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The International Seabed Authority (ISA), established under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, is responsible for the governance of deep-sea mining in areas of the ocean beyond national jurisdiction (DSM), including the adoption of rules, regulations and procedures (RRPs) relating to DSM. As a result of actions by the Republic of Nauru, the ISA had been under pressure for the last two years to adopt RRPs for exploitation by July 2023 or face the possibility of evaluating a DSM application in the absence of such RRPs. In July 2023, the ISA was not able to finalize the RRPs but signaled its intent to continue working on them, with a view to their adoption by 2025. Negotiations on the timeline for the adoption of the RRPs were contentious with some member States wanting a binding target date and others expressing concern of being bound to arbitrary deadlines. This paper identifies major issues that remain outstanding in the draft RRPs relating to exploitation and discusses the underlying drivers for their lack of agreement with the aim of providing an indication of the amount of work ahead for the ISA. We find that over 30 major regulatory issues remain outstanding because of not receiving sufficient time for discussion, divergent views amongst member States, and due to a lack of information and inputs to progress negotiations. These findings suggest that member States and prospective contractors should expect negotiations on the adoption of RRPs to continue long into the foreseeable future.

We report an airborne gravity survey with an absolute gravimeter based on atom interferometry and two relative gravimeters: a classical LaCoste&Romberg (L&R) and a novel iMAR strap-down Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU). We estimated measurement errors for the quantum gravimeter ranging from 0.6 to 1.3 mGal depending on the flight conditions and the filtering used. Similar measurement errors are obtained with iMAR strapdown gravimeter but the long term stability is five times worse. The traditional L&R platform gravimeter shows larger measurement errors (3 - 4 mGal). Airborne measurements have been compared to marine, land and altimetry derived gravity data. We obtain a good agreement for the quantum gravimeter with standard deviations and means on differences below or equal to 2 mGal. This study confirms the potential of quantum technology for absolute airborne gravimetry which is particularly interesting for mapping shallow water or mountainous areas and for linking ground and satellite measurements with homogeneous absolute referencing. Key Points Unlike classical systems, a quantum gravimeter does not require calibrations ordrift estimations during an airborne gravity campaign A quantum gravimeter has demonstrated similar precision than an IMU gravimeter and significantly better precision than a spring gravimeter A quantum gravimeter has shown significantly better long term stability than an IMU strapdown system even if its drift has been corrected Plain Language Summary Quantum technology offers a new kind of sensor for airborne gravimetry. Contrary to classical technologies which can only measure variation of gravity from an aircraft, a quantum gravimeter provides directly an absolute measurement of gravity eliminating the necessity of calibrations and drift estimations. We report here an airborne survey with a quantum gravimeter and two classical gravimeters. We demonstrated that the quantum gravimeter reaches the same precision than the best classical gravimet

This article describes the current state of deep-sea mining governance in areas beyond national jurisdiction, providing an accessible overview of the structure and functioning of the International Seabed Authority (ISA), as well as some background information on the different instruments developed by the ISA for deep-sea mining regulation, control and management. In particular, the article focuses on the way environmental considerations are currently being discussed and negotiated under the Draft Exploitation Regulations. Given that there are no official records kept of ISA meetings, this article thereby also provides an overview of a body of information that is difficult to access.

The Anthropocene requires of us to rethink global governance challenges and effective responses with a more holistic understanding of the earth system as a single intertwined social-ecological system. Law, in particular, will have to embrace such a holistic earth system perspective in order to deal more effectively with the Anthropocene's predicaments. While a growing number of scholars have tried to reimagine law and legal scholarship in a more holistic way, these attempts remain siloed. What is required is a shared epistemic framework to enable and enhance collaborative intradisciplinary and interdisciplinary research and co-learning that go hand in hand with thorough transdisciplinary stakeholder engagement. We argue that the nascent concept of earth system law offers such an overarching epistemic framework. This article serves as an invitation to fellow explorers from various legal fields, other disciplines, and from a wide range of stakeholders to explore new frontiers in earth system law. Our aim is to further stimulate the study of earth system law, and to encourage collaboration and co-learning in a fertile epistemic space that we share.

For almost two decades now, the international community has been involved in various meetings on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (ABNJ), often referred to as the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) process. Triggered by the recognition of the interconnectedness between the components of the oceans, as well as the necessity for a strengthened cooperative and coordinated approach to their management in ABNJ, the BBNJ process has since evolved into formal multilateral negotiations under the auspices of the United Nations. Since September 2018, an Intergovernmental Conference is negotiating the text of an internationally legally binding instrument for the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction. Delegations from more than 100 States have actively taken part in the negotiations and voiced their suggestions and priorities. Among those voices, the Netherlands has, since the beginning of the BBNJ process, been an important actor in bringing forward the necessity of cooperation and coordination for the conservation and sustainable use of BBNJ. After drawing a historical overview of the BBNJ process and exploring how the Agreement could improve coordination and cooperation in ABNJ, this chapter discusses the Netherlands’ position and involvement in the development of the new Agreement.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Lentil (Lens culinaris M.) is a high value, highly nutritional grain which originated in Middle‐East. More recently lentil has gained favor in Western countries due to the high value in production and the benefits they provide agronomically; however, growing lentil in countries such as Australia, Canada, and the United States is not without its challenges. One is the high probability of damage due to radiant frost either before flowering or during pod‐filling. The effects of which is most noticeable in the appearance of the seed reduce the value and usability of crops. On the other hand, a generation of well informed, health‐conscious, and environmentally concerned consumers has driven the demand for affordable and healthy food alternatives. Such demand has resulted in a growing industry for protein extraction and novel food production. If used for protein extraction or novel food production, the visual appearance of seeds is no longer an important quality trait. Lentil seeds damaged through frost that still retain a high nutritional composition may be the perfect candidate for a low‐cost substrate in novel food production while improving the outcomes for growers and industry alike. FINDINGS: This study used as a model extrusion technology to investigate the use of flour derived from Grade 1 (premium quality) and downgraded frost‐damaged lentil and to monitor compositional changes during extrusion. The study concentrated on how total protein, individual carbohydrates, and phenolic acids changed through high‐temperature, high‐pressure extrusion. Overall flours made from composite lentil–wheat flour had significantly higher concentrations of protein and carbohydrates than the base wheat flour. No significant differences were observed for total protein or carbohydrates between Grade 1 and frost‐damaged flours; however, extrusion significantly reduced total protein concentration as well as maltose and glucose concentration but did not alter th

The deep seabed in areas beyond national jurisdiction, or what is referred to as “the Area,” is the common heritage of humankind, safeguarded by mandating the International Seabed Authority (ISA) to protect the marine environment and to regulate all mining-related activities on the seabed in areas beyond national jurisdiction. So far, the ISA has 7 contracts for polymetallic sulfide (PMS) exploration. PMS deposits are located at and near deep-sea hydrothermal vents, one of the most remarkable ecosystems on Earth. Where hot and mineral rich vent fluids escape from the earth's crusts, minerals precipitate and are deposited, and unique biomass rich microbial and animal communities are thriving. Several intergovernmental organizations suggest that active vents classify as areas in need of conservation. The ISA is currently developing regional environmental plans for PMS and has set some first steps to protect active vents from mining impacts. We review the current regulatory and policy framework for deep-sea spatial management, and set it into the environmental context. We conclude that all current management measures of the ISA would not be suited to protect the marine environment from harmful mining impact. We recognize that ISA's area-based management tools are under development, and suggest that improvements can be achieved by studying and recognizing the ecological attributes of ecosystems and their connectivity, as well as governance connectivity, taking into account area-based management tools of different users in the same area.