SECOND REGIONAL TRAINING
WORKSHOP ON DEEP SEA MINING LAW AND CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS,
Held In Nukua’lofa
Tonga
From 11-15th
March 2013
Summary Report:
Acknowledgement
Let me take this opportunity to thank the sponsors of the Second Regional
Training Workshop on Deep Sea Mining Law and Contract Negotiations.
I thank the European Union and the Ocean and Islands Program of the SOPAC
Division of the Secretariat of the Pacific Commission to facilitate this
workshop. I would like to express my special thank you to Hannah Lily, Vira
Atalifo, and those who made it possible for me to travel to Tonga at such a
short notice. I would also like to take this
opportunity to thank Helen Rosenbaum for nominating me to represent the civil
society in Papua New Guinea to attend this workshop. Last but not the least a big
thank you to my family for allowing me to represent my people at this training.
Introduction
This Summary
Report outlined the kind of experience I gained from the workshop. It points out the lessons learnt, the
benefits achieved, setbacks encountered and a few recommendations to help the
organising committee improve in the planning for the coming workshop.
Experience Gained:
This
workshop helped me learn how to negotiate on behalf of the civil society with
the government representatives and the Deep Sea Mining Company. It also empowered me to learn more on Deep
Sea Mining Law and Contract Negotiations in general. The mock exercise actually gave me a fair
idea of how it is actually done in real life situation. I also gained additional skills, knowledge
and lessons from other presenters.
Lessons Learnt:
Some of the
key lessons learnt from this workshop include the question I paused to Mary
Louise Viteli about the right for all citizens to know about the Content of the
Contract Agreement between the State and the DSM company (Nautilus) in this
case. She pointed out that all citizens
have the right to know about that and that the State should make it
public. I flag her comments to the
representative of the PNG’s Solicitor General’s Office who attended the
workshop as a reminder. I believe this
was captured very well by the East Timor nation as shown in the television
documentary produced by ABC’s Four Corners in Timor Leste.
This small
island nation truly proved to us that they have a fighting spirit and would not
sway or be swayed by multi-billion corporate entities such as Woodside and
ConocoPhillips to agree to their terms and conditions. They stood their grounds and argued that they
get the fair share of the revenue from their petroleum industry. They also pushed hard to ensure that the
pipeline be connected to their island nation.
They were able to prove to Woodside through a local company Timor Gas
and Petroleum that that was possible as proven in the bathometric studies of
the sea floor.
They even
went against the recommendation by World Bank and used the money from their
Sovereign Wealth Fund to build and improve their health, education and
agriculture services.
A key lesson
to learn from that video documentary is that they relied on no one but on
themselves for the best advice. This may
not be literally true but goes to say that at the end of the day, whatever
decision we make should be good for our country and our people based on sound and
independent technical advice or evaluation report.
Another
lesson I picked up from that video documentary was that they had a bigger fight
ahead of them and that was the need to collect all the tax due to their nation
from the petroleum companies operating on their land.
In addition,
mining companies and the respective government representatives, International
Seabed Authority and key speakers from SOPAC gave us a clear and in-depth
knowledge and understanding of issues dealing with DSM laws, geology and the DSM
technologies. I now have a fair
knowledge of deep sea minerals, how mining companies carry out exploration
activities in the sea floor, what kinds of equipment they use, the money used
to do their work and the risks involved.
The KIOST’s
presentation showed us clearly how they will use their technology to mitigate
risks particularly in an event the slurry pipe breaks midway up or down in the
ocean. However, I am not happy with their
plans to pump the waste back to the sea.
Neptune also emphasized the process of taking small steps one at a time
to ensure that their activities do not cause negative impact to the environment
but did not show us the kind of technology they plan to use in DSM. Nautilus’s presentation showed part of a
equipment left in the sea which was found some years later when doing the
exploration in the same area. This is
not a good sign and an indicator of careless work attitude.
Benefits achieved:
This
workshop helped me gain more knowledge about deep sea mining, contract law and
techniques for negotiation. I learned about the geology of the earth and
the deep sea minerals from Akuila Tawake’s (SOPAC) presentation which was also
complemented by Jang Wan Bang’s (KIOST) presentations. I must
also commend Nautilus, KIOST, and Neptune for taking a due diligent process in
dealing with the DSM industry. Speaking
to Jang Wang Bang, he pointed out that they will operate within the laws of the
State. That once again brings to
attention the need for all Pacific Island nations to ensure that all their
Laws, Procedures, Policies, and Strategies MUST be in place prior to issuing
exploration and exploitation licenses to DSM companies. We cannot totally blame DSM companies if we
fail to do our part. As a civil society
representative, I am happy that I was able to get our precautionary principle
and due diligent messages across to the rest of the participants.
The setbacks:
The Pacific-
ACP States Regional Legislative and Regulatory Framework for Deep Sea Minerals
Exploration and Exploitation and the Precautionary Approach In A Deep Sea
Mining Content reports,
should have been sent out to all the
participants a month early and not a few weeks before the workshop. That would give us sufficient time to read
and also gauge the views from other stakeholders prior to attending this
workshop.
Recommendations for improvement:
I recommend
that SOPAC should send us key documents in advance – a month or two leading up
to the workshop. This will give us ample
time to gauge views from other members prior to attending the workshop.
Message:
I call on all
Pacific Island nations to follow the due diligent and the Precautionary
Approach in DSM. We MUST not rush into
DSM as we are not living on life support.
We are a resilient breed of people who have sailed our open seas with
sailing canoes and without compass, climbed the tallest and rugged mountains on
bare foot, and swam across fast flowing rivers and lakes full of crocodiles,
snakes and other dangerous wild animals without safety gears. Not even the mosquitoes were able to wipe us
out of the face of the earth. We lived
off our seas, rivers, lakes and oceans using rudimentary tools for more than
50,000 years. Who said we will die now
if there’s no deep sea mining. Our land,
sea, air and water is our life. Caution:
Don’t Rush. Haste Brings Waste!
Malo 'au
pito
Wenceslaus
Magun
The National
Coordinator
Mas Kagin
Tapani (MKT)
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