"Norway's deep sea mining plans in the Arctic will cause irreversible harm to biodiversity," Greenpeace said as it published a report titled 'Deep Sea Mining in the Arctic: Living Treasures at Risk'. It highlighted that the mining poses danger to an already threatened ecosystem due to global warming and warned of the risks associated with habitat removal, pollution, and species displacement. The report stresses the long-term impacts could be irreversible, fragmenting the intricate relationships among marine life and leading to potential extinction events.
"Mining will cause permanent damage to those ecosystems and it will remain impossible to assess the full extent of those impacts, let alone control them," stated Kirsten Young, head of research at Greenpeace. This emphasizes the unpredictability of the negative consequences that deep-sea mining may entail, suggesting that the consequences could extend well beyond the immediate environment and could affect the broader ocean health and climate balance.
"Norway's plans not only directly threaten species and habitats on the seabed, but also the wider marine ecosystem, from the tiniest plankton to the great whales," stated Kirsten Young, indicating that the ramifications of mining could cascade through the entire food web, impacting biodiversity at all levels. This underscores the interconnectedness of marine ecosystems and the risks posed by such industrial activities.
"The global transition to a low-carbon society will require huge amounts of minerals and metals," Astrid Bergmal, state secretary at the energy ministry, noted. This reflects Norway's rationale for pursuing seabed mining, citing the essential demand for these resources in renewable technologies while also acknowledging that current extraction practices present vulnerabilities due to concentration in limited nations.
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