Liz Karan
Liz Karan, Project Director of Protecting Ocean life on the High Seas with the Pew Charitable Trusts, highlights the challenges to protect the marine life and water quality in the oceans. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea Treaty and the International Seabed Authority are the foundations for a comprehensive global approach to preserve biodiversity, prevent pollution and contamination of the oceans. The International Seabed Authority is working to develop the regulations for safe mining the seas to extract valuable ores, such as manganese nodules. Several countries, such as Chile and Costa Rica, are pushing to develop environmental regulations and guideline to prevent environmental disasters. Some countries want to ban deep-sea mining because, if not properly regulated, it can create environmental devastation. Recent United Nations Conferences on oceans and deep-sea mining have contributed to developing these critical guidelines.
