Concern in Samoa about deep sea mining around Am Samoa

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Samoa Conservation Society President James Atherton has called for greater care after the United States government announced plans to consider a lease for deep-sea mining offshore of American Samoa.

The Samoa Observer newspaper reports Atherton said SCS was concerned that American Samoa has supported the move and believes that the threat is not just American Samoa’s, but Samoa’s as well.

“It is especially disappointing that the historic commitments made by the US government in 2009, and expanded in 2014, to protect marine resources in the U.S. Pacific are now being rolled back—just at the time when the world and the Pacific needs increased conservation of natural resources to counter the growing threat of climate change, overfishing, plastic pollution, and other threats,” said Atherton.

The Trump administration is setting the stage to sell mining rights off the coast of American Samoa as demand surges for critical materials used in electric vehicle batteries, smartphones, and other technology.

“The resilience of nature and conservation of nature go hand in hand, so reduced conservation is likely to result in reduced resilience of marine ecosystems in the future,” Atherton asserted.

Photo: Samoa Observer