https://en.sputniknews.africa/20260805/deep-water-deep-stakes-why-africa-must-shape-rules-before-drills-arrive--1088070881.html
Deep Water, Deep Stakes: Why Africa Must Shape Rules Before Drills Arrive
Deep Water, Deep Stakes: Why Africa Must Shape Rules Before Drills Arrive
Sputnik Africa
Beneath the ocean lies a trove of minerals vital for the green transition. But who will control them, and at whose cost? This episode unpacks the geopolitical... 05.08.2026, Sputnik Africa
2026-08-05T12:00+0200
2026-08-05T12:00+0200
2026-08-05T12:00+0200
pan-african frequency
sputnik africa
africa
african union (au)
podcasts
ocean
minerals
mining
pan-africanism
https://cdn1.img.sputniknews.africa/img/07ea/08/05/1088087383_0:67:1280:787_1920x0_80_0_0_49f9264252f7a1d332f7392ff8ad942e.jpg
Deep Water, Deep Stakes: Why Africa Must Shape Rules Before Drills Arrive
Sputnik Africa
Beneath the ocean lies a trove of minerals vital for the green transition. But who will control them, and at whose cost? This episode unpacks the geopolitical race, the specter of green extractivism, and how Africa can turn a potential battleground into a blueprint for maritime sovereignty.
The deep ocean floor was once imagined as a barren, unreachable desert. Today, it is the site of a quiet but intense global contest, because scattered across the deep ocean floor are metals like copper, cobalt, manganese, and nickel, which are essential to the global green transition. But for African coastal and island states, the question is far more critical—will this new resource rush repeat the extractive patterns of the past, or will the continent seize the moment to set the terms?Pan-African Frequency sat down with David Willima, a maritime researcher at the Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria, to dissect why deep-sea mining is not a distant technical debate but an immediate strategic concern for Africa. The conversation ranges from the geopolitics of the seabed to the instruments the African Union has already built and the indispensable role of communities and civil society.To find out what else our guest had to say, tune in to the Pan-African podcast, brought to you by Sputnik Africa.In addition to the website, you can also catch our episodes on Telegram.► You can also listen to our podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Deezer, Pocket Casts, Afripods, and Podcast Addict► Check out all the episodes of Pan-African Frequency
africa
ocean
Sputnik Africa
feedback@sputniknews.com
+74956456601
MIA „Rossiya Segodnya“
2026
Adeola Oyewole
https://cdn1.img.sputniknews.africa/img/07e9/06/1e/1074889850_174:0:748:574_100x100_80_0_0_8f9b883efa50c8a20c5d57c79b195d1a.jpg
Adeola Oyewole
https://cdn1.img.sputniknews.africa/img/07e9/06/1e/1074889850_174:0:748:574_100x100_80_0_0_8f9b883efa50c8a20c5d57c79b195d1a.jpg
News
en_EN
Sputnik Africa
feedback@sputniknews.com
+74956456601
MIA „Rossiya Segodnya“
Sputnik Africa
feedback@sputniknews.com
+74956456601
MIA „Rossiya Segodnya“
Adeola Oyewole
https://cdn1.img.sputniknews.africa/img/07e9/06/1e/1074889850_174:0:748:574_100x100_80_0_0_8f9b883efa50c8a20c5d57c79b195d1a.jpg
sputnik africa, africa, african union (au), podcasts, ocean, minerals, mining, pan-africanism, аудио
sputnik africa, africa, african union (au), podcasts, ocean, minerals, mining, pan-africanism, аудио
Deep Water, Deep Stakes: Why Africa Must Shape Rules Before Drills Arrive
Beneath the ocean lies a trove of minerals vital for the green transition. But who will control them, and at whose cost? This episode unpacks the geopolitical race, the specter of green extractivism, and how Africa can turn a potential battleground into a blueprint for maritime sovereignty.
The deep ocean floor was once imagined as a barren, unreachable desert. Today, it is the site of a quiet but intense global contest, because scattered across the deep ocean floor are metals like copper, cobalt, manganese, and nickel, which are essential to the global green transition. But for African coastal and island states, the question is far more critical—will this new resource rush repeat the extractive patterns of the past, or will the continent seize the moment to set the terms?
Pan-African Frequency sat down with David Willima, a maritime researcher at the Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria, to dissect why deep-sea mining is not a distant technical debate but an immediate strategic concern for Africa. The conversation ranges from the geopolitics of the seabed to the instruments the African Union has already built and the indispensable role of communities and civil society.
“This race for the deep sea mirrors, in a lot of ways, the colonial project, the colonial mining project, which was very capitalist in its very essence and imperialist even. In the way that it sought to extract minerals from Africa without a care for the environmental impacts or the economic drain that it would take from the continent or human rights considerations and all of those things. In many ways, it mirrors that exact model, and that is also like a big concern because it cannot be that we repeat the same mistakes of the past, and we're at a point where African countries can actually do something about it. We are the largest voting bloc at the UN with 54 UN member states. And so then the point for me becomes, what does this mean for Africa? And that is what we need to figure out at the policy level [...] We need to gather the right people in a room to discuss the merits and demerits of this and what it means for Africans, for African states, and for the continent as a whole because, again, each state has its own context, and so we need to have those conversations. Currently that is not happening and it's a worrying thing,” the expert pointed out.
To find out what else our guest had to say, tune in to the
Pan-African podcast, brought to you by
Sputnik Africa.In addition to the website, you can also catch our episodes on
Telegram.► Check out all the episodes of Pan-African Frequency 
