standardization of environmental data and information - International ...

Environmental concerns
The Secretary-General, commenting on the Authority’s concern
about environmental matters, recalled that its main objective was to
administer deep-seabed resources and allow them to be developed for the
benefit of mankind as a whole. Within that aim, it had to take into account
the current concern for the environment. Thus, it had introduced
environmental aspects into the mining code and elsewhere, reasoning that
it would be better for the Authority to do so on its own terms than to have
standards imposed on it from outside. The environmental norms governing
the seabed were probably more extensive than those followed by any other
organization or activity. Norms had been established ranging from baseline
studies to impact studies. It was good public relations to preempt outside
attempts to establish norms by setting standards inside. When the
Secretariat insisted on environmental studies and norms, it was not in order
to punish, penalize or burden the contractors, but because there was a
need to do so as a responsible actor in the oceans. The Authority did not
want others to say that it was ignoring the environment and that its
standards were so tame that they lacked real value. This was important
because the viability of the Authority and of activities by contractors
depended on public opinion and people’s concerns about the environment
aspect.
The contractors might misunderstand and think the Authority was
trying to impose unnecessary duties and obligations on them, he continued.
However, he recalled studies cited at the Authority’s 2000 workshop on
mining technology indicating that, in the early stages of exploration, the
equipment used had taken no account of environmental concerns.
Developers had since realized that they had to redesign everything to take
those concerns into account. He reiterated the importance of having the
Authority set its own standards so that outside people would not impose
standards through publicity or adverse comments.
Rex said that, in suggesting public access to the database on a Web
site, he did not imply that the public should use it to suggest standards.
Rather, the aim was simply to make information ultimately available to the
public.
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INTERNATIONAL SEABED AUTHORITY