Don't let deepest oceans become Wild West: UN chief

Nations are tussling over contentious rules on mining the seabed for critical minerals

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NICE, France - United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on June 9 said the world could not let the deepest oceans "become the Wild West", at the start of a global summit on the seas in France.

World leaders are at the UN Ocean Conference in Nice as nations tussle over contentious rules on mining the seabed for critical minerals and the terms of a global treaty on plastic pollution.

US President Donald Trump has brought urgency to the debate around deep-sea mining, moving to fast-track US exploration in international waters and sidestepping global efforts to regulate the nascent sector.

The International Seabed Authority, which has jurisdiction over the ocean floor outside national waters, is meeting in July to discuss a global mining code to regulate mining in the ocean depths.

Mr Guterres said he supported these negotiations and urged caution as countries navigate these "new waters on seabed mining".

"The deep sea cannot become the Wild West," he said, to applause from the plenary floor.

Many countries oppose seabed mining, and France is hoping more nations in Nice will join a moratorium until more is known about the ecological impacts of the practice.

French President Emmanuel Macron said a moratorium on deep-sea mining was "an international necessity".