific states of Nauru, Tonga and Kiribatisaid it will apply for permission to mine later this year, before rules and regulations are likely to be in place.
Carvalho claims that it is Lodge’s alleged close relationship with this company that is the problem. Trust, she claims, began to wane in 2018 after the secretary-general appeared in a video wearing a hard hat with a “DeepGreen” logo on it. DeepGreen is the former name of TMC.
“What is interesting is the leadership of a multilateral organization that accepts one company’s demands and pushes them into the ISA council’s process to develop a mining code,” she says.
“There is a problem with being seen to be too close to a company that is driven by results for its investors. ISA is a regulatory body with a dual mandate: setting the rules and procedures for deep-sea mining while protecting the deep-sea ecosystems.”
Carvalho, who worked as a regulator in Brazil’s oil industry, believes the rules governing deep-sea mining will take time and that no mining application should be approved until it is finalized. “ISA must find ways to compromise and reach consensus. Scientific evidence, wider participation and inclusive knowledge are the key basis of consensual decisions.”
The New York Times investigates featured an acknowledgment from Kiribati ambassador Teburoro Tito, who confirmed to the paper that he had attempted to persuade Carvalho to drop out of the race by offering her a possible high-level staff position at the agency.
Lodge told the Times he was not involved in discussion and was not part of Tito’s alleged proposal.
The paper also alleged that supporters of each candidate accused the other of trying to influence the election outcome by paying travel and other expenses of delegates who would otherwise not vote.
Carvalho, who took leave from her post as head of the UN Environmental Protection Agency’s marine and freshwater branch to campaign for secretary-general, described the allegations against her as “sensible” and “absolute nonsense”. “There is no money flow other than the official budget,” she says.
Lodge, who declined to be interviewed by the Guardian, issued a statement from the secretariat in response to allegations that he was too close to TMC: “The secretary-general categorically denies any insinuations of inappropriate relationships with contractors, which represents an unacceptable attempt to undermine the integrity of ISA and its dedicated staff without credible evidence.”
Regarding the allegations that Lodge tried to influence the election outcome, the statement read: “The secretariat will not comment on allegations and allegations based on hearsay.”
