The Pacific Community (SPC), an international development organisation serving the Pacific, will review requests from member countries to be addressed through the upcoming Deep Sea Talanoa.

Jerome Aucan, SPC representative from New Caledonia, presented and elaborated on the topic, “Supporting Sustainable Pacific Development Through Science, Knowledge, and Innovation” at the 52^nd Underwater Minerals Conference at the National Auditorium this week.

“For us, the work that we’ve been doing and we’ll continuing to do in the future years is, we are a member-driven organisation so we’re standing ready to follow up on requests that we’ll have for the Deep Sea Talanoa (discussion) that will be convened by the political organisation in the region (Pacific Islands Forum),” he said.

Aucan emphasised that moving forward, they would be better prepared to address requests related to seabed mineral resources.

Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown, the immediate past chair of the Forum, had earlier explained that the proposed talanoa session around deep-sea minerals, mining and the different viewpoints that Pacific countries have would be addressed at this talanoa session.

“Through the talanoa, we’re hoping that the discussion will help reach a collective position. It may not be a unified position, but it would certainly be a collective decision when we recognise and respect the varying positions that are taken by different countries,” Brown said.

During the Pacific Islands Leaders Forum Meeting in Tonga last month, French Polynesia President Moetai Brotherson highlighted deep-sea mining as a crucial issue.

“The main challenge that we are still facing is probably the issue of deep-sea mining, especially here in Tonga, which is one of the few countries in the Forum that is not opposing the exploitation of deep-sea mining. This is an unresolved issue – we basically agree to disagree,” Brotherson told Islands Business.

Supporting a moratorium on mineral resource exploitation, he said “we have to remind everyone that the deep ocean is the cradle of life and we shouldn’t play God in a part of the world that we know less of than we know the surface of the moon – especially now that we know those nodules also produce what’s called ‘black oxygen’. So I really think we should do more exploration but not exploitation.”

SPC, a treaty-based organisation established with the Treaty of Canberra in 1947, will be on standby to address any issues that its member countries raise during the deep-sea talanoa.

Aucan said: “While regional organisation is strong in the Pacific in terms of politics offered, technical and scientific capabilities are lacking at the national level. SPC plays that role, providing technical and scientific support to our member countries.”

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