NGOs snubbed in Seabed Minerals Licensing Panel
The non-inclusion of local non-government environmental and social expertise in the recently announced Seabed Minerals Licensing Panel ‘is an obvious gap’, says a local environment group.
GOVERNMENT has appointed a 10-member panel who will evaluate applications for exploration licenses and recommend to the Minister responsible for Seabed Minerals whether to grant or decline the applications.
The Seabed Minerals Licensing Panel (Licensing Panel) will be chaired by Financial Secretary Garth Henderson as a “government expert’.
Secretary of Marine Resources Pamela Maru (maritime expert), Chris Brown (finance and legal expert), Hannah Lily (legal expert), Malcolm Clark (environmental expert), Alison Swaddling (environmental expert), Richard Johnson (environmental expert), Darryl Thorburn (extractives expert), Akuila Tawake (extractives expert) and Andrew Lipman (engineering and maritime expert) are the other members of the panel.
Te Ipukarea Society’s Kelvin Passfield said the panel had “some very good people” but rued the lack of inclusion of local non-government environmental and social expertise, calling it “an obvious gap”.
However Passfield says there is still an opportunity to rectify that.
“It is time for Government to be more inclusive of relevant NGOs, as significant stakeholders in the in this potential industry. They bring the voice of the people, which is otherwise not heard,” said Passfield.
“(There are) others we are not familiar with (in the panel). We will be doing some due diligence on those.”
Passfield also noted that there were no Seabed Minerals Authority (SBMA) staff on the panel, “which in theory is good as it removes the potential conflict of interest”.
However, he said the inclusion of two long term SBMA consultants, who were effectively staff, and heavily involved in developing legislation, “is effectively providing that same potential conflict”.
The appointment of the Licensing Panel followed a robust process as set out under the SBM Act 2019 (Act), a statement from the Seabed Minerals Authority said.
A Selection Panel was first established, to make recommendations to the Minister (Prime Minister Mark Brown) on who to appoint from a list of potential candidates provided by the Seabed Minerals Authority. The Selection Panel included: Catherine Evans nominated by the Cook Islands Law Society; David Street nominated by Cook Islands Chamber of Commerce; Anand Naidu nominated by Cook Islands Accountants Group; and Ben Ponia from the Office of the Prime Minister.
The list of potential candidates was extensive, “We considered other Cook Islands and international SBM experts in putting together the list of potential candidates,” said Authority licensing and compliance director Derek Johnson, “However, due to conflicts of interests or in some cases inadequate SBM expertise, some names were removed from consideration. Ultimately, the Authority is very pleased with this current Licensing Panel, and there will be an opportunity to revisit its composition in the future.”
Prime Minister Mark Brown, who is also the Minister responsible for Seabed Minerals, in a statement said: “The caliber of our expert Licensing Panel is world class. It includes members who are well recognised SBM experts and who are also familiar with the Cook Islands SBM resources and context. The Cook Islands is building a world leading SBM sector, and this Panel is reflective of that.”
Chairman Henderson noted: “I am pleased to see that capable Cook Islanders continue to take leading a role in our SBM endeavours. I am very honoured to have the opportunity to chair this important body, and I look forward to working with the Panel members to ensure a robust process is followed, and that the recommendations made are in the best interests of the Cook Islands.”
The factors the Licensing Panel will consider in deciding whether to recommend the Minister to grant or decline the applications include (but are not limited to):
The applicant’s exploration work plans’ adequacy in assessing the nodule resource and gathering enough baseline environmental data to guide future environmental impact assessments;
The applicant’s competence, technology, and knowledge, as well as the financial resources, to carry out their proposed exploratory operations;
Whether applicants have in place the policies and processes necessary to perform their explorations safely, responsibly, and in compliance with Cook Islands laws
How the Cook Islands will benefit from their exploration activities.
Currently, the Authority is in the process of obtaining due diligence assessments on the four applications. These will be used to help assess whether the applications meet the criteria in the Act and can progress to the Licensing Panel for their evaluation. The Authority will notify the public of the applications proceeding to the next stage which the public will have the opportunity to comment on.
With the appointment of the expert Licensing Panel, all of the bodies under the Act are now established, the statement said. Aside from the Authority, the other body is the SBM Advisory Committee, which is made up of community leaders and is chaired by Bishop Tutai Pere.
Written by: Rashneel Kumar