Fwd: [READ AND SHARE] Deep-Sea Mining Threatens Indigenous & Coastal Communities in Asia-Pacific

[Prabindra Shakya]

FYI, email below

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: AIPNEE Secretariat <aipne...@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Feb 11, 2026 at 8:41 PM
Subject: [READ AND SHARE] Deep-Sea Mining Threatens Indigenous & Coastal Communities in Asia-Pacific
To: <aip...@googlegroups.com>, ZTI Coaltion (zti-co...@googlegroups.com) <zti-co...@googlegroups.com>, asiapacificrcem <asiapac...@googlegroups.com>, mail Iphrd <iphrde...@googlegroups.com>, <ifi-hrde...@list.ecn.cz>

Dear colleagues and friends,

Deep-sea mining is moving fast — and Indigenous and coastal communities are being put at risk.

An article by the AIPNEE Convenor Prabindra Shakya and Steering Committee member Johnson Jament on the Cultural Survival reveals how The Metals Company (TMC) is advancing deep-sea mining plans that threaten fragile ocean ecosystems and the rights, livelihoods, and food security of Indigenous and coastal communities across Asia and the Pacific.

Despite major scientific uncertainties and governance gaps, TMC is aggressively pushing for approvals to extract polymetallic nodules from the deep ocean — ecosystems that take centuries to form and may never recover.

Key concerns highlighted in the report include:

• Irreversible damage to deep-sea biodiversity

• Risks to fisheries, coastal livelihoods, and food systems

• Exclusion of Indigenous Peoples from meaningful decision-making

• Weak safeguards under the International Seabed Authority (ISA)

Deep-sea mining is being framed as part of the energy transition. But without strong protections, it risks becoming another extractive industry that sacrifices communities and ecosystems in the name of “green” development.

We urge all to:

✔️ Support calls for a moratorium on deep-sea mining

✔️ Advocate for the precautionary principle in ocean governance

✔️ Demand recognition of Indigenous and coastal communities’ marine rights

✔️ Monitor and challenge decisions at the International Seabed Authority (ISA)

🔗 Read the full report: https://www.culturalsurvival.org/news/deep-sea-danger-how-metals-company-threatens-indigenous-and-coastal-communities-asia-and

Please consider sharing this analysis within your networks and integrating it into ongoing advocacy, research, and policy engagement.

In solidarity,

Anshori

Secretariat,

ASIA INDIGENOUS PEOPLES NETWORK ON EXTRACTIVE INDUSTRIES AND ENERGY (AIPNEE)

http://www.aipnee.org

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Prabindra Shakya

Founder/Director, Community Empowerment and Social Justice Network (CEMSOJ), www.cemsoj.net

Convenor, Asia Indigenous Peoples Network on Extractive Industries and Energy (AIPNEE), www.aipnee.org