Portugal to ban deep-sea mining

The Portuguese Parliament has adopted a moratorium aimed at banning seabed mining until 2050. This initial decision will serve as a basis for drafting a text that will enshrine the ban on this practice in law.

Portugal wishes to preserve the resources potentially present in its exclusive economic zone belonging to its territorial waters around the Portuguese archipelago of the Azores.

In January 2023, France's National Assembly voted in favour of a moratorium on seabed mining. At the end of 2024, Norway gave up mineral exploration in its Arctic territorial waters.

The deep seabed on the high seas in international waters is administered by the International Seabed Authority (ISA), a United Nations agency that was set up in 1994.

The deep seabed is the object of worldwide covetousness on the part of certain states or private companies that are planning to exploit mineral resources to meet the needs of new technologies in the context of the energy transition. 

Discussions have been underway for several years within the ISA to decide whether or not to authorise the exploitation of mineral resources. Negotiations around a mining code are still ongoing and pit supporters of rapid exploitation of the deep seas against advocates of a moratorium based on scientists warning of the consequences of mining activity on biodiversity and the ocean's role as a climate regulator.