Deep seabed mining’s unprecedented ecosystem risks are exacerbated by environmental and governance practices imported from terrestrial mining
The following is the text version of a virtual presentation given by Catherine Coumans, Asia-Pacific Coordinator for MiningWatch Canada, at the Talanoa on Deep-Sea Mining in the Pacific on June 25, 2026. The Talanoa was a multidisciplinary workshop exploring the significance of deep-sea mining for the Pacific Island Countries and their communities, hosted by the University of the South Pacific (Suva) and the Samoa Conservation Society (Apia).
Over the last 20 years, many studies have exposed not just a wide range of harmful impacts of mining on land, but also the underlying causes for these harms. In her presentation, Catherine focuses on just a few of these causes today and shows how harmful practices from terrestrial mining are finding their way into the proposed new industry of deep seabed mining, through intermediaries that have a long history of working in terrestrial mining – specifically looking at the themes of Environmental Impact Assessment, mining contracts, and regulatory capture.