A Study on the Financial System for Developing Mineral Resources and Protecting the Marine Environment in the Area

Abstract

For the commercial development of deep-sea mineral resources, the International Seabed Authority is engaged in wide ranging discussions to establish the Regulations on Exploitation. The core issue of the Regulations on Exploitation is how to protect the marine environment along with the royalty system that distributes the profits from such development. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea stipulates the protection of the marine environment in Part 12 (Articles 192–237) for the preservation of the marine environment, and in the 1994 Implementation Agreement, the protection of the marine environment at the stage of application for approval of the plan of work together with the Regulations on Exploration for the protection of the marine environment. For this purpose, certain obligations are imposed on the applicants. In the Regulations on Exploitation, financial systems such as environmental performance guarantee, insurance, and environmental compensation funds, which were not found in the Regulations on Exploration, are added to further specify the measures for marine environment protection generally stipulated in the 1982 Law of the Convention or 1994 Implementation Agreement. Regarding the financial system for marine environment protection, the Marine Environmental Protection and Conservation Informal Working Group meeting is revising the purpose of the environmental compensation fund. Among these financial system elements, it is judged that there is a possibility that the environmental performance guarantee and insurance may overlap considerably, and it is also thought that the establishment of the environmental compensation fund can also provide a substantial sum of money that will meet the purpose of the compensation fund in terms of securing its financial resources. In this paper, the question is posed as to whether or not this can be accomplished. In this respect, this paper examines the environmental performance guarantee, insurance, and environmental compensation fund, which are necessary for the protection of the marine environment of the deep seabed, but which can impose appropriate obligations on contractors for the commercial development of deep seabed mineral resources. At the same time as figuring out how it is operated in relation to relevant domestic laws, I would like to propose a plan to reflect the implications derived from the domestic law operation process in the Regulations on Exploitation.