International Seabed Mining:-Parallel System of Mining

Two friends bid for the same plot of land to build a mall. The city says: show us two plots of equal value and we will keep one for the public body and give you the other. Nobody can grab the best plot, and the city gets something too. The deep seabed mining regime works on much the same trick, and it is called the parallel system. Both the international public body and private or State mining companies work side by side, and the site choice rule keeps the best sites from going only to the rich. This topic explains how the system works, who runs it, and how a 1994 agreement changed it.

In two minutes

Under the parallel system in Part XI of UNCLOS, seabed mining in the Area is carried out both by the Authority's own operating arm, the Enterprise, and by States, State enterprises and private contractors under contracts with the Authority, with each applicant offering two equal sites so that one is reserved for the Enterprise or developing States.

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