standardization of environmental data and information - International ...

Environmental monitoring: When?
Some participants felt that environmental research should be
confined at this stage to baseline studies on a limited scale. Broader
studies and impact assessments were premature, they argued, since there
was no way to predict exactly where mining would occur or what type of
equipment would be used. In the meantime, researchers should
concentrate on basic studies of deep-sea life, about which little was known.
Several participants saw an opportunity in the fact that commercial
mining, and even the testing of equipment, might be delayed for at least a
decade or two. The interval could be used for thorough environmental
studies which, several speakers noted, could take up to 8 or 12 years. The
need for more time to assess long-term effects of mining-like disturbances
was borne out by the conclusions of studies in the Central Pacific showing
that animal populations in disturbed areas had not returned to normal by
the time the studies ended seven years after the disturbances. A
theoretical model of sampling design, presented to the Workshop, indicated
that samples would have to be taken for eight years if the results were to be
trusted. Under these circumstances, participants argued, large-scale
environmental studies must begin as soon as possible if enough
environmental information is to be gathered by the time commercial mining
begins.
Notes and References
1. United Nations Office of Legal Affairs, Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the
Sea (1997), The Law of the Sea: United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea
(United Nations, New York), 294 pp.
2. International Seabed Authority (2000), Regulations on prospecting and exploration
for polymetallic nodules in the area (ISBA/6/A/18), Selected Decisions and
Documents of the Sixth Session 31-68.
3. International Seabed Authority, Legal and Technical Commission, Recommendations
for the guidance of the contractors for the assessment of the possible environmental
impacts arising from exploration for polymetallic nodules in the Area (ISBA/7/LTC/1),
10 April 2001.
4. Deep-Seabed Polymetallic Nodule Exploration: Development of Environmental
Guidelines (1999), Proceedings of the International Seabed Authority’s Workshop
held in Sanya, Hainan Island, People’s Republic of China (1-5 June 1998), ISA
INTERNATIONAL SEABED AUTHORITY 19