Attenborough backs calls for a halt to mining the deep sea

Mining for minerals used in smartphones and electric car batteries - has a 'huge impact' on wildlife and climate change

Sir David Attenborough has backed a call for deep sea mining to be stopped as conservationists warn it could have a 'huge impact' on wildlife and the climate.

A report by Fauna and Flora International (FFI) calls for a moratorium on moves to mine the deep sea for minerals used in mobile phones and electric car batteries.

The conservation organisation says deep sea mining could see entire ecosystems of species never studied and barely understood disrupted and destroyed.

The process could also create large plumes of sediments that smother areas far away from the mining sites themselves and kill marine life, FFI claims.

'The rush to mine this pristine and unexplored environment risks creating terrible impacts that cannot be reversed,' said Sir David, vice president of FFI.

FFI said in their report toxic and heavy metals could be released and spread dangerous toxins to areas of the oceans that are important for fisheries.

Mining could also lead to the loss of microbes that capture methane and carbon, and disrupt the oceans 'biological pump' which takes carbon from the atmosphere and transports energy and nutrients through the oceans, the team warn.

'Mining the deep sea could create a devastating series of impacts that threaten the processes that are critical to the health and function of our oceans,' said Sir David.

'Fauna and Flora International is calling on global governments to put in place a moratorium on all deep sea mining – a call I wholeheartedly support.'

The wildlife presenter said the idea that people should be considering the destruction of deep sea places before they have understood them or the role they play in the health of the planet 'is beyond reason'.

' We need to be guided by science when faced with decisions of such great environmental consequence.'

Exploratory deep sea mining is already under way, but mining on a large scale is on hold until nations have agreed the rules covering it, which are being developed under the UN International Seabed Authority with efforts to finalise them in 2020.

FFI warned that human activity was already putting a huge strain on the oceans. They have already absorbed a third of our carbon emissions and 93 per cent of the extra heat trapped by greenhouse gases, FFI said.

Oceans are becoming more acidic because of the carbon dioxide dissolving into them, fisheries are under pressure as a result of over-exploitation and there are hundreds of huge 'dead-zones'.