Samoa Conservation Society President James Atherton has called for great care after the United States government announced plans to consider a lease for deep sea mining off shore of American Samoa.
Samoa Observer newspaper reports Atherton said SCS was concerned that American Samoa has supported the move and believes that the threat from this 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 US 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,” asserts Atherton.
Photo: Samoa Observer
