Brazil has urged a moratorium on deep-sea mining in international waters for 10 years, just days after companies and countries were allowed to start applying for temporary licenses.
The call was made during a two-week conference organized by the International Seabed Authority, a UN regulatory body with a base in Jamaica, which failed to reach an agreement on a set of guidelines controlling deep-sea mining by the deadline of July 9.
Although the government of Nauru is anticipated to submit an application for a license via Canada-based company “Metals” shortly, the organization has not yet awarded any provisional licenses and has not received any applications.
Nauru’s government has said it wants to diversify its “limited economic base,” but has promised it will not sponsor a request during the UN conference, which ends on July 21.
Nauru indicated that its “good faith decision” does not mean that officials are withdrawing their plan to pursue deep-sea mining.
