Extraction does not equal control: New report warns deep seabed mining risks worsening global insecurity

A WWF-backed report warns that mining the ocean floor may create new economic, ecological, social and governance vulnerabilities that would further worsen global insecurity, challenging assumptions that deep seabed mining can provide countries with more resource and economic security.

The report, Entangled Depths: Deep Seabed Mining and the Security Paradox, finds that while deep seabed mining may diversify where some minerals are extracted, it does not reduce the structural dependencies – such as maintaining industrial competitiveness, strategic autonomy and resource security – that shape today’s critical mineral supply chains. Even if mass-scale extraction can overcome massive economic and financial hurdles to become commercially viable, the report finds that deep seabed mining may create new risks, including governance instability, ecological disruption, financial exposure and technological lock-in.

This makes it unlikely that deep seabed mining can provide a reliable pathway towards long-term security and resilience.

Jessica Battle, WWF No Deep Seabed Mining Initiative Lead, said: “We are seeing discussions around deep seabed mining becoming increasingly narrow and framed as a means of securing resources. The ability to extract does not equate to having control or being secure. This new report finds that opening the deep sea to mining as a means of diversifying mineral supply may have the opposite effect and instead intensify insecurities. Deep seabed mining might lead to governance fragmentation and increase ecological risks, in particular compounding risks to food security. Rather than ensuring security, racing to mine the ocean floor risks raising new problems that compounds existing risks and vulnerabilities.”

In claiming deep seabed mining would help countries feel more secure, proponents are oversimplifying mineral supply chains and overlooking critical economic, ecological and social risks. Experts estimate building commercial-scale refining capacities can take up to 20 years and will require multi-billion-dollar investments. This means key vulnerabilities will shift to and remain concentrated in downstream processing, refining, technology and industrial infrastructure.

Also, the kind of large-scale investments needed for extraction vessels, offshore systems, processing facilities and logistics infrastructure can increase the risk of industrial lock-in and stranded assets when such assets prove difficult to repurpose if or when technologies, mineral demand, or regulatory conditions shift.

Ocean health is a security asset

The risk of deep seabed mining adding new vulnerabilities extends beyond local operations to include vast and transboundary ecological and social insecurities. Opening up the deep seabed to extract materials risks negatively impacting fisheries, food systems and climate resilience. These risks are likely to particularly affect small island developing states, fisheries-dependent coastal economies and climate-vulnerable regions disproportionately. These communities make up a third of the world’s population, and the ecological disruption caused by deep seabed mining can multiply risks, amplifying existing pressures on food systems, coastal economies and climate resilience.

Weakening multilateral governance

Starting deep seabed mining and rushing to complete regulations despite scientific uncertainty risks weakening trust in multilateral governance systems needed to manage shared ocean resources, particularly when these efforts are seen as prioritizing potential short-term gains over long-term environmental stability.

The report finds that the legitimacy of international agreements like the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) depends on upholding existing obligations, including Article 145, which requires countries protect the marine environment from harmful effects arising from activities in the area.

Circular economy pathways

If the objective is long-term resilience, the report highlights viable alternatives that don’t include extracting minerals from the ocean. Circular economy strategies, which include recycling, material substitution and efficiency improvements, reduce our dependencies on certain materials while building reliable supply chains without worsening nature loss.

“Rather than seeking security through expanding extraction, circular economy strategies seek to reduce vulnerability at its source. This is how we make our economies, communities and governments resilient and secure. We need countries to choose a circular economy and reject the extractive economic model of deep seabed mining that is volatile and ill-suited to delivering long-term security. Current framing of deep seabed mining as a straightforward pathway toward security presents us with a false and dangerous solution as it obscures the broader problems that large-scale ocean floor mining may itself generate,” said Battle.

Against this backdrop, WWF calls on governments to support a moratorium or precautionary pause on deep seabed mining. In light of significant scientific uncertainty, gaps in the regulatory framework and the risk of irreversible environmental and socio-economic harm, such a pause is the most responsible course of action to ensure that decisions about the deep ocean are guided by robust science, equity and long-term societal interests.

ENDS

For a WWF summary of the report highlighting key findings and arguments, click here.