The precarious balance between exploitation of marine resources and conservation of deep-sea ecosystems: the role of public policy and public-private partnerships

Covering more than two-thirds of the Earth’s surface, the deep sea is the largest ecosystem on Earth. It stores raw materials, provides communication links and transport of energy resources, and is a source of life (producing more than 50% of available oxygen and containing four-fifths of the world’s biodiversity). Recent technological developments have increased the ability to penetrate the deep sea, explore its seabed, and access its immense biological resources and energy reserves. But while this increased capacity represents an opportunity, it also brings new anthropogenic pressures on the biodiversity and functioning of deep-sea ecosystems - fragile environments that provide invaluable services to the planet. Deep-sea mining, solar radiation exploitation, or renewable energy production from wind and waves pose (at least potential or even real) threats to deep-sea life and marine biodiversity. The potential consequences of these anthropogenic interventions point to the need for a multidisciplinary framework capable of quantifying their impacts before any large-scale action is taken. The Blue Economy Principles for the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biodiversity in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ), adopted under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea in New York in June 2023, recognize the need to address biodiversity loss and marine ecosystem degradation in a cooperative manner. In this chapter, we focus on public decision-making and governance and public-private partnerships as a strategy to ensure a balance between the end-use and exploitation of marine resources and the need to keep deep-sea ecosystems healthy and able to continue to provide essential services to our planet