Resources from the Sea: Can the ocean solve the resource problems of the future?

Hamburg/Kiel (ots) - In »World Ocean Review 3«, maribus has
published a profound analysis of the opportunities and risks
associated with the use of the oceans.

The hunger of mankind for raw materials continues unabated. Oil
consumption has doubled since the early 1970s, and the demand for
mineral resources is increasing with the ever growing use of metals,
such as copper, nickel or cobalt, in electronic products like smart
phones, solar panels or hybrid cars. The raw material deposits at the
bottom of the oceans are coming more and more into the focus of
interest. But when will mining become economically feasible? Which
environmental risks must be considered? And who then may claim the
deposits located in international waters?

The »World Ocean Review 3 - Raw materials from the Sea -
Opportunities and Risks« (WOR 3), published by the non-profit
organization maribus gGmbH with the support of the magazine »mare«,
the International Ocean Institute (IOI) and the Cluster of Excellence
»The Future Ocean«, describes in detail the known metal and energy
commodities in the oceans and illuminates in a scientifically sound
and for the layman comprehensible manner the opportunities and risks
of mining operations and the use of raw materials in the sea. The new
report provides facts about the amount of known oil and gas reserves
and the solid gas hydrate deposits below the seafloor. Furthermore,
it elaborates on the potential of mineral resources such as manganese
nodules, cobalt crusts and massive sulfides. In addition, the report
focuses on the responsibility of the international community for
environmentally sound exploitation and the international legal
challenge for socially just distribution of resources in
international waters.

»The use of the oceans will increase in the future. In order to
have environmentally sustainable resource extraction from the sea and
from the coastal areas, all stakeholders must work together on
achieving sustainable solutions,« says Martin Visbeck from GEOMAR
Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel and speaker of the Cluster
of Excellence »The Future Ocean«.

In contrast to rapidly renewable resources, such as fish or
shellfish, mineral and energy resources are formed only over the
course of many millions of years. There is a finite amount of
resources that can be extracted only with great technical effort.

»When huge business opportunities lurk beyond our perception,
there is a risk not only to the environment but also to basic human
rights and social justice. In particular, large corporations - which
have produced oil in West Africa for many years - saw no need in the
past to protect nature or to give the local population a fair shot at
participating in the oil-related revenues,« says Nicholas Gelpke,
publisher of »mare« and founder of maribus gGmbH.

Background Information

The maribus gGmbH was founded by »mare«-publisher Nikolaus Gelpke
in 2008. It serves as a non-profit organization with the objective of
raising public awareness of marine scientific relationships and
contributing to a more effective marine conservation campaign.
Already the first maribus publication, the »World Ocean Review 1«
(WOR 1), succeeded in delivering a comprehensive and unique report
that showed the state of the oceans and the relationships between the
ocean and the ecological, economic and socio-political conditions. To
date, approximately 70,000 copies of this overview in German and
English were in demand worldwide.

The third maribus-publication, »Raw materials from the Sea -
Opportunities and Risks«, has continued the cooperation with the
partners of the WOR who represent years of commitment to the oceans
and top-level academic standards:

- the International Ocean Institute (IOI), founded in 1972 by
Elisabeth Mann Borgese,
- the Cluster of Excellence »The Future Ocean«, an association of
more than 200 scientists from different disciplines, supported
by Kiel University, the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean
Research Kiel, the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, and the
Muthesius Academy of Fine Arts and Design, and funded by federal
and state governments within the framework of the Excellence
Initiative of the German Research Foundation (DFG), and
- mare - The Magazine of the Sea

The »World Ocean Review 3« has a circulation of 45,000 copies (in
German/English). The publication is not sold but distributed free of
charge, without any profit-making objectives. In addition to the
German version, an English edition will be available soon. The entire
publication is published simultaneously on the Internet under
www.worldoceanreview.com.

»World Ocean Review 3 - Raw materials from the Sea - Opportunities
and Risks«, ed. maribus gGmbH, Hamburg, 2014, 164 pages, with
numerous illustrations and photographs, paperback.

Links:
www.worldoceanreview.com
www.mare.de
www.futureocean.org
www.geomar.de

Contact and sample copies:
maribus gGmbH
Stephanie Haack
Media & Public Relations
Phone: 0049-40-368076-22
Email: haack@maribus.com

Christian-Albrechts University of Kiel
Cluster of Excellence »The Future Ocean«
Friederike Balzereit, Public Relations
Phone: 0049-431-880-3032
Email: fbalzereit@uv.uni-kiel.de