PH wants whole-of-society approach for deep seabed mining exploration

In an effort to prioritize the use of renewable energy from minerals, the Philippine government aims to adopt a "whole-of-society approach" to discuss and strategize the exploration and potential development of deep seabed mining in the country.

The statement was made on Monday by Acting Secretary of Foreign Affairs Charles Jose during a workshop conducted by the International Seabed Authority (ISA) in the Philippines.

According to Jose, "The Philippines encourages a whole-of-society approach to tackle these matters and formulate a holistic strategy for the exploration and possible development of the seabed in the future."

The ISA is an autonomous international organization established under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). It is responsible for organizing and regulating all mineral-related activities in the international seabed area known as "the Area," which lies beyond the jurisdiction of any particular country.

The Department of Foreign Affairs clarified that examples of the international seabed area adjacent to the Philippines include the eastern front of the Pacific Ocean, where the country's continental shelf extends up to 200 nautical miles from the baselines and has an extended continental shelf reaching 320 nautical miles from the baselines of Luzon, known as the Philippine Rise.

In the western side, the seabed in the South China Sea is present, but any seabed beyond 200 nautical miles from the Philippines' continental shelf depends on potential overlaps with the continental shelf of other countries.

Marine minerals found in "the Area" include polymetallic nodules abundant in copper, nickel, cobalt, iron, manganese, and rare earth elements.

ISA Secretary-General Michael Lodge, who is currently in the Philippines, emphasized the importance of establishing an "international rules-based legal order" in accordance with UNCLOS before engaging in any deep seabed mining activities in "the Area."

Lodge stated, "So it is critically important that before those minerals are exploited, there is an international rules-based legal order so that everybody that's a party to the Law of the Sea Convention, which is 168 countries, operates under the same rules."

Ambassador Antonio Lagdameo, the Permanent Representative of the Philippines to the United Nations and ISA, is also among the participants of the ISA workshop held in the Philippines. —KG, GMA Integrated News