This view is supported by David Attenborough, who has called for a moratorium on all deep-sea mining plans. “It is not just new species, but whole genera of plants and creatures about which we had previously known nothing.” “Each time an expedition is launched to collect species, we find that between 70% and 90% of them are new to science,” said Benbow. Recent research has also emphasised that our knowledge and understanding of biodiversity is woefully incomplete. “The deep sea holds vast reservoirs of carbon which could be completely disrupted by mining on the scale being proposed and exacerbate the global crisis we are experiencing through rising greenhouse gas levels.”Ĭorals could be destroyed by mining. “It has become increasingly clear in the last couple of years that, apart from other dangers, deep-sea mining poses a particular threat to the climate,” said Catherine Weller, Fauna & Flora’s director of global policy. These form the focus of the organisation’s report. Since then, scientists have intensified their study of deep-sea zones and highlighted further dangers posed by mining there. “The ocean plays a critical role in the basic functioning of our planet, and protecting its delicate ecosystem is not just critical for marine biodiversity but for all life on Earth,” said Sophie Benbow, the organisation’s marine director.įauna & Flora first raised concerns about ocean mining in a 2020 report. However, oceanographers, biologists and other researchers have warned that these plans would cause widespread pollution, destroy global fish stocks and obliterate marine ecosystems.
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