Deep-sea mining possibly as damaging as land mining, lawyers say

Environmental and legal groups warn of potential huge effects on Indigenous people and the environment

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The "new global gold rush" over deep-sea mining holds the same potential pitfalls as previous resource scrambles, with environmental and social impacts ignored and the rights of Indigenous people marginalised, a paper in the Harvard Law Review has warned.

A framework for deep-sea mining - where polymetallic nodules or hydrothermal vents are mined by machine - was first articulated in the 1960s, on an idea that the seabed floor beyond national jurisdiction was a "common heritage of mankind".