Signal US executive order claims unilateral deep seabed mining licences

Summary

The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea defines the deep seabed beyond national jurisdiction as the common heritage of humankind and gives the International Seabed Authority power to license mining and set rules. A recent US executive order asserts a right to grant deep seabed mining licences on its own under a domestic law from 1980, sidestepping the authority altogether. The report sees this case as exposing a wider risk. If unilateral licensing spreads, it argues, the common heritage principle and the institutions built on it could be badly undermined just when agreed international standards are most needed. The report also names the fragmentation of separate legal regimes for fishing, shipping, mining and biodiversity, and uneven monitoring and enforcement capacity, as structural challenges. It concludes that effective protection of the seabed beyond national jurisdiction rests mainly on multilateral governance and political commitment.