Call for SPC to listen to Pacific communities over seabed mining

The Pacific’s technical advisory body, the Secretariat of the Pacific Community, is being urged to listen to the views of the region’s communities on seabed mining, reports Radio NZ

The SPC has drafted a legislative framework on deep sea mining, intended as a guide for Pacific countries with ocean floor mineral resources.

The national co-ordinator of Papua New Guinea’s marine conservation group, Mas Kagin Tapani, joins others in criticising the European Union-funded framework for its lack of protection of those likely to be affected by extractive work.

PNG is the first Pacific country to have granted a commercial mining licence, with a Bismarck Sea project scheduled to start in 2013.

Mas Kagin Tapani’s Wenceslaus Magun says 85 percent of PNG people and especially those in the vicinity of the project live on marine life.

“SPC, being Pacific Islanders working for SPC, they know that very well. They have to come out, get out of their air-conditioned offices there in Fiji, come to Papua New Guinea, visit the local communities, call for the views of the people themselves, not please the European Union who is funding their operations in Fiji.”

4 Comments

Filed under Environmental impact, Fiji, Human rights, Mining, Papua New Guinea

4 Responses to Call for SPC to listen to Pacific communities over seabed mining

  1. wesely

    Dear Ramu Mine Watch
    Would you please explain and justify the assertions of fact set out in the quote below.
    “…….The mining will also involve the transport, stockpiling, trans-shipment and processing of mineral ores and produce MILLIONS OF TONS OF TOXIC WASTES, all of which will occur CLOSE TO REMOTE COASTAL COMMUNIYIES that rely heavily on a healthy sea for their diet and income……..”
    1. Please advise how these “millions of tons of toxic wastes” will be generated
    2. Please advise how these “millions of tons of toxic wastes” will be processed.
    3. Please outline the chemistry of these said wastes.
    4. Please advise how far the said” wastes” will be from the nearest “remote coastal” community.
    5. Please advise of the source of fact upon which these claims above are made.

  2. wesely

    e&o’s
    “Communities”

  3. wesely

    Dear Ramu Mine Watch
    Would you please explain and justify the assertions of fact set out in the quote below.
    “…….The mining will also involve the transport, stockpiling, trans-shipment and processing of mineral ores and produce MILLIONS OF TONS OF TOXIC WASTES, all of which will occur CLOSE TO REMOTE COASTAL COMMUNITIES that rely heavily on a healthy sea for their diet and income……..”
    1. Please advise how these “millions of tons of toxic wastes” will be generated
    2. Please advise how these “millions of tons of toxic wastes” will be processed.
    3. Please outline the chemistry of these said wastes.
    4. Please advise how far the said” wastes” will be from the nearest “remote coastal” community.
    5. Please advise of the source of fact upon which these claims above are made.

  4. Pingback: SOPAC lacks knowledge to prevent irreversible damage from experimental seabed mining | Papua New Guinea Mine Watch

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out / Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. Log Out / Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out / Change )

Connecting to %s