深海底鉱物資源開発の今日的意義

抄録

Advanced industrial countries including Japan have been dependent on the developing countries for a great deal of mineral resources. That is however risky for them since many developing countries tend to be unstable in political and economical situations. From a viewpoint of economic security, they have various strategies for ensuring a stable supply of mineral resources, e.g. promotion of mineral resources exploration both within and outside the country, furnishing financial and technical aids to the mineral resources-rich countries, storage of strategic materials, etc.
The deep sea mining is considered to be one of the strategies, although the deep sea-bed and its resources are declared to be the common heritage of mankind and are supervised by the International Sea-Bed Authority established under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Japan acquired the own mining claim in the high seas of the Pacific Ocean (southeast of Hawaii) in December 1987 and has conducted exploration and other activities in the area with the aim of com-mercial mining.
The most serious problems in the world in the 60's to 70's, when the deep sea problem were dealt in the UN General Assembly and the third UN Conference on the Law of the Sea, were the North-South and West-East antagonisms. These antagonisms, which were barriers to the world trade of mineral resources, caused the above policy including deep sea development to the advanced countries. But the recent improvement in the North-South and West-East relationships from antagonism to interdependence promotes a smooth trade of mineral resources in the world. As a consequence of that, deep sea mining for ensuring a stable supply is toned down in its significance. It is expected that Japan, as an oceanic nation, continues deep sea activities long but on a limited scale.