Project

With Horizon 2020 funding, ECOTIP launches a pioneering assessment of changes to Arctic marine ecosystems and societies, from melting ice to shifting fisheries

The ambitious new ECOTIP initiative brings together a multidisciplinary group of scientists from more than 10 countries to study ecosystem tipping cascades in the Arctic marine environment. This major international effort will advance understanding of the impacts of climate change on Arctic biodiversity and the cascading effects that biodiversity change can have on marine ecosystems, the climate services they provide, and the human communities that depend on them. The innovative four-year project, funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 Programme, launched on 1 June 2020.

This research project aims to develop a transdisciplinary approach to Deep Seabed Mining (DSM) - the exploration, and exploitation of minerals found on the ocean floor. This topic is highly relevant as those metals are necessary to build clean energy technologies enabling the transition from fossil fuels, and thus mitigate climate change. However, there are outstanding gaps and uncertainties as to the possible environmental impacts, and how to legally and politically carry out these activities in a just and sustainable way. This research arrives at a unique historical juncture, as exploitation activities will not commence before 2025, even though 31 exploration licenses are currently being considered worldwide. The Arctic region, with the case of Norway and Greenland, is the latest frontier of prospecting for deep seabed mining. The Arctic represents particularly sensitive and vulnerable ecosystems and, indirectly, coastal communities and Indigenous Peoples may be affected by these DSM projects. This project explores possible criteria for justice, equity and fairness that could apply in an effective regulation of DSM with Norway and Greenland as case study. It does so by integrating law, planning, and anthropology to build a transdisciplinary approach that allows the inclusion of DSM into the global energy transition challenge.

Deep Seabed Mining (DSM) is the search for, and exploitation of, minerals and metals necessary to construct clean energy technologies. However, there are outstanding gaps and uncertainties as to the possible environmental impacts, and how to legally carry-out these activities, is not yet determined. This book will have state-of-the art learnings on how to conduct DSM in a just and sustainable way.