Catherine Blanchard at Sustainable Futures Conference: Equity should be integral to regulation of deep-seabed mining

On 19 April 2024, Catherine Blanchard participated in the Sustainable Futures Conference of the Fung Global Fellows Program at Princeton University. This year’s Fung Global Fellows Program addressed the theme of Sustainable Futures. The conference covered issues such as sustainability and natural resource law in Africa; sustainability in migrants experiences, technology and work; and disaster risk management policies in Latin America.

In a panel entitled ‘Sustainable future of the global commons: Equity in governing the Antarctic, the deep seabed, the high seas, and the atmosphere’, Catherine shared some remarks on how equity has shaped the current regulatory framework for deep-seabed mining, and how equity considerations related to environmental issues, human rights and social dimensions of deep-seabed mining should be explored for the development of the new regulatory framework for deep-seabed mineral exploitation.

The panel, convened by Yelena Yermakova (Princeton University), also included presentations by Daniela Liggett (University of Canterbury), Ekatrina Antsygina (University of Hamburg) and Barbara Buckinx (Princeton University), who spoke on Antarctica, the high seas and the atmosphere, respectively. The panel identified common themes and divergences in including equity in the management and governance of the commons.

Read more about the conference at Sustainable Futures Conference