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The connection with the ocean is central to the worldview for Indigenous Peoples around the world. For many Indigenous Peoples of the Pacific this profound connection is reflected in creation stories. In those stories, deities, islands, and humans emerged from the depths of the sea. It is the home of ancestors.
The territory of voyaging Peoples of the Pacific stretches across the whole of the ocean. The territories in the sea are part of a global web of life. And that is being threatened in a race to plunder the ocean floor.
When companies mine on land, most governments require them to study the impact of their mine. It is well-accepted that companies must study and address impacts on human rights, including Indigenous Peoples’ rights, and the environment. The ocean, however, doesn’t have the same safeguards — yet.
The rules for deep sea mining are still being written
Right now, the International Seabed Authority is writing the rules that most of the globe will follow if it mines the deep ocean. The ISA was formed by a 1994 agreement that put into effect part of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. It governs more than half of the world’s oceans, and 172 countries are members.
(Side note: The United States is not a member, and the Trump administration has said it will permit companies to mine the deep sea without regard for international law. You can read more on the threat of unilateral mining here.)
Indigenous Peoples’ rights aren’t being respected
There’s a big problem with what’s happening at the ISA now, however: Indigenous Peoples have no formal seat at the table. Their collective rights are not being taken seriously.
Mining companies want us to think of the ocean as a vast, isolated blank space just because no one lives on the deep ocean floor. But what non-Indigenous people describe as empty, Pacific Peoples revere as the genesis of existence and source of sustenance and livelihoods. The ocean connects and represents the shared heritage and ancestry of all Pacific Peoples.
Indigenous Peoples’ knowledge tells us that a healthy ocean is sacred, integral to all life on the planet, significant, and worth defending. For many Indigenous Peoples, it also represents a key part of how they live and sustain themselves. It is how their ancestors navigated across islands and land masses. It holds sacred and ceremonial sites. And yet, despite this, their voices and rights are being sidelined.
The ecological data gathered and knowledge systems built over millenia of lived experience of Indigenous Peoples must inform every part of the work of the ISA. This should include any regulations for mining the deep sea, from planning and study to monitoring and economics.
International law and treaties require better
The countries who are members of the ISA must listen to Indigenous Peoples when they write new rules — not just because it’s the right thing to do, and not just because it gives our planet a better chance for a livable future. The requirement is written into treaties and into international law.
Other international bodies already have processes in place to formally recognize and consult with Indigenous Peoples. The United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change both have formal ways for Indigenous Peoples to participate in decision-making. The ISA, if guided by Indigenous Peoples, can use these models to develop its own such structures.
Indigenous Peoples’ cultural heritage is at risk
Over the past few years, the ISA has been addressing the issue of “underwater cultural heritage”. This is an issue that shows how Indigenous Peoples’ rights can deepen conversations that might otherwise be sidelined.
Underwater cultural heritage sites are required to be protected. But right now, the policy defines those sites as only encompassing human-made objects — shipwrecks, for example.
Indigenous Peoples recognize sites in the ocean as especially culturally and spiritually important. These spaces aren’t human-made, but they hold stories, traditions, and significance that cannot be replaced. Advocates from Pacific Indigenous Peoples say these sites deserve protection.
The current definition of “underwater cultural heritage” gives more protection to a 100-year-old shipwreck than it gives to a sacred site that took millions of years to form and has been a place used and respected by people for thousands of years.
“Stonehenge, Pyramids, and the Great Wall, without their stories, are simply a collection of stones. Their meaning comes from the traditions, histories, beliefs, and relationships that have been carried from one generation to the next. The same is true beneath the ocean. Culture is not found in the artifact — it is found in the story the artifact carries.”
Statement by the Maui Nui Makai Network (Hawaiʻi)
But framing these sacred spaces through a narrow lens of “underwater cultural heritage” sets the bar far too low. Instead of debating ambiguous terms, the ISA could use the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as a baseline. It’s a framework that would shift the discussions. Instead of limited opportunities for participation, Indigenous Peoples would have their collective rights recognized by the ISA. Those rights strengthen their ability to continue to protect cultural and spiritual relationships with the ocean, for the benefit of all.
Setting the course for our future
The ISA may be writing policies that most people on the planet will never read, but those policies cut right to some of the biggest questions that will determine our future: Whose stories matter? Whose knowledge is respected? Whose history is valued? Whose rights are defended? And how will those answers shape the Earth that future generations inherit?