Indigenous rights, the environment, and international law: What’s at stake at this week’s seabed mining talks

Indigenous advocates who have been fighting for their rights to be acknowledged in global regulations for seabed mining are bracing for the outcome of this week’s gathering of the International Seabed Authority in Jamaica, where representatives from three dozen countries are expected to discuss finalizing mining rules by the end of this year. 

The International Seabed Authority has spent a decade trying to formulate regulations to govern where, how, and to what extent corporations can extract minerals from the seabed in international waters, with input from governments, industry players, Indigenous peoples, and environmental advocates. Minerals on the seafloor formed over millions of years, and they include substances like cobalt and manganese that are used to make batteries for electric vehicles, defense technologies in submarines, and fighter aircraft. Leticia Carvalho, the secretary-general of the ISA, said last week that she wants to finalize global rules governing seabed mining by the end of this year, a reversal of her previous position that the regulations could take several years to finalize, in part a reaction to President Donald Trump’s aggressive push to mine both U.S. and international waters outside the international regulatory framework. 

Advocates from the Pacific have argued that any mining permits should consider not only the potential effects on deep-sea ecology and historic sites like shipwrecks, but also take into account Indigenous peoples and their cultural connections to the ocean. Frank Murphy from French Polynesia said he can’t imagine the regulations will be finalized this year, given how much left there is to discuss and agree upon, including specific environmental protections. 

Murphy is proud of the progress made incorporating Indigenous rights into the draft regulations, but cautioned that nothing is guaranteed. “This is not voted on, and we have no vote,” he said of the draft. “So the first time we did this, everything that we added was taken out. This may be the case again.”

Carvalho’s announcement last week elicited both skepticism from the CEO of The Metals Company, one of the companies working with the Trump administration to mine international waters, and criticism from environmental advocates, who argue there should be a pause on mining until more is known about deep-sea ecosystems. 

“The adoption of the code will not bring unilateral actors back to the ISA, and the ISA should not be engaging in a futile race with these rogue players,” said Emma Wilson, policy lead at the advocacy group Deep Sea Conservation Coalition that has pushed for a moratorium. “It really needs to rise above and assert its powers as the authority over human activities in the seabed.” She said there are more than 30 outstanding disagreements within the draft mining code, including how Indigenous rights will be incorporated. 

Over the past year, Trump has proposed and approved numerous policies to galvanize the commercial mining industry. The administration has streamlined the application process so that instead of exploring the deep-sea floor first, companies can more quickly sell and profit from mining. Two weeks ago, Trump proposed removing several environmental requirements for one of the regulatory agencies overseeing the industry. Trump has pursued mining in both U.S. and international waters despite opposition in American Samoa and the Mariana Islands. 

The Trump administration has entered into an agreement with the Cook Islands to mine its national waters, something that gives advocate Imogen Ingram pause. “Pollution of the water column is a major concern for Indigenous peoples,” said Ingram, who is Indigenous to the Cook Islands. “We have learned from scientific articles that the plume generated by deep seabed mining will smother the tiny plankton that feed the smaller forms of marine life, which in turn provide food for larger marine animals, and so on through the food chain, reducing the availability of pelagic fish like tuna upon which we depend so greatly.”

She’s also one of many advocates who worry that speeding up the ISA regulations will sacrifice environmental protections. Environmental groups like Greenpeace are pushing not only for a moratorium on mining but also for more accountability. In the wake of Trump’s aggressive push to mine international waters, the ISA Council voted last summer to investigate whether any companies that currently hold exploration contracts with the ISA to conduct test mining in international waters are violating their ISA contracts through their participation in the U.S. mining permitting process. 

Louisa Casson, who has been tracking the ISA proceedings with Greenpeace, said that the vote to investigate the companies was the most united she had ever seen country representatives at the ISA.

“Last year, governments at the ISA were united in their condemnation and their shock and disapproval of this single private company walking out of the multilateral process,” she said, referring to The Metals Company, which was the first company to seek U.S. approval to circumvent the international process. 

The ISA report could be released as soon as this week, but Greenpeace issued its own analysis ahead of the ISA gathering contending that two subsidiaries of The Metals Company, Nauru Ocean Resources Inc. and Tonga Offshore Mining Ltd. are violating international law and calling on the ISA to impose repercussions. The Metals Company did not respond to a request for comment. 

Specifically, Casson hopes the ISA will rescind the companies’ exploration contracts, which are up for renewal soon. “The decision to do unilateral mining is such a serious breach of international law that I think it’s really important that governments consider what are the strongest actions they can take to act as a deterrent,” she said.  

Murphy, noting that Indigenous peoples without U.N. membership have no vote on final regulations, said he remains hopeful their input will survive into the final draft. “It is amazing that we have gotten this far though,” he said. “So fingers crossed that we may succeed.”

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Indigenous rights, the environment, and international law: What’s at stake at this week’s seabed mining talks on Mar 9, 2026.