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Katona S, Paulikas D, Stone GS. Ethical opportunities in deep-sea collection of polymetallic nodules from the Clarion-Clipperton Zone. INTEGRATED ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT AND MANAGEMENT 2022; 18:634-654. [PMID: 34766726 PMCID: PMC9300171 DOI: 10.1002/ieam.4554] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/02/2021] [Revised: 10/22/2021] [Accepted: 11/04/2021] [Indexed: 05/14/2023]
Abstract
Infrastructure supporting the transition of human societies from fossil fuels to renewable energy will require hundreds of millions of tons of metals. Polymetallic nodules on the abyssal seabed of the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ), eastern North Pacific Ocean, could provide them. We focus on ethical considerations and opportunities available to the novel CCZ nodule-collection industry, integrating robust science with strong pillars of social and environmental responsibility. Ethical considerations include harm to sea life and recovery time, but also the value of human life, indigenous rights, rights of nature, animal rights, intrinsic values, and intangible ecosystem services. A "planetary perspective" considers the biosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere, extends beyond mineral extraction to a life-cycle view of impacts, and includes local, national, and global impacts and stakeholders. Stakeholders include direct nodule-collection actors, ocean conservationists, companies, communities, interest groups, nations, and citizens globally, plus counterfactual stakeholders involved with or affected by intensification of terrestrial mining if ocean metals are not used. Nodule collection would harm species and portions of ecosystems, but could have lower life-cycle impacts than terrestrial mining expansion, especially if nodule-metal producers explicitly design for it and stakeholders hold them accountable. Participants across the value chain can elevate the role of ethics in strategic objective setting, engineering design optimization, commitments to stakeholders, democratization of governance, and fostering of circular economies. The International Seabed Authority is called to establish equitable and transparent distribution of royalties and gains, and continue engaging scientists, economists, and experts from all spheres in optimizing deep-sea mineral extraction for humans and nature. Nodule collection presents a unique opportunity for an ambitious reset of ecological norms in a nascent industry. Embracing ethical opportunities can set an example for industrial-scale activities on land and sea, accelerate environmental gains through environmental competition with land ores, and hasten civilization's progress toward a sustainable future. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2022;18:634-654. © 2021 The Authors. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry (SETAC).
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Daina Paulikas
- Minerals, Materials and Society Program, Department of Geography and Spatial Sciences, Pearson HallUniversity of DelawareNewarkDelawareUSA
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Mietchen D, Penev L, Georgiev T, Ovcharova B, Kostadinova I. Open science in practice: 300 published research ideas and outcomes illustrate how RIO Journal facilitates engagement with the research process. RESEARCH IDEAS AND OUTCOMES 2021. [DOI: 10.3897/rio.7.e68595] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Since Research Ideas and Outcomes was launched in late 2015, it has stimulated experimentation around the publication of and engagement with research processes, especially those with a strong open science component. Here, we zoom in on the first 300 RIO articles that have been published and elucidate how they relate to the different stages and variants of the research cycle, how they help address societal challenges and what forms of engagement have evolved around these resources, most of which have a nature and scope that would prevent them from entering the scholarly record via more traditional journals. Building on these observations, we describe some changes we recently introduced in the policies and peer review process at RIO to further facilitate engagement with the research process, including the establishment of an article collections feature that allows us to bring together research ideas and outcomes from within one research cycle or across multiple ones, irrespective of where they have been published.
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Mingotti N, Woods AW. Stokes settling and particle-laden plumes: implications for deep-sea mining and volcanic eruption plumes. PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. SERIES A, MATHEMATICAL, PHYSICAL, AND ENGINEERING SCIENCES 2020; 378:20190532. [PMID: 32762438 PMCID: PMC7422873 DOI: 10.1098/rsta.2019.0532] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 04/30/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Turbulent buoyant plumes moving through density stratified environments transport large volumes of fluid vertically. Eventually, the fluid reaches its neutral buoyancy level at which it intrudes into the environment. For single-phase plume, the well-known theory of Morton, Taylor and Turner (Morton BR, Taylor GI, Turner JS. 1956 Turbulent gravitational convection from maintained and instantaneous sources. Proc. R. Soc. A 234, 1-23. (doi:10.1098/rspa.1956.0011)) describes the height of the intrusion with great accuracy. However, in multiphase plumes, such as descending particle plumes formed from the surface vessel during deep-sea mining operations, or ascending volcanic plumes, consisting of hot gas and dense ash particles, the sedimentation of particles can change the buoyancy of the fluid very significantly. Even if the plume speed far exceeds the sedimentation speed, the ultimate intrusion height of the fluid may be significantly affected by particle sedimentation. We explore this process, illustrating the phenomena with a series of analogue experiments and some simple modelling, and we discuss the applications in helping to quantify some environmental impacts of deep-sea mining and in helping to assess the eruption conditions leading to the formation of large laterally spreading ash clouds in the atmosphere. This article is part of the theme issue 'Stokes at 200 (part 2)'.
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Levin LA, Wei C, Dunn DC, Amon DJ, Ashford OS, Cheung WWL, Colaço A, Dominguez‐Carrió C, Escobar EG, Harden‐Davies HR, Drazen JC, Ismail K, Jones DOB, Johnson DE, Le JT, Lejzerowicz F, Mitarai S, Morato T, Mulsow S, Snelgrove PVR, Sweetman AK, Yasuhara M. Climate change considerations are fundamental to management of deep-sea resource extraction. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2020; 26:4664-4678. [PMID: 32531093 PMCID: PMC7496832 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.15223] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/10/2020] [Accepted: 05/12/2020] [Indexed: 05/19/2023]
Abstract
Climate change manifestation in the ocean, through warming, oxygen loss, increasing acidification, and changing particulate organic carbon flux (one metric of altered food supply), is projected to affect most deep-ocean ecosystems concomitantly with increasing direct human disturbance. Climate drivers will alter deep-sea biodiversity and associated ecosystem services, and may interact with disturbance from resource extraction activities or even climate geoengineering. We suggest that to ensure the effective management of increasing use of the deep ocean (e.g., for bottom fishing, oil and gas extraction, and deep-seabed mining), environmental management and developing regulations must consider climate change. Strategic planning, impact assessment and monitoring, spatial management, application of the precautionary approach, and full-cost accounting of extraction activities should embrace climate consciousness. Coupled climate and biological modeling approaches applied in the water and on the seafloor can help accomplish this goal. For example, Earth-System Model projections of climate-change parameters at the seafloor reveal heterogeneity in projected climate hazard and time of emergence (beyond natural variability) in regions targeted for deep-seabed mining. Models that combine climate-induced changes in ocean circulation with particle tracking predict altered transport of early life stages (larvae) under climate change. Habitat suitability models can help assess the consequences of altered larval dispersal, predict climate refugia, and identify vulnerable regions for multiple species under climate change. Engaging the deep observing community can support the necessary data provisioning to mainstream climate into the development of environmental management plans. To illustrate this approach, we focus on deep-seabed mining and the International Seabed Authority, whose mandates include regulation of all mineral-related activities in international waters and protecting the marine environment from the harmful effects of mining. However, achieving deep-ocean sustainability under the UN Sustainable Development Goals will require integration of climate consideration across all policy sectors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lisa A. Levin
- Integrative Oceanography Division and Center for Marine Biodiversity and ConservationScripps Institution of OceanographyUniversity of California, San DiegoLa JollaCAUSA
| | - Chih‐Lin Wei
- Institute of OceanographyNational Taiwan UniversityTaipeiTaiwan
| | - Daniel C. Dunn
- School of Earth and Environmental SciencesUniversity of QueenslandSt LuciaQldAustralia
| | - Diva J. Amon
- Life Sciences DepartmentNatural History MuseumLondonUK
| | - Oliver S. Ashford
- Integrative Oceanography Division and Center for Marine Biodiversity and ConservationScripps Institution of OceanographyUniversity of California, San DiegoLa JollaCAUSA
| | - William W. L. Cheung
- Institute for the Oceans and FisheriesThe University of British ColumbiaVancouverBCCanada
| | - Ana Colaço
- IMARInstituto do Mar, and Instituto de Investigação em Ciências do Mar – Okeanos da Universidade dos AçoresHortaPortugal
| | - Carlos Dominguez‐Carrió
- IMARInstituto do Mar, and Instituto de Investigação em Ciências do Mar – Okeanos da Universidade dos AçoresHortaPortugal
| | - Elva G. Escobar
- Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y LimnologíaUniversidad Nacional Autónoma de MéxicoMexico CityMexico
| | - Harriet R. Harden‐Davies
- Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources and SecurityUniversity of WollongongWollongongNSWAustralia
| | - Jeffrey C. Drazen
- Department of OceanographyUniversity of Hawaii at ManoaHonoluluHIUSA
| | - Khaira Ismail
- Faculty of Science and Marine EnvironmentUniversiti Malaysia TerengganuKuala TerengganuMalaysia
| | - Daniel O. B. Jones
- Ocean Biogeochemistry and Ecosystems GroupNational Oceanography CentreSouthamptonUK
| | - David E. Johnson
- Global Ocean Biodiversity InitiativeSeascape Consultants Ltd.RomseyUK
| | - Jennifer T. Le
- Integrative Oceanography Division and Center for Marine Biodiversity and ConservationScripps Institution of OceanographyUniversity of California, San DiegoLa JollaCAUSA
| | - Franck Lejzerowicz
- Jacobs School of EngineeringUniversity of California San DiegoLa JollaCAUSA
| | - Satoshi Mitarai
- Marine Biophysics UnitOkinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate UniversityOkinawaJapan
| | - Telmo Morato
- IMARInstituto do Mar, and Instituto de Investigação em Ciências do Mar – Okeanos da Universidade dos AçoresHortaPortugal
| | - Sandor Mulsow
- Instituto Ciencias Marinas y LimnológicasUniversidad Austral de ChileValdiviaChile
| | - Paul V. R. Snelgrove
- Department of Ocean Sciences and Biology DepartmentMemorial University of NewfoundlandSt. John'sNLCanada
| | - Andrew K. Sweetman
- The Lyell Centre for Earth and Marine Science and TechnologyHeriot Watt UniversityEdinburghUK
| | - Moriaki Yasuhara
- School of Biological Sciences and Swire Institute of Marine ScienceThe University of Hong KongHong Kong SARChina
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Martin A, Boyd P, Buesseler K, Cetinic I, Claustre H, Giering S, Henson S, Irigoien X, Kriest I, Memery L, Robinson C, Saba G, Sanders R, Siegel D, Villa-Alfageme M, Guidi L. The oceans' twilight zone must be studied now, before it is too late. Nature 2020; 580:26-28. [PMID: 32235941 DOI: 10.1038/d41586-020-00915-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
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Mestre NC, Auguste M, de Sá LC, Fonseca TG, Cardoso C, Brown A, Barthelemy D, Charlemagne N, Hauton C, Machon J, Ravaux J, Shillito B, Thatje S, Bebianno MJ. Are shallow-water shrimps proxies for hydrothermal-vent shrimps to assess the impact of deep-sea mining? MARINE ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH 2019; 151:104771. [PMID: 31420206 DOI: 10.1016/j.marenvres.2019.104771] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/21/2019] [Revised: 08/02/2019] [Accepted: 08/04/2019] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Polymetallic seafloor massive sulphide deposits are potential targets for deep-sea mining, but high concentrations of metals (including copper - Cu) may be released during exploitation activities, potentially inducing harmful impact. To determine whether shallow-water shrimp are suitable ecotoxicological proxies for deep-sea hydrothermal vent shrimp the effects of waterborne Cu exposure (3 and 10 days at 0.4 and 4 μM concentrations) in Palaemon elegans, Palaemon serratus, and Palaemon varians were compared with Mirocaris fortunata. Accumulation of Cu and a set of biomarkers were analysed. Results show different responses among congeneric species indicating that it is not appropriate to use shallow-water shrimps as ecotoxicological proxies for deep-water shrimps. During the evolutionary history of these species they were likely subject to different chemical environments which may have induced different molecular/biochemical adaptations/tolerances. Results highlight the importance of analysing effects of deep-sea mining in situ and in local species to adequately assess ecotoxicological effects under natural environmental conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- N C Mestre
- Centre for Marine and Environmental Research (CIMA), Universidade do Algarve, Campus Universitário de Gambelas, 8005-139, Faro, Portugal.
| | - M Auguste
- Centre for Marine and Environmental Research (CIMA), Universidade do Algarve, Campus Universitário de Gambelas, 8005-139, Faro, Portugal
| | - L C de Sá
- Centre for Marine and Environmental Research (CIMA), Universidade do Algarve, Campus Universitário de Gambelas, 8005-139, Faro, Portugal
| | - T G Fonseca
- Centre for Marine and Environmental Research (CIMA), Universidade do Algarve, Campus Universitário de Gambelas, 8005-139, Faro, Portugal
| | - C Cardoso
- Centre for Marine and Environmental Research (CIMA), Universidade do Algarve, Campus Universitário de Gambelas, 8005-139, Faro, Portugal
| | - A Brown
- Ocean and Earth Science, University of Southampton, National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, SO14 3ZH, UK
| | - D Barthelemy
- Océanopolis, Port de Plaisance du Moulin Blanc BP 91039, 29210, Brest Cedex 1, France
| | - N Charlemagne
- Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, UMR CNRS 7208, MNHN/IRD-207/UCN/UA, Biologie des Organismes et Ecosystèmes Aquatiques, 7 Quai St Bernard, 75252, Cedex 5 Paris, France
| | - C Hauton
- Ocean and Earth Science, University of Southampton, National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, SO14 3ZH, UK
| | - J Machon
- Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, UMR CNRS 7208, MNHN/IRD-207/UCN/UA, Biologie des Organismes et Ecosystèmes Aquatiques, 7 Quai St Bernard, 75252, Cedex 5 Paris, France
| | - J Ravaux
- Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, UMR CNRS 7208, MNHN/IRD-207/UCN/UA, Biologie des Organismes et Ecosystèmes Aquatiques, 7 Quai St Bernard, 75252, Cedex 5 Paris, France
| | - B Shillito
- Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, UMR CNRS 7208, MNHN/IRD-207/UCN/UA, Biologie des Organismes et Ecosystèmes Aquatiques, 7 Quai St Bernard, 75252, Cedex 5 Paris, France
| | - S Thatje
- Ocean and Earth Science, University of Southampton, National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, SO14 3ZH, UK
| | - M J Bebianno
- Centre for Marine and Environmental Research (CIMA), Universidade do Algarve, Campus Universitário de Gambelas, 8005-139, Faro, Portugal
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