Tongans question government plans for seabed mining ^Featured

Church, civil society, youth groups as well as members of the fishing and tourism sectors also participated in the consultation, which was opened by the prime minister.

The Chair of Tonga's Civil Society Forum, Drew Havea, said people want more information from government about the implications of potential seabed mining.

He said there's concern that the government is to sponsor exploration by a subsidiary of a company linked to a failed deepsea mining project in Papua New Guinea.

"The ocean supports us. The ocean is the main livelihood for ninety percent of the people. But we need to know what our government is doing, and if they sign up the ocean (by sponsoring an exploration license) what's going to happen to that ninety percent of the population," Drew Havea said.

Havea said there was concern that if the subsidiary, Tonga Offshore Mineral Limited, violated its contractual obligation with the International Seabed Authority, Tonga might be left with a heavy bill to pay.

Advocates of seabed mining say it causes far less environmental damage than land-based mining, and offers significant economic benefits for island countries.

But people in the consultation were worried that the cost of environmental damage from deepsea mining activities could far outweigh the benefits.

"All the five island groups said no: No seabed mining for my island; no seabed mining for my region; and no seabed mining for my world. All unanimous, saying no," Havea explained.

"So we will take that message to the prime minister and cabinet."

- RNZI