Highlights and images for 27 February 2019

Jamaica

Summary

Highlights for Wednesday, 27 February 2019

Delegates from Belgium and Germany consult informally

International Seabed Authority On Wednesday, the Council of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) continued its deliberations, addressing cooperation with other relevant international organizations and further focusing on components of the draft regulations for exploitation of mineral resources in the Area, including:

  • independent review of environmental plans and performance assessments; and
  • an inspection mechanism.
  • Highlights of the day include:

  • an in-depth discussion on independent reviews of environmental plans, offering concrete organizational ideas and ways to avoid potential conflicts of interest;
  • general agreement for a transparent, geographically-balanced, and cost-effective way to conduct the reviews;
  • exchange of ideas on the social necessity of deep sea mining to allow the transition towards a carbon-free, circular economy; and
  • announcement of the second edition of the Secretary-General’s Award for Excellence in Deep Sea Research, accompanied by a financial reward of USD 25,000, offered by the Principality of Monaco.
  • Two side events took place during the day. At lunchtime, Pew Charitable Trusts held an event on new data and insights from the Clarion-Clipperton Zone; during the afternoon, the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition organized a discussion on the role and purpose of environmental impact assessments.For extensive details on the day’s negotiations and to hear what delegates said in the corridors, see our daily Earth Negotiations Bulletin.

    IISD Reporting Services, through its Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) Meeting Coverage, provided daily web coverage and daily reports from the 1st Part of ISA-25. In addition, IISD Reporting Services, has published a summary and analysis report of the meeting, which is available in HTML and PDF.

    Photos by IISD/ENB | Diego Noguera

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    Alfonso Ascencio-Herrera, ISA Legal Counsel and Deputy to the Secretary-General
    Michael Lodge, ISA Secretary-General
    Yoshihisa Shirayama, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC)
    Sonali Samarasinghe, Sri Lanka
    Julian Wilckens, Germany
    Mehdi Remaoun, Algeria
    Hu Bing, China
    Young Lee, Republic of Korea
    Kathy Ann Brown, Jamaica
    Francisco Javier Bernales, Chile
    Guy Sevrin, Belgium
    Maruthadu Sudhakar, India
    Gavin Watson, UK
    Andreas Motzfeldt Kravik, Norway
    Clement Yow Mulalap, Federated States of Micronesia
    Wini Broadbelt and Tom Diederen, the Netherlands
    Patricio Ureña Palacio, Argentina
    Gerard Barron, DeepGreen
    Alain Bernard, Dredging, Environmental and Marine Engineering
    Ahmad Al Karim, Bangladesh
    Jerome Dyment, InterRidge
    Yongsheng Cai, Katie Elles, and Marie Bourrel-McKinnon, ISA Secretariat
    Delegates check the daily ENB
    Benhur Viana and Carlos Alberto Michaelsen den Hartog, Brazil
    Hans-Peter Damian and Ingo Narberhaus, Germany, and Asterios Tsioumanis, ENB
    A delegate takes a panoramic photo of the Council
    Wini Broadbelt, the Netherlands, and Lumka Yengeni, South Africa, Council President for the 25th Session
    Hannah Lily, the Commonwealth; Kristina Gjerde, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN); Cindy Lee Van Dover, Pew Charitable Trusts; and Alison Swaddling, the Commonwealth
    Michael Lodge, ISA Secretary-General, and Urs Daniel Engels, Germany
    Lowri Mai Griffiths, UK, and Nicole Lyas, Australia
    The Belgian delegation
    The German delegation
    L-R: Aline Jaeckel, Phillip J. Turner, Diva Amon, and Jessica Perelman, Deep-Ocean Stewardship Initiative (DOSI)
    Around the Venue