Theories of justice and equitable sharing of benefit from deep-sea mining

by Dr. Shani Friedman, lawyer, postdoctoral researcher in international law at UBO, AMURE lab, Brest, France

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) defines the international seabed (the Area) and its resources as the common heritage of mankind and provides that activities in the Area should be conducted for the benefit of all [hu]mankind. With the possibility of exploitation of the Area starting in 2024, the question of benefit-sharing from Deep-Sea Mining (DSM) operations in the Area would become more critical. However, the legal regime does not contain practical modalities on how to distribute the possible benefits; the only obligation is that benefit-sharing should be ‘equitable’ and the interests of developing states must be considered. To design the best distributional modality, we need to understand what theories of justice might apply in the context of the law of the sea (LOS).