The International Seabed Authority (ISA) (French: Autorité internationale des fonds marins) is a Kingston, Jamaica-based intergovernmental body of 167 member states and the European Union established under the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and its 1994 Agreement on Implementation.

The ISA’s dual mission is to authorize and control development of mineral related operations in the international seabed considered the “common heritage of all mankind” and also protect the ecosystem of the seabed, ocean floor and subsoil in “The Area” beyond national jurisdiction. The ISA is to safeguard the international deep sea, the waters below 200 meters, where photosynthesis is hampered by inadequate light. Governing approximately half of the total area of the world’s oceans, the ISA is to exercise oversight of activities that might threaten biological diversity and harm the marine environment. The Authority operates as an autonomous international organization with its own Assembly, Council and Secretariat.

Since the ISA’s inception in 1994, the Authority has approved over two dozen ocean floor mining exploration contracts in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans, with the majority of contracts for exploration in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone between Hawaii and Mexico, where polymetallic nodules contain copper, cobalt and other minerals used to power electric batteries. To date, the Authority has not authorized any commercial mining contracts as it deliberates over regulations amid global calls for a moratorium on deep sea mining. Scientists and environmentalists warn such mining could wreak havoc on the ocean as a carbon sink home to rare and diverse species. The ISA is funded by UNCLOS members and mining contractors and led by Secretary-General Michael Lodge, a British barrister who oversees a 47-member administrative body and has come under criticism for close ties to the mining industry and support for deep sea robotic exploration to develop renewable energy.

Links:
The 28th Session of the International Seabed Authority

Mijnen in het diepzeemilieu

Zwart goud op de zeebodem

Greenpeace onthult enorme omvang bedreigingen oceanen

Stop diepzeemijnbouw voor het begint / Stop diepzeemijnbouw : Noorwegen, zeg NEE tegen diepzeemijnbouw! – petities