The council is very unlikely to come up with rules in time. There have also been calls by a number of countries for a full moratorium on deep-sea mining. Major multinationals like BMW, Volvo and Samsung have said they would not use minerals produced by deep-seamining in their product.
As the International Seabed Authority gathers in Jamaica to thrash out regulations for mining the deep sea, Chris Michael of the Guardian’s Seascape team gives Ian Sample the background to this highly contested decision. Ian also hears from the marine biologist Dr Diva Amon about why some scientists are sounding the alarm. Help support our independent journalism at
theguardian.com/sciencepod