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Coastal and Nearshore Minerals: Blue Economy Potential and Prospects

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Blue Economy

Abstract

Minerals found in coastal sand dunes, beaches, near shore, and throughout a nation’s exclusive economic zone are important assets that contribute to national blue economies. Extracting minerals in a manner that adheres to blue economy principles can be challenging because of the difficulties in mining minerals in environmentally and socially sustainable ways. The positive effects of extraction need to be finely balanced with negative effects on other blue economy resources, such as fisheries and tourism. Yet, we cannot ignore mineral extraction in a book on blue economy because several countries include minerals in their blue economy plans. Scientific knowledge and modern technology that are necessary as foundations to achieve sustainable extraction may be lacking in the mineral resource development plans of many nations. This chapter discusses two primary types of mineral extraction: (1) heavy minerals and diamonds that are carried by fluvial means into coastal areas where they form deposits by natural physical processes and (2) phosphate minerals that are formed in place through natural chemical processes in some coastal areas of the world. The chapter will describe environmental and social implications of mineral recovery, including ways by which these resources can play an important role in blue economies.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    https://www.ga.gov.au/scientific-topics/minerals/mineral-resources-and-advice/australian-resource-reviews/minerals-sands.

  2. 2.

    http://dsmobserver.com/2019/05/diamond-mining-moves-offshore-and-into-the-deep/.

  3. 3.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/a-new-frontier-for-diamond-mining-the-ocean/2017/07/01/a04d5fbe-0e40-4508-894d-b3456a28f24c_story.html.

  4. 4.

    http://www.ag.gov.na/publications/Harambee%20Prosperity%20Plan.pdf.

  5. 5.

    https://au.int/en/ti/amv/about.

  6. 6.

    https://au.int/en/agenda2063.

  7. 7.

    www.namphos.com.

  8. 8.

    www.namphos.com/project/sandpiper.html.

  9. 9.

    https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/namibia-mining-policy-framework-assessment-en.pdf.

  10. 10.

    Ibid.

  11. 11.

    https://www.iora.int/en/priorities-focus-areas/blue-economy.

  12. 12.

    https://www.iora.int/media/24141/20191022-draft-concept-note-first-meeting-iora-wgbe-final1-min.pdf.

  13. 13.

    https://www.cbd.int/convention/.

  14. 14.

    https://obis.org/.

  15. 15.

    Personal communication with Latoya Shivute, Senior Fisheries Biologist at the Namibian Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources.

  16. 16.

    https://www.iso.org/standard/60857.html.

  17. 17.

    https://obis.org/dataset/8d23af49-296a-4777-8e31-8b2c2dedad26.

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Acknowledgements

We take this opportunity to express gratitude to the editors of this book, Drs. Venu Ittekkot and Ed Urban, for extending an invitation to contribute this article for the esteemed Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Science and Technology Centre, New Delhi India. The outline provided by the editors worked as an excellent roadmap and eased writing of the chapter. PU acknowledges the support received from Alagappa Govt. College (Alagappa University).]

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Namibia, Windhoek, Namibia

    Absai Vatuva

  2. Department of Earth Sciences, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), Indianapolis, IN, USA

    Gabriel Filippelli

  3. CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography, Dona Paula, Goa, India

    Anup R. Gujar & Sridhar D. Iyer

  4. Alagappa Government Arts College, Alagappa University, Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu, India

    P. Udayaganesan

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  1. Absai Vatuva
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Correspondence to Absai Vatuva .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research, Newark, DE, USA

    Edward R. Urban Jr.

  2. University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany

    Venugopalan Ittekkot

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Vatuva, A., Filippelli, G., Gujar, A.R., Iyer, S.D., Udayaganesan, P. (2022). Coastal and Nearshore Minerals: Blue Economy Potential and Prospects. In: Urban Jr., E.R., Ittekkot, V. (eds) Blue Economy. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-5065-0_8

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