INDEFINITE MORATORIA ON DEEP-SEA MINING: CLIMATE NECESSITY OR COMPENSABLE REGULATORY TAKING?

Abstract

Submarine cables constitute the undersea critical infrastructure (UCI) which has become a strategic asset in the maritime domain. These cables facilitate international data connectivity, transmitting over 95% of global internet communication. Moreover, its vulnerability to emerging threats has become a salient issue in contemporary maritime security dynamics. The Indo-Pacific is home to a tightly clustered cable network and simultaneously accommodates emerging economies whose economic viability relies on the uninterrupted flow of financial communication. Any potential disruption would be economically catastrophic, severely impacting financial communication, trade, and energy flow. This paper introduces a framework for understanding that how are threats to undersea cable network rapidly evolving amid intensifying cable geopolitics on the seabed. Additionally, what implications does the changing policy discourse hae for the physical realities of these network and their resilience. While the fundamental risks to the submarine cables have not changed, this article categorizes those risks into two facets i.e., source and frequency. This research also evaluates the continuous transforming nature of those threats amid intensifying securitization of the maritime and economic domains, mainly driven by regional powers rivalry. In this realm, considering the extent to which the new discourse of cable securitization differs across various countries and companies, the securitization thesis is reshaping the architectural layout of regional cables as subjected investments are redirected to account for transitioning theoretical understandings of risk. Therefore, this paper proposes a “cradle-to-grave” approach for the protection of submarine cables that accounts for not only investment and their construction but also licensing, maintenance and repair processes.