Nuuk, December 11, 2025

There was great celebration at Oceans North Kalaallit Nunaat (ONKN) when Naaja Nathanielsen, Minister for, among other things, Mineral Resources, recently stated: “I see no reason why deep-sea mining should be allowed” (link 1). The statement came alongside the good news that Norway has decided to halt all activities related to deep-sea mining until 2029 (link 2).

ONKN fully supports a moratorium on deep-sea mining in Greenlandic waters and hopes that more parties will back the proposal when it is presented at a forthcoming Inatsisartut session.

Greenland does not currently have a moratorium that fully bans both exploration and extraction in its waters. However, since March 2024, Naalakkersuisut has joined a precautionary pause – a ban on exploitation, but not exploration – in international waters for up to two years (link 3), supported by the Kingdom of Denmark (link 4). ONKN wants a similar decision for Greenlandic waters.

“As long as there are major knowledge gaps about how deep-sea mining could affect the marine environment and ecosystems, we must prioritize fisheries over deep-sea mining,” says Jenseeraq Poulsen, Executive Director of ONKN.

ONKN is part of an international network working against deep-sea mining, including collaboration with Seas at Risk, who was recently quoted in Sermitsiaq (link 5). Through this network, ONKN has followed Norway’s plans for deep-sea mining in waters between Greenland and Norway. Already in December 2023, ONKN submitted a consultation statement (link 6) to the Norwegian government protesting the activities and expressing concerns about plans right on Greenland’s doorstep.

Now, during budget negotiations, Norway has decided to extend the halt on activities related to deep-sea mining for another four years. This is a victory for fisheries and shows that Norway has listened to scientists’ concerns and assessed that this new industry is too risky. For fishing nations, deep-sea mining is simply not a sustainable business.

Norway thus becomes the 41st country to introduce either a moratorium or a precautionary pause on deep-sea mining (link 7).

Links:

1: https://www.sermitsiaq.ag/erhverv/naalakkersuisoq-ser-ingen-grund-til-at-dybhavsminedrift-skal-vaere-tilladt/2312467

2: https://www.euronews.com/green/2025/12/04/deep-sea-mining-norway-halts-controversial-practice-until-2029

3: https://naalakkersuisut.gl/Nyheder/2024/03/1303_dybhavsminedrift?sc_lang=da

4: https://via.ritzau.dk/pressemeddelelse/13794478/kongeriget-danmark-stotter-en-forebyggende-pause-for-international-dybhavsminedrift?publisherId=2012662&lang=da

5: https://www.sermitsiaq.ag/erhverv/international-splittelse-om-dybhavsminedrift/2312380

6: https://oceansnorth.gl/da/news/norges-plan-om-dybhavsminedrift-risikerer-at-udgoere-en-trussel-mod-det-groenlandske-levebroed-siger-oceans-north-kalaallit-nunaat/

7: https://deep-sea-conservation.org/solutions/no-deep-sea-mining/