<aside> 👋 Hello and welcome to the #DefendTheDeep lobbying toolkit!
Here you will find all information, key figures, scientific reports, communication elements and more, in order to know everything about deep seabed mining, help us to defend the deep sea in the media or in your government, and debunk the greenwashing of the deep sea mining industry.
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🌊 The deep sea is the oldest and largest biome on Earth. But only in recent decades have we been able to explore these dark and hidden depths, revealing an extraordinary diversity of habitats, from hydrothermal vents to seamounts, all bursting with unique, and often otherworldly, species.
🌎 The ocean is also our biggest ally against the climate crisis: it is our biggest carbon sink, absorbing more than 30% of our global greenhouse gases emissions. 93% of the excess heat generated by human activities via the greenhouse effect is absorbed by the ocean, thus mitigating the increase in temperature of the atmosphere.
🐋 The deep sea is home to a diversity of species that live in particularly fragile and unique ecosystems. Many of these species are found nowhere else on our planet. At present, the ecosystems and biodiversity of the deep sea remain largely unexplored and still very little understood: we have mapped the surface of the Moon better than we have mapped the bottom of our ocean, and 90% of species living in the deep sea have not been described by science.
🦑 Most of the deep sea diverse species and ecosystems have adapted to the unique conditions of the deep ocean and are extremely vulnerable to human disturbance. Because of their very slow growth rate, over thousands to millions of years, deep sea ecosystems and species may never recover from deep seabed mining, scientists show.
🪨 In recent years, a particular interest in deep-sea mining has grown worldwide. A handful of mining companies is now looking to access metals such as cobalt, copper, manganese or nickel, from the bottom of the ocean.