As commercial deep-sea mining is increasingly being considered in parts of the Pacific, the region’s bishops have called for prudence. Source: Vatican News.
“Until there is convincing evidence that such activity can be undertaken without causing serious or irreversible harm, prudence calls us to exercise great caution.”
The Episcopal Conference of the Pacific (CEPAC) expressed this in a pastoral statement issued on August 10 on deep-sea mining, signed by the Conference’s President, Archbishop Ryan Jimenez of Agaña, Guam, who also serves as President of the Federation of Catholic Bishops’ Conferences of Oceania (FCBCO).
In the letter, the bishops stated, “We respectfully encourage all who bear responsibility for decisions concerning deep-sea mining to proceed with wisdom, transparency, humility, and genuine concern for the common good.”
For generations, they noted, humanity has extracted the mineral resources of the earth to sustain economic development, often without fully considering the long-term consequences for our common home.
Yet today, they pointed out, commercial deep-sea mining in the region appears increasingly imminent, warning that large areas of the Pacific seabed, including the 33 million acres in the waters surrounding American Samoa and areas near the Mariana Trench Marine National Monument, are now being considered for commercial leasing.
Governments, scientists, Indigenous communities, Churches, and many people of goodwill, the bishops of the Pacific noted, have been prompted by these developments to engage in an important conversation about the future of their ocean and the legacy they will leave to those who come after us.
“History,” they noted, “teaches us that when science remains uncertain about the consequences of actions that may cause serious or irreversible harm, wisdom calls us to proceed with humility, prudence, and prayerful discernment.”
For Pacific peoples, the bishops explained, this conviction is deeply rooted in their way of life. They expressed their hope that their generation would be remembered “not for what it extracted” from Creation, but “for what it protected”.
Pointing out that deep ocean remains one of the least understood ecosystems on Earth, scientists, the prelates noted, “acknowledge that much about its biodiversity, its ecological relationships, and its long-term resilience is still unknown.”
As a result, they warned that decisions taken today could have consequences that cannot easily be reversed.
Prudence, they recognised, “is not an obstacle to progress,” but “the virtue that enables authentic progress to serve both humanity and creation.”
FULL STORY
Bishops of the Pacific urge caution over deep-sea mining (By Deborah Castellano Lubov, Vatican News)