Stakeholder Event: Deep Seabed Mining and protecting Hydrothermal Vents
A stakeholder event ‘Current Developments on Deep Seabed Mining and the Use of Area-Based Management Tools to Protect Hydrothermal Vents’ was hosted at Utrecht University om 10 May 2023.
The event was organized by the Netherlands Institute for the Law of the Sea (NILOS), the Utrecht Centre for Water, Oceans and Sustainability Law (UCWOSL) of Utrecht University, and the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ), as part of the joint UU-NIOZ project Protecting deep seabed hydrothermal vent fields through area-based management tools.
A wide range of stakeholders attended the event, including academics and representatives from non-governmental organizations (NGOs), industry, and government. The event had two sessions: the first presented different perspectives of deep seabed mining and engaged in discussions around the call for a deep seabed mining moratorium / precautionary pause; the second concerned protecting hydrothermal vents from the harmful effects of deep seabed mining and focused on concrete action that could be taken to ensure their protection.
Organizing Team
The organizers of the stakeholder event (and members of the Joint UU-NIOZ Project) were Samantha Robb (NIOZ), Lise Klunder (NIOZ), Sabine Gollner(NIOZ), Catherine Blanchard (NILOS / UCWOSL), and Erik Molenaar (NILOS / UCWOSL).