An NGO submission to the International Seabed Authority has highlighted all the failures in the approval of the controversial Solwara 1 experimental seabed mine in Papua New Guinea. The Solwara mine will involve the open cut strip mining of the seafloor in the Bismarck sea between New Ireland and East New Britain.
The Submission to ISA [385kb] has been presented as part of the ISA consultations on its proposed Regulatory Framework for seabed mining.
The submission calls for:
- the free, prior and informed consent of Indigenous Peoples for any exploration or mining
- the broad support of potentially affected communities and wider civil society for any exploration or mining
- peer-reviewed research on the potential impacts of the mining operation to marine ecosystems and species
- peer-reviewed research on the potential impacts of the mining operation to the health and the economy of human communities at local, national and regional levels
- peer reviewed research on the cumulative impacts of mining operations and the establishment of mechanisms and strategies to address these
None of these recommendations has been meet in the development process for the Solwara 1 mine – which highlights the human rights and environmental failures by the PNG authorities.
Papua New Guinea Mine Watch 