CIVICUS discusses the role of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) and the implications of the agency’s new leadership with Juressa Lee, Deep-Sea Mining Campaigner at Greenpeace Aotearoa, New Zealand’s national office of the global environmental organisation Greenpeace.
The ISA’s incoming Secretary-General, Brazilian oceanographer Leticia Carvalho, will be the first woman, oceanographer and Latin American person to lead the international organisation, which is responsible for ensuring that the marine environment is protected from the harmful effects of deep-sea mining activities. Carvalho has vowed to increase transparency and restore confidence in an agency that has been accused of mismanagement and siding with mining companies. The ISA is about to make a crucial decision on its first seabed mining licence, and civil society hopes it will apply stricter environmental standards under its new leadership.