Opponents of deep sea mining hope to take a potentially significant step toward an international moratorium on Friday, as the sector's top international authority considers what could snowball into a key regulatory text.
For years, countries opposed to such mining -- which would deliver minerals key to the green transition but with a potentially high environmental cost -- have failed to get the International Seabed Authority (ISA) to take up any debate on the subject, blocked by those supporting deep sea mining.
But member states convening since Monday at this week's ISA meeting in Kingston, Jamaica, are due to consider adopting a measure calling for a "dialogue" toward "the development of a general policy... for the protection and preservation of the marine environment."
Deep sea mining opponents hope this could eventually lead to a moratorium.
"Momentum has never been stronger for protecting the oceans against deep sea mining," said Louisa Casson, a campaigner with the international NGO Greenpeace.
Deep sea mining in international waters involves scraping the ocean floor for minerals like nickel, cobalt and copper, crucial for renewable energy technology.
Under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the ISA is responsible both for protecting the seabed in areas beyond national jurisdiction and for overseeing any exploration or exploitation of resources in those zones.
NGOs and scientists warn that deep-sea mining could damage habitats and harm species that are little understood, but are potentially important to the food chain.
In addition, they point to the risk of disrupting the ocean's capacity to absorb carbon emitted by human activities, and the noise that could disturb species such as whales.
Mining has not yet taken place beyond the experimental and exploratory stage. The ISA has been drawing up commercial exploitation rules for a decade.
However, multiple countries have lined up exploratory contracts and pursued tests.
And Nauru, a tiny Pacific island country, has successfully pushed the ISA to allow exploitation applications to be submitted, even in the absence of a mining code. The ISA's 36-member council is aiming to adopt regulations in 2025.
The clock is ticking as Canada's The Metals Company (TMC) -- an industry giant -- and Nauru Ocean Resources Inc (NORI), its subsidiary, move forward with plans to harvest mineral-rich "polymetallic nodules" in the Clarion-Clipperton fracture zone (CCZ) in the Pacific.
An application from the Nauru government on behalf of NORI to start commercial mining operations is being prepared for submission to the ISA.
"The responsible development of deep sea minerals is not just an opportunity for Nauru and other small island developing states," Nauru President David Adeang said earlier this week. "It is a necessity for our survival in a rapidly changing world."
More than 30 countries have called for a moratorium on deep sea mining, including France, Canada, Chile, Brazil and the United Kingdom.
However, they're a long way from securing a majority at the 168-member ISA, and the text being considered doesn't call explicitly for a stoppage.
Adding to environmentalists' concerns was a new study, published last month, showing that the mineral-rich nodules that mining companies wish to harvest from the ocean floor produce oxygen.
The groundbreaking study was the first instance of the production of oxygen by non-living sources, and without sunlight.
Elsewhere, the ISA voted Friday to replace secretary general Michael Lodge, of Britain, with Brazil's Leticia Carvalho.
Lodge had been criticized for his pro-business stances, and was also under fire after a New York Times investigation accused the ISA's leadership of misusing funds -- claims that the ISA Secretariat has denied.
"Rebuilding trust is the fundamental aspect," Carvalho, who takes office in January, recently told environmental news site Mongabay.
