The vote has opened an area of the Norwegian Sea nearly as big as Italy to deep-sea mining exploration - an activity that scientists fear might destroy marine life.
ADVERTISEMENTEnvironmental activists gathered in front of the Norwegian parliament on Tuesday to protest against the country’s decision to authorise the seabed mining exploration of parts of the Norwegian Sea.
Norway has become the first country to permit the controversial practice of commercial-scale deep-sea mining which is widely opposed by environmentalists and scientists, who have warned that it could be devastating for marine life.
The areas opened by the Norwegian government to seabed mining exploration are located in the Arctic, between Svalbard, Greenland, Iceland and Jan Mayen. These areas - which altogether are larger than the UK and almost as big as Italy, for a total of 280,000 sq km - are all under Norway’s national jurisdiction.
Greenpeace condemned the vote, calling Tuesday “a shameful day” for Norway. “It is embarrassing to watch Norway positioning itself as an ocean leader while giving the green light to ocean destruction in Arctic waters,” said Frode Pleym, head of Greenpeace Norway. “But this doesn’t end here. The wave of protests against deep sea mining has only begun.”
The approval by the Norwegian parliament, which came in a 80 to 20 vote, will accelerate the hunt for precious metals needed to build batteries for electric vehicles around the world, as well as other green technologies - including lithium, scandium and cobalt.
Both the EU and the UK, which have called for a temporary ban on deep-sea mining because of environmental concerns, opposed the move.
An agreement on deep-sea mining in international waters is anticipated to follow later this year.