Routledge Handbook of Seabed Mining and the Law of the Sea

For years, exploration of seabed natural resources has been ongoing while exploitation in deep marine areas remained unrealistic due to land-based mineral availability and costs. However, mounting pressures from the green transition, climate change, and long-lasting fears of terrestrial minerals scarcity now bring exploitation prospects closer to reality.

This has caused concern to a growing chorus of States, scientists, industries, NGOs, and parts of civil society due to the potential environmental and social impacts of these activities. As a result, the idea of a moratorium or ‘precautionary pause’ is gaining ground. Yet, an important number of interpretation and implementation issues of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the 1994 Agreement remain to be answered as a means to move forward in accordance with international law.

This multidisciplinary book, designed to become the essential handbook on the matter, provides a global overview of the national, regional, and international regulatory frameworks applicable to the exploration and exploitation of seabed minerals on the continental shelf and the Area, as well as the related state of the science on the matter.

By presenting historical and geopolitical context crucial to understanding regulation evolution, the book equips readers with foundational legal and policy knowledge. It furthermore addresses contemporary and prospective issues and offers unique insights into regional and national practices, including non-Party States to UNCLOS.

Chapters I.3, IV.1 and VI.1.4 of this book are freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons [Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND)] 4.0 license.

Virginie Tassin Campanella is an internationally award-winning Attorney and Researcher. Avocat à la Cour (Paris, France and Zürich, Switzerland), and double Doctor in Law (Sorbonne, France and Melbourne, Australia), she is the Founder and Director of VTA Tassin, the first public international law firm dedicated to oceans and seas. With more than 15 years of experience in seabed management, her notable achievements include, amongst others, working at the Legal Office of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea on the 2011 Seabed Disputes Chamber Advisory Opinion and 2012 Bangladesh/Myanmar case.