Isa Secretary-General’s Statement: Isa Plays a Key Role in Regulating the Sustainable Development of Mineral Resources in a Way That Balances the Need for Minerals with Rigorous Environmental Protection

In light of recent release of the report by Greenpeace entitled‘Protect the Ocean’,which regrettably contains a series of inaccurate elements and factual mistakes,particularly in relation to the existing legal regime set up by international law,ISA wishes to make a number of corrections to the report.The legal regime for the seabed beyond national jurisdiction(which covers 54%of the global ocean)is an integral and fundamental part of the international system for ocean governance under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea(UNCLOS),which is often referred to as the‘constitution for the ocean’.The ISA is established by the Convention to manage the mineral resources of the deep seabed,which are designated‘the common heritage of mankind’on behalf of all humanity.