Local activism in Jamaica continues as International Seabed Authority meets on deep sea mining

By petchary on August 2, 2024

Why am I writing about deep sea mining, yet again? Well, it is partly to let you know that tomorrow (Friday, August 2) there will be a demonstration against deep sea mining on the Kingston waterfront downtown, outside the Jamaica Conference Centre where the International Seabed Authority (ISA) is meeting. Do come and support this amazing group, any time between 11:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. The meeting is organised by the Caribbean Philanthropic Alliance and the Jamaica Climate Change Youth Council (JCCYC).

This will be the last meeting of the ISA for the year, after all; it has been agreed that the next one will be in March 2025, rather than November.

The other reason for I writing this is because I want to pay tribute to the impressive group of young people, who have come together over the past two or three years and, increasingly, consolidated their efforts as they seek to inform and explain why they are deeply opposed to deep sea mining. There are many names to mention, but I have to single out Dahvia Hylton, the incoming President of the JCCYC, whose laser-sharp focus and gritty determination have been commendable. Her colleagues - Robyn Young, Scientific Officer at the University of the West Indies (UWI) Department of Life Sciences' Centre for Marine Sciences, who is also Projects and Administrative Coordinator for Jamaica at the Sustainable Ocean Alliance (SOA) Caribbean; and Chief Executive Officer at Jamaica Environment Trust (JET) Dr. Theresa Rodriguez-Moodie - have kept up the pressure.

Mover and shaker of the Stop Deep Sea Mining campaign in Jamaica, Dahvia Hylton, at last week's "Deep Concerns" information sharing event. (Photo: Sustainable Ocean Alliance)

There are many other young members of the deep sea mining campaign who are equally passionate and supportive, and who always show up, contribute and share (Felix Charnley and Jamila Falak, please stand up!) I am continuously impressed; it is not easy to get people to just stop and listen to you, especially the media - who are now getting to know this phenomenal, highly knowledgeable group. It's especially hard when you are facing an unresponsive political administration (which, in my view, is on the wrong side of history).

Of course, the use of media is invaluable, especially digital media and social media; television has an important role to play also. There are some rich resources to draw from - for example, a beautiful film series called "Blue Horizons" created by BBC StoryWorks for the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition - an organisation that produces daily updates from the ISA meeting. However, the CariPhil Alliance and the JCCYC (@ourfootprintja) have been very much visible, creating their own stories with live chats on Instagram, Facebook and elsewhere. Last week Dahvia and Robyn were interviewed on a local morning TV show ("Mine yuh business and not the ocean" repeated the show's co-host Khadine "Miss Kitty" Hylton).

Today, UNESCO and a number of other international conveners held an "Ocean Dialogues" meeting at the ROK Hotel downtown, streamed on YouTube. And last week's "Deep Concerns over the Deep Seas" was a richly informative meeting, involving an all-woman panel and organised by JET and SOA Caribbean. It was also a full house, with a lively Q&A session under way when I left! We were honoured by the presence of Professor Michael Taylor, who heads the Climate Studies Group at UWI; Christopher Corbin, Senior Coordination Officer, United Nations (UNEP) Cartagena Convention Secretariat and Caribbean Environment Programme; Veteran human rights advocate and author Mr. Horace Levy; and Mr. Leonard A. Francis, Chief Executive Officer of the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) - among many others.

Here are some of my photos from that event; the group photo with the JET banner is courtesy of the event organisers and includes Robyn Young (far left) of Sustainable Ocean Alliance Caribbean. Captions as follows: top left - Dr. Theresa Rodriguez-Moodie introduces the panel: Madeline Warner, Program Manager, The Ocean Foundation; Hannah Lily, Legal Consultant, Deep Ocean Stewardship Initiative; and Moderator Dr. Diva Amon, Marine Biologist.