Integrating Culture, Heritage, and Identity in Deep Seabed Mining Regulation

Abstract

Ongoing deep seabed mining negotiations evoke two competing visions of the ocean: as a vast (social) emptiness rich in wealth for the taking; or as a place where deep human connections exist despite arbitrary lines drawn to distribute states’ legal authority over it. The first tends to be the prevailing view, and the second is a challenger grounded on culture and identity. In this essay, I wish to unpack the roles of traditional knowledge and cultural heritage in deep seabed mining negotiations. I argue that attention to states’ broader international legal obligations requires the deep seabed mining regime to take heritage and identity more seriously than it does at present, and thus to provide better pathways for communities with cultural links to the ocean to be involved in deep seabed mining negotiations. In particular, I show that intangible cultural heritage, a form of cultural heritage largely absent from deep seabed mining negotiations thus far, provides more solid doctrinal and practical ground for the regime's engagement with culture and identity.