IN TOO DEEP

The document examines the potential impacts of deep seabed mining, highlighting risks to biodiversity, ocean cycles, and the global fisheries economy. It challenges the necessity of seabed mining for the energy transition, suggesting that material efficiency and recycling could reduce mineral demand by 60-90%. WWF calls for a moratorium on these activities to protect the 'Common Heritage of Humankind' and promote a circular Blue Economy.

• Deep seabed mining poses severe risks to marine ecosystems, including the destruction of habitats, the creation of sediment plumes that smother organisms, and the release of toxic metals. These impacts could disrupt large-scale ocean cycles for carbon, nutrients, and trace metals, and potentially affect global fisheries, which provide the primary protein source for approximately 1 billion people.
• While some projections suggest cobalt demand could exceed reserves by 420% by 2050, other studies indicate that mineral demand for the energy transition can be kept within terrestrial limits. Increased recycling and material efficiency could potentially reduce demand for almost all minerals by 60-90%.
• Deep-sea ecosystems have low resilience and are unlikely to recover from mining disturbances within human timescales because the species are long-lived, slow to reach reproductive age, and have low fertility rates.
• The economic value of the wider ocean economy, estimated at US$1.5-2.4 trillion annually, is threatened by a deep seabed mining industry currently valued at US$2-20 billion.
• There is a potential conflict of interest within the International Seabed Authority (ISA), as it is responsible for both regulating deep seabed mining and establishing a benefit-sharing mechanism to redistribute financial profits from those activities.
• Deep seabed mining may undermine the transition to a circular economy by dampening mineral prices, which reduces the long-term incentive for governments and producers to invest in and scale up recycling efforts.

APA

WWF International (2021). IN TOO DEEP. https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/584/1kgrh1yzmx_WWF_InTooDeep_What_we_know_and_dont_know_about_DeepSeabedMining_rep_glrTzmO.pdf

Chicago

WWF International. IN TOO DEEP. 2021. https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/584/1kgrh1yzmx_WWF_InTooDeep_What_we_know_and_dont_know_about_DeepSeabedMining_rep_glrTzmO.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=WWF International |title=IN TOO DEEP |date=2021 |url=https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/584/1kgrh1yzmx_WWF_InTooDeep_What_we_know_and_dont_know_about_DeepSeabedMining_rep_glrTzmO.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{wwfinternational2021too, author = {{WWF International}}, title = {{IN TOO DEEP}}, institution = {WWF International}, year = {2021}, url = {https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/584/1kgrh1yzmx_WWF_InTooDeep_What_we_know_and_dont_know_about_DeepSeabedMining_rep_glrTzmO.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }