U.S. political shifts have accelerated interest in opening the deep sea to commercial mining before adequate protections are in place. Large-scale deep-sea mining has never been attempted, and the ecological consequences remain uncertain. The seafloor is far less mapped than the Moon, and scientists are discovering thousands of previously undocumented species. Unresolved scientific findings, such as reports of 'dark oxygen,' underline how little is known about abyssal ecosystems. Rapid policy changes and private sector pressure could threaten biodiversity, ecosystem functions, and communities that rely on healthy oceans while sidestepping international safeguards for shared resources.
This is not how I thought things would go down when I started covering deep-sea mining. I knew that impatience and greed could have unforeseen consequences for life that depends on healthy oceans, including humans. I just didn't foresee Donald Trump coming back to blow up international negotiations meant to make sure no single government screws up a resource so vital to humanity that it's been deemed a " common heritage of humankind."
What might happen if the US rushes to open up the deep sea to mining for the first time? It's never been done at a large scale before anywhere in the world. I couldn't tell you with certainty what the consequences would be. That uncertainty - and the speed at which we're rushing into it - is unsettling.
The ocean happens to be one of the biggest mysteries still left to solve. The surface of the Moon is better mapped than the seafloor. Scientists are finding thousands of new species that have never been documented before. And researchers are squabbling over the veracity and origin of "dark oxygen," which was recently described rising from the abyss in a controversial study that could potentially upend our notions of how life first evolved on Earth.
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