Latest news with #UnitedNationsConventionontheLawoftheSea
Hindustan Times
11 hours ago
- Science
- Hindustan Times
Bleeding blue: All that we are looking to extract from the oceans
We know the ocean covers over 70% of the planet. What most of us don't really think about is that more than 60% of that vast expanse lies outside national boundaries, an unregulated immensity known as the high seas. For most of human history, oceans have been mythologised rather than mapped. The dividing lines that do exist have been drawn in intriguing and somewhat arbitrary ways. In the 18th century, for instance, a Dutch jurist proposed that a country's sovereign waters should extend as far as a cannon could fire from its coast, which turned out to be about three nautical miles (about 5.5 km). It was a brilliantly pragmatic solution: state control where defence was plausible, and freedom beyond. The so-called 'cannon-shot rule' became law, and lived on until the 20th century. Then came oil rigs, trawlers and submarines, which called for upgrades in maritime monitoring. In 1982, after years of Cold War-era wrangling, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea was signed, dividing waters into zones of control. (UNCLOS was ratified in 1994.) Territorial waters were now considered to extend 12 nautical miles (about 22 km) from the coast. Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) extended to 200 nautical miles (about 370 km). Beyond that remain the high seas: vast, largely ungoverned, and increasingly contested. Fruit of the sea? Meanwhile, we famously have better maps of Mars than we do of Earth's oceans. Despite efforts made with satellites, submersibles and robots, an estimated 80% of the ocean remains unexplored. It doesn't help that light begins to dwindle rapidly beyond depths of 200 metres, and pressure builds. The Mariana Trench, for reference, sits at about 11,000 metres below sea level (deeper than Mount Everest is high). It isn't just mystery that lives in these deeps. It is priceless utility. The ocean is our thermostat, our oxygen engine, our pantry and, increasingly, our vault. We have been drilling for oil and gas reserves for decades. Now we are eyeing reserves of metals such as cobalt, nickel and manganese, vital to current green-energy technology. With nodules of these metals just sitting on the floor, there is talk of robots gliding about beneath the seas, gathering them up like underwater fruit. Except one must first determine whose nodules they are, and how to safely reach them. That safety, of course, relates primarily to the marine ecosystems themselves. Hidden treasure In 2023, after years of diplomatic inertia, the UN brokered the High Seas Treaty (officially, the Agreement on Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction; it's a good thing it has a nickname.) The treaty aims to create protected marine areas, mandate environmental assessments, and determine how to share the benefits of marine resources. This is a document born of rising anxiety: over vanishing species, collapsing ecosystems and the accelerating commodification of the deep. The treaty is not yet law. It has not been ratified and it is unclear how many countries will eventually sign on. Meanwhile, the high seas are already being commercially explored. What lies beneath is considered too tempting. Just one area, the 4.5-million-sq-km Clarion-Clipperton Zone between Hawaii and Mexico — an area larger than the European Union — is said to hold more battery-grade metals than all known land reserves. UNCLOS also created the International Seabed Authority (ISA), to regulate mining in international waters. ISA, headquartered in Jamaica, has already issued 31 exploration licences worldwide. Its dual role, to regulate and promote, is an open contradiction. A new gold rush is underway. Our final frontier The biggest risk? That it is already too late to ask the right questions. Unlike forests, the deep-sea floor has no history of human interference. Sediments settle over centuries. Scar them, and the wound may never heal. In a study published in 2020, German researchers returned to a small patch of seabed off the coast of Peru, which they had disturbed 26 years earlier. Their tracks remained. Microbial life hadn't returned. Time had not healed the area; it had simply fossilised the damage. We have no idea how the ocean responds to disturbance. Other recent findings suggest that the nodules that are the focus of our newest gold rush aren't simply inert 'fruit' waiting to be collected. They are biological scaffolds, hosting microbes that may play a crucial role in nutrient cycles and oxygen production. Still, the push continues. Many deep-sea mining companies promise cleaner extraction than on land. Better this, they argue, than poisoned villages and jungles razed to stubble as a result of mining activity. They are not entirely wrong. But the framing is false. The choice may not be a binary. There are other paths: battery innovation, material substitutes, recycling. What we lack isn't cobalt. It is patience, and perhaps humility. And for what? In research labs around the world, new battery chemistries are taking shape: sodium-ion systems that sidestep cobalt entirely, solid-state designs with safer materials. The very need driving seabed mining may disappear, not in decades but in years. There is precedent. In the 1800s, whale oil was essential… for lamps, lubrication, industry. Then came electricity, the lightbulb and fossil fuels. Demand collapsed. Whales didn't survive because we found compassion. They survived because we found something better. What if we're solving for the wrong scarcity? Yet, the machines are already descending. China, the US and the EU are testing new devices. India has secured two ISA exploration licences. Tiny Pacific Island countries are looking forward to profiting from holding the keys to the most accessible expanses, even as sea levels rise to what could be, for them, island-extinction levels. There is a photograph that captures something of the conundrum: a deep-sea octopus guarding its eggs, nestled on a bed of manganese nodules. It is a reminder that the sea isn't a vault. It is a nursery. Our world's wondrous balancing engine. And we don't really know how it works. Yet, our engines of extraction won't wait, neither for innovation nor hindsight. There is a pattern here, and it's not a new one. We rush before we reckon. This time, we are rushing into Earth's oldest, largest, possibly most defining biome. Is it more batteries we need, or more balance? *** In Hindu myth, the gods and demons churned the cosmic ocean to retrieve amrit, the nectar of immortality. But before the amrit, this yielded halahala, a poison so potent it threatened to destroy all life. Shiva, the god of destruction, had to swallow it to save the world. It is the oldest story we tell about extraction: treasure and terror, released together. It is wise to fear the ocean. It has never cared for surface designs. (Kashyap Kompella is an industry analyst and author of two books on AI)
New Straits Times
12 hours ago
- Politics
- New Straits Times
Anwar calls for restraint, diplomacy in South China Sea dispute
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has called on all parties involved in the South China Sea dispute to exercise restraint and avoid actions that could lead to further escalation. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said the dispute is best resolved through steady, principled diplomacy. "Malaysia remains deeply concerned about the potential for escalation among the claimants in the South China Sea. We have no interest in seeing tensions spiral into confrontation, least of all in waters so critical to our security and prosperity. "That is why we will continue to engage all parties calmly, directly, and consistently. We will urge restraint, encourage dialogue, and work to preserve the stability on which this region depends. "Above all, we remain steadfast in our principled insistence that all parties uphold the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea," he said in his speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue, titled Holding Our Ground: Southeast Asia in a Fractured World, in Singapore. In his speech, Anwar also said that Malaysia does not believe in spheres of influence, as history has shown that when major powers attempt to divide the world into exclusive zones of control, smaller nations are often left voiceless. "Stability does not come from carving up the map, but from creating space for all to participate meaningfully in shaping the order we live in." He said Malaysia's approach was one of active non-alignment, where the country engages with all nations to maximise its own strategic space. "Indeed, while we welcome a strong and enduring United States presence in the region, towards fostering peace, we also value our vibrant and firm ties with China, and our robust partnerships across Asia, Europe, and the Global South." He said Southeast Asia needs a "dynamic equilibrium" that enables cooperation without coercion, and balance without bloc politics. "For Malaysia, this is a deliberate and strategic posture to help preserve an open region, to assert our sovereignty, and to make our own choices, on our own terms."
GMA Network
17 hours ago
- Politics
- GMA Network
China conducts 'combat readiness' patrols in Scarborough despite PH's assertion of sovereignty
China's Southern Theatre navy conducted combat readiness patrols on Saturday around the disputed Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea, Reuters reported citing Xinhua news agency. China's navy has continuously intensified patrols and surveillance in the surrounding waters and airspace in the area, further strengthening control over the relevant maritime and aerial domains, Xinhua said. EXPLAINER: What is Scarborough Shoal and why is it important? Scarborough Shoal, which is also being claimed by the Philippines, is a triangular coral reef formation which surrounds a lagoon, is famed for its rich waters and marine resources. It is also referred to as Bajo de Masinloc or Panatag Shoal. Scarborough Shoal is located 124 nautical miles off Masinloc, Zambales and is considered within the Philippines' 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone, based on the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). In 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled in favor of the Philippines over China's claims in the South China Sea, saying that it had "no legal basis." Last month, the Philippines cited its sovereignty in the area after China called out Manila for its alleged illegal intrusion into Scarborough Shoal. 'These are all part of shaping or malign info operations more likely for their internal audience,' Philippine Navy spokesperson for the Wet Philippines (WPS) Commodore Roy Vincent Trinidad said. 'Only the Philippine Navy and other Philippine flagged law enforcement ships have the authority and legal bases to challenge any ship within maritime zones,' he added. Parts of the South China Sea that fall within Philippine territory have been renamed by the government as West Philippine Sea to reinforce the country's claim. The West Philippine Sea refers to the maritime areas on the western side of the Philippine archipelago including Luzon Sea and the waters around, within and adjacent to the Kalayaan Island Group and Bajo de Masinloc. —with reports from Reuters/ VAL, GMA Integrated News
GMA Network
2 days ago
- Politics
- GMA Network
DFA rejects Chinese Embassy's claims over Pag-asa Island and cays
An aerial view shows Pag-asa Island in the West Philippine Sea on March 9, 2023. REUTERS/ Eloisa Lopez/ File photo The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Thursday rejected recent statements of the Chinese Embassy in Manila claiming Chinese ownership over Pag-asa Island and its cays and calling Philippine activities there 'illegal.' In a statement, the DFA emphasized that Pag-asa Island and its cays were part of the Kalayaan Island Group (KIG), where the Philippines has longstanding sovereignty and jurisdiction. 'The Philippines is clearly within its rights to conduct routine maritime operations and scientific research in and around these features, and will continue to do so,' the statement read. The DFA maintained that the country was following international law, specifically the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the 2016 South China Sea Arbitral Award, and the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC). 'The actions of Philippine authorities in the area are a valid exercise of Philippine sovereignty and consistent with international law… China has no right to object much less interfere with these lawful and routine activities,' it added. In an interview on Tuesday, the Chinese Embassy spokesperson said that the Philippines violated the DOC's article 5, which stated that all Parties must 'exercise self-restraint' in conducting activities that might cause dispute and affect peace and stability. 'Nansha Qundao, including Tiexian Jiao, has always been China's territory. China has indisputable sovereignty over Nansha Qundao and its adjacent waters,' the statement said, using the Chinese names for the Spratly Islands and Sandy Cay respectively. China accused the Philippines of conducting 27 'unauthorized' landings involving 167 personnel 'in disregard of strong protests and representations from the Chinese side' since January 2025. They also claimed that the Philippines' 'scientific research' resembled a film production instead of actual research activity. 'The underlying intentions behind such activities are self-evident. It is clear which party initiated the provocation and which is engaging in deception… China will continue to take resolute measures to safeguard its territorial sovereignty, maintain Tiexian Jiao's status of no personnel or facilities, and steadfastly uphold the sanctity of the DOC,' the embassy spokesperson said. The DFA urged China to respect the Philippines' jurisdiction over the West Philippine Sea. Beijing claims almost all of the West Philippine Sea, a conduit for more than $3 trillion of annual shipborne commerce, including parts claimed by the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei. In 2016, an international arbitration tribunal in Hague ruled in favor of the Philippines over China's claims in the South China Sea, saying that it had "no legal basis." China has not recognized the decision. — Jiselle Anne C. Casucian/BM, GMA Integrated News
Yomiuri Shimbun
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Beijing Removes Chinese Buoy from Japan's EEZ in Okinawa Pref.; No More Chinese Buoys Unapproved by Tokyo Placed in Japan EEZ
Yomiuri Shimbun file photo Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya, left, and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi shake hands at a meeting in Beijing in December 2024, when Iwaya protested China's placement of a buoy in Japan's EEZ. China has removed its large buoy that had been placed without Japan's approval inside Japan's exclusive economic zone (EEZ) south of Yonaguni Island in Okinawa Prefecture, according to sources. The Japanese government, which has been demanding that China remove the buoy since it was put in place in December, is looking into the reason why China removed the buoy. According to Japanese government sources, the Japan Coast Guard observed the buoy removal. The buoy had 'China Meteorological Administration' and other words were written on it, and the Chinese Foreign Ministry has insisted it was legal and for meteorological observation purposes. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea states that marine scientific research can only be conducted in the EEZ of another country if approval is obtained from the other state. China had previously placed a buoy in Japan's EEZ off the Senkaku Islands in Okinawa Prefecture in July 2023 but moved it to the Chinese side in February this year. Following the latest removal, there are no more Chinese buoys in Japan's EEZ without the approval of the Japanese government.
