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"The legal and policy framework is not even close to keeping pace with the fast-evolving science and technology of deep seabed bioprospecting," says report contributor Sam Johnston, Senior Research Fellow at UNU-IAS.

"The international debate still sees governments divided over whether or how to regulate deep seabed bioprospecting. This division stems from limited knowledge about the environmental impacts and economic potential of deep seabed bioprospecting, combined with a strong sensitivity to countries' freedoms in international areas."

"Ethical concerns have been raised with regard to the status of deep seabed genetic resources," says Salvatore Arico of UNESCO, a Visiting Research Fellow at UNU-IAS and a lead author of the report with Charlotte Salpin. "These resources lie within the global commons, but are they free for anyone to take or are they the heritage and property of all humankind?"

Growing threats to fragile ecosystems

Deep sea expeditions are increasingly frequent, their focus shifting from geological and geophysical study to ecological, biological, physiological and bioprospecting, the report says. While most research is still purely scientific, the report predicts that the promise of important new products will lead to an increase in commercial exploration.

The report cites the need to prevent harm from research in deep seabed areas, especially those particularly sensitive to disturbances such as cold seeps and seamounts.

"While it is impossible to quantify the damage caused by such research on the deep seabed environment, threats include destruction of habitats, unsustainable collection, alteration of local hydrological and environmental conditions, and pollution of various nature. The same activities can have very different impacts in various deep sea ecosystems, and cumulative impacts over time, such as those associated with deep sea trawling, have already resulted in the extinction of
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Source:DNA Diagnostic Center