Highlights for Wednesday, 17 July 2019
The ISA Council meets in Kingston for its third day
On Wednesday morning, the Council of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) continued its deliberations on the draft regulations for exploitation of mineral resources in the Area, focusing on the protection and preservation of the marine environment as well as on rights and obligations of the contractors. In the afternoon, the Council heard the reports of the Chairs of the Legal and Technical Commission (LTC) and the Finance Committee.
Highlights of the day included the:
impressive array of ideas tabled on the part of the draft exploitation regulations referring to the protection and preservation of the marine environment;
tug of war between speed and quality, reflecting the need for timely adoption of the Mining Code and the necessity to ensure that its provisions serve all stakeholders;
discussion on cost-saving measures, including remote interpretation services; and
appropriate follow-up for contractors that have not complied with recommendations.
At lunchtime, a side event was organized by India under the title “Near four decades of India’s role in deep-sea exploration and mining: efforts in the Indian Ocean.” During the afternoon, a side event organized by the Natural History Museum of the UK and the Deep-Sea Biology Society, in collaboration with the ISA Secretariat focused on empowering the next generation of deep-sea researches. For more details on the day’s events and to hear what delegates said in the breezeways, see our daily Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB).
IISD Reporting Services, through its ENB Meeting Coverage, provided daily web coverage and daily reports from the 2nd Part of ISA-25. In addition, IISD Reporting Services, has published a summary and analysis from the meeting, which is now available in HTML and PDF.
Photos by IISD/ENB | Diego Noguera
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Pippa Howard, Deep Sea Conservation Coalition
Gina Guillén Grillo, Costa Rica
Robert Milbourne, Mining Standards International
Mehdi Remaoun, Algeria, on behalf of the African Group
Ingo Narberhaus and Urs Daniel Engels, Germany
L-R: Alden Denny, Greg O’Brien, and Laura Strickler, US
Joseph Appiott, Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Secretariat
Esther Salamanca Aguado, Spain
Roberto Álvarez and Francisco Javier Bernales Errázuriz, Chile
Gou Haibo, China
Andrzej Przybycin, Chair of the Finance Committee
Young Lee and Lee Hyun Seung, Republic of Korea
Tetsuya Yoshimoto, Japan
Carlos Alberto Michaelsen den Hartog, Brazil
Kathy-Ann Brown, Jamaica
Eden Charles, Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the ISA for the Enterprise
Tevita Suka Mangisi, Tonga
Patricio Ureña Palacio, Argentina
Gina Guillén Grillo, Costa Rica, discusses with Francisco Javier Bernales Errázuriz, Chile
L-R: John Fintakpa Lamega and Franck Kokou Kpayedo, Togo; Tidiani Couma, Monaco; and Didier Ortolland, France
Gulardi Nurbintoro, Indonesia, and Khurshed Alam, Bangladesh
L-R: Patrik Schotte, Belgium; Kris Van Nijen, Global Sea Mineral Resources; and Steven Vandenborre, Belgium
L-R: Carsten Rühlemann, Germany; Gesa Seeger, Die Zeit; and Christian Reichert, Germany
Delegates reading the latest ENB before Wednesday’s proceedings
L-R: Luke Roughton, Sarah Renouf, and Malcolm Clark, New Zealand; and Nyan Lin Aung, Myanamar
Tasha Goldberg, ENB, and Gina Guillén Grillo, Costa Rica
The Chinese delegation at the 2nd Part of ISA-25
