PACIFIC SMALL ISLAND DEVELOPING STATES REGIONAL TRAINING AND CAPACITY BUILDING WORKSHOP ON DEEP-SEABED MINING

1. CONTRIBUTION OF PSIDS
TO THE DEVELOPMENT
OF THE ISA MINING CODE
T. SUKA MANGISI
PERMANENT MISSION OF THE KINGDOM OF TONGA
TO THE UNITED NATIONS
NUKU’ALOFA, TUESDAY, 12TH FEBRUARY 2019 1

2. OVERVIEW OF
PRESENTATION
Pacific Small Island Developing States (PSIDS)
PSIDS engagement in the International Seabed Authority
PSIDS Contribution to the Mining Code
Potential priority areas for the Pacific in the Mining Code
PSIDS collective engagement as a Group
Conclusion and Future Outlook
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3. PACIFIC SMALL
ISLAND
DEVELOPING
STATES
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4. PACIFIC
SMALL ISLAND DEVELOPING STATES
1. Established in 2005 in New York with
PNG being the first chair
2. Membership: 12 Pacific Island
Countries with Permanent Mission in
New York
3. Current Chair : Fiji
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5. PACIFIC
SMALL ISLAND DEVELOPING STATES
4. Key engagements to date on ocean issues include
SDG14 and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development;
Call for Action of the United Nations Ocean Conference;
Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ)
Negotiations
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6. PSIDS ENGAGEMENTS AT THE
INTERNATIONAL SEABED AUTHORITY (ISA)
1. All PSIDS are members of the ISA
2. Assembly
◦ All PSIDS are members of the ISA Assembly
◦ Asia- Pacific Group of States
◦ Presidency for 2001 ; PNG 2006, 2011 : Fiji
3. Council
◦ Members are Fiji (Group D) and Tonga (Group E)
◦ Presidency for 2000 and 2015 : Fiji
◦ All other members can participate as Observers
4. Legal and Technical Commission
o Mr. Mark B. Alcock - Australia
o Mr. Russell Howorth – Fiji
o Mr. Clark Malcom – New Zealand
o Mr. Siosiua Utoikamanu - Tonga
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7. PSIDS ENGAGEMENTS AT THE
INTERNATIONAL SEABED AUTHORITY (ISA)
4. Sponsoring States
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8. PSIDS CONTRIBUTION TO
THE MINING CODE
1. PSIDS have NOT engaged as a group on the Mining Code.
2. PSIDS contribute as individual members to the Mining
Code rather than a group effort
3. PSIDS Individual contributions highlight areas of priority
for the Pacific as a whole
4. SPC, Commonwealth Secretariat and Pew Charitable
Trusts provided support through information papers
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9. EFFORTS AT THE REGION
2018 PSIDS Officials met in Nadi in July 2018 to discuss the Pacific
Engagement on the Exploitation Regulations
Highlighted key Areas for engagement on the Exploitation
regulations of the International Seabed Authority in particular:
◦ Overall regulations;
◦ Financial Mechanism;
◦ Encourage expedited process;
◦ Environmental segments particularly on the issue of
transboundary impacts
◦ Highlighted the importance of technical advice from
ComSec, SPC, Pew Charitable Trusts
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10. POTENTIAL
PRIORITY AREAS
FOR THE PSIDS
IN THE MINING
CODE
(a) Roles of sponsoring states and potential profits from
future mining;
(b) Financial Mechanism and Preferential Rights for
small island developing States
(c) Environmental Regime and the need to protect the
environment and avoid transboundary impacts
(d) Transfer of Technology and Knowledge to small
island developing States
(e) Capacity building for small island developing States
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11. PSIDS COLLECTIVE ENGAGEMENT AT THE
ISA AS A GROUP
1. Interests are similar with bigger groups, such as the
African Group and GRULAC (developing states), therefore
coordination and engagement as a group is vital in the
development of the Mining Code (mindful of membership
in the APG [mix of developed and developing states]);
2. Ensuring a robust framework for compensation for
transboundary impacts is essential;
3. Access to state of the art technology and knowledge
through capacity building initiatives is vital for the PSIDS;
4. Engagement in the Assembly and Council can be through
a certain member to deliver the interventions eg. PSIDS
Chair
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12. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE OUTLOOK
Development of the Exploitation Contract marks an important step in the
evolution of the International Seabed Authority;
PSIDS contribution is vital in order to ensure common interests are
projected and protected;
Ongoing Development of the Regional Agreement on Deep Seabed
Mining in light of the development of regulations at the ISA
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13. Establishing a robust framework is necessary to address present and potential concerns which
may arise in the future which include:
(a) Proper management of mineral resources;
(b) Maritime security for the transportation of minerals to and from the Area;
(c) Interlinkages between the regime and other regimes such as Trade, Human rights, and the
Conservation and Sustainable use of marine biological diversity in areas beyond national
jurisdiction;
CONCLUSION AND FUTURE OUTLOOK
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14. MALO ‘AUPITO
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