PACIFIC nations must unite against deep-sea mining, Cook Islands youth leader Alana Matamaru Smith said at a recent regional meeting.
And she has warned the Sixth Forum of Ministers and Environment Authorities of Asia Pacific in Nadi, Fiji, that the region’s oceans face a looming crisis unless decisive action is taken.
Smith called for a global moratorium on deep-sea mining and challenged leaders to move beyond empty promises, insisting that youth voices must be given real power in shaping environmental policy.
“My key message that I’m trying to bring is an issue that hasn’t really been raised before here at the Forum of Ministers and Environment Authorities of Asia Pacific, and that is of deep-sea mining, which would be a new crisis or threat that our ocean would be facing,” Smith said.
“We have a special opportunity to prevent this new threat from even happening if we have a global moratorium on deep-sea mining.”
Representing the Te Ipukarea Society (TIS), a Cook Islands environmental NGO, Smith attended the forum as both a youth delegate and a community advocate.
She noted that while some Pacific governments have remained “a bit quiet” on the issue, support from civil society organisations and NGOs is growing.
“That’s the whole point of just being here, just trying to inform on the reasons why a moratorium is needed for ensuring we have a healthy ocean,” she explained.
Smith also addressed the challenge of youth advocacy in a region where respect for elders can sometimes stifle younger voices.
“I think we’re brought up with the background of respecting our elders and therefore not challenging our elders sometimes,” she said.
“It was a challenge for me to start speaking out. It only takes opportunities like this to be in forums where you are handed the mic to speak, and there are people that are listening.”
Despite concerns about youth tokenism, Smith remains determined.
“Sometimes our voices are almost fallen on deaf ears. But that’s what happens when you keep sharing the same message repeatedly: it eventually drums into the powers that can make change.
“It does make a difference,” she said.
As the Cook Islands government explores deep-sea mining within its national waters, Smith emphasised that she was at the forum to represent community opposition.
“There is actually community opposition to deep-sea mining back in the Cook Islands,” she said.
Smith hopes that by keeping the issue on the agenda, Pacific youth can help steer the region toward a sustainable future.
“As long as it has been tabled, it will be in people’s radars from here on in. Hopefully, with time, that will venture into the global moratorium that we need to see.”