{"id":74711,"date":"2025-11-13T15:51:28","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T02:51:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/?p=74711"},"modified":"2025-11-13T15:51:37","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T02:51:37","slug":"cook-islands-seabed-mining-decision-delayed-following-local-opposition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/cook-islands-seabed-mining-decision-delayed-following-local-opposition\/","title":{"rendered":"Cook Islands seabed mining decision delayed following local opposition"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Greenpeace says news a decision on whether seabed mining can occur in the Cook Islands will now be delayed until at least 2032, is evidence of the growing opposition to the destructive industry in the Pacific. <\/p>\n\n

Greenpeace Aotearoa campaigner Juressa Lee is calling the decision \u201ca win for the moana and the Pacific Peoples and communities fighting this emerging threat that will risk their way of life\u201d.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cResistance to seabed mining in the Cook Islands is strong and persistent. We are pleased to see that the government is feeling the pressure and acknowledging that a five year exploration period is nothing more than tokenistic when it comes to understanding this industry\u2019s impacts\u201d, says Lee.
<\/p>\n\n

\u201cThere is no version of seabed mining that is sustainable or safe. Alongside our allies who want to protect the ocean for future generations, we will continue to say a loud and bold no to miners who want to strip the seafloor for their profit.\u201d

The decision that companies wanting to mine in Cook Island waters will now have to apply for a five year extension to their exploration licences was announced today by the Seabed Minerals Authority, the government agency in charge of seabed mining in the Cook Islands. The current licenses expire in 2027.

For years, multiple civil society groups in the Cook Islands have been raising the alarm about rushing into seabed mining.<\/p>\n\n

Last month Cook Island activists confronted the Nautilus<\/em><\/a>, a U.S funded deep sea mining exploration ship, as it returned to port in Rarotonga. Four protesters in kayaks met the ship, holding banners that read: \u201cDon\u2019t mine the moana.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

\"Cook
Cook Island activists peacefully confront the Nautilus at Rarotonga port, holding banners reading \u2018Don\u2019t Mine The Moana\u2019. The research being conducted on the Nautilus is funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Ocean Exploration Cooperation Institute and comes just six months after President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order tasking NOAA to fast track the licensing process for deep sea mining.
\u00a9 Robin Hammond \/ Greenpeace<\/div><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

In September 2024 civil society groups came together to peacefully demonstrate community opposition<\/a> to deep sea mining, with 150 people paddling out into Avarua port and floating a giant banner reading \u201cProtect our ocean\u201d.

Greenpeace is calling for a ban on deep sea mining.

\u201cThe current Cook Islands government is pushing seabed mining but we know that many people oppose this emerging industry that risks irreversible damage to ocean life\u201d, says Lee

\u201cWe\u2019ve already seen evidence from a test mining site<\/a> in the Atlantic ocean that was mined in the 1970s and has never fully recovered.
<\/p>\n\n

\u201cPacific Peoples will not be sidelined or silenced by corporations and powerful countries that continue to try and impose this new form of extractive colonialism where it is not wanted.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cSeabed mining is not welcome in the Cook Islands or the Pacific and we will resist.\u201d
<\/p>\n\n

Seabed mining is an emerging extractive industry that has not yet started on a commercial scale anywhere in the world. Miners want to extract polymetallic nodules from the seafloor to extract metals.<\/p>\n\n

Three companies – Moana Minerals Limited (a subsidiary of US company Ocean Minerals), Cobalt (CIC) Limited, and CIIC Seabed Resources Limited (a partnership between Cook Islands government and Belgian company GSR) – currently hold licenses for seabed mining exploration in the Cook Island waters.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n \t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tPETITION: Stop deep sea mining\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

It\u2019s time for New Zealand to take a stand. Join our call on the New Zealand government to back a global moratorium on seabed mining.\n<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t \n Take Action\n <\/a>\n \t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/section>\n\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Greenpeace says news a decision on whether seabed mining can occur in the Cook Islands will now be delayed until at least 2032, is evidence of the growing opposition to the destructive industry in the Pacific.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":72,"featured_media":74410,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_planet4_optimize_post_is_variant":false,"_planet4_optimize_experiment_name":"","_planet4_optimize_variant_name":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"p4_og_title":"","p4_og_description":"","p4_og_image":"","p4_og_image_id":"","p4_seo_canonical_url":"","p4_campaign_name":"","p4_local_project":"","p4_basket_name":"","p4_department":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[109],"p4-page-type":[6],"class_list":["post-74711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-greenpeace","tag-seabed-mining","p4-page-type-story"],"yoast_head":"\nCook Islands seabed mining decision delayed following local opposition<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/cook-islands-seabed-mining-decision-delayed-following-local-opposition\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cook Islands seabed mining decision delayed following local opposition\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Greenpeace says news a decision on whether seabed mining can occur in the Cook Islands will now be delayed until at least 2032, is evidence of the growing opposition to the destructive industry in the Pacific.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/cook-islands-seabed-mining-decision-delayed-following-local-opposition\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Greenpeace Aotearoa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/greenpeace.nz\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-11-13T02:51:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-11-13T02:51:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2025\/10\/fee4dd26-gp0su75o1_low-res-800px.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"557\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Juressa Lee\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@GreenpeaceNZ\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@GreenpeaceNZ\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Juressa Lee\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/cook-islands-seabed-mining-decision-delayed-following-local-opposition\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/cook-islands-seabed-mining-decision-delayed-following-local-opposition\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Juressa Lee\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#\/schema\/person\/8ad94ace6af16f4f2b07156cbdc74182\"},\"headline\":\"Cook Islands seabed mining decision delayed following local opposition\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-13T02:51:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-13T02:51:37+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/cook-islands-seabed-mining-decision-delayed-following-local-opposition\/\"},\"wordCount\":560,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/cook-islands-seabed-mining-decision-delayed-following-local-opposition\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2025\/10\/fee4dd26-gp0su75o1_low-res-800px.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Seabed Mining\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Greenpeace\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/cook-islands-seabed-mining-decision-delayed-following-local-opposition\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/cook-islands-seabed-mining-decision-delayed-following-local-opposition\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/cook-islands-seabed-mining-decision-delayed-following-local-opposition\/\",\"name\":\"Cook Islands seabed mining decision delayed following local opposition\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/cook-islands-seabed-mining-decision-delayed-following-local-opposition\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/cook-islands-seabed-mining-decision-delayed-following-local-opposition\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2025\/10\/fee4dd26-gp0su75o1_low-res-800px.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-13T02:51:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-13T02:51:37+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#\/schema\/person\/8ad94ace6af16f4f2b07156cbdc74182\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/cook-islands-seabed-mining-decision-delayed-following-local-opposition\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/cook-islands-seabed-mining-decision-delayed-following-local-opposition\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/cook-islands-seabed-mining-decision-delayed-following-local-opposition\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2025\/10\/fee4dd26-gp0su75o1_low-res-800px.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2025\/10\/fee4dd26-gp0su75o1_low-res-800px.jpg\",\"width\":800,\"height\":557,\"caption\":\"Cook Island activists peacefully confront the Nautilus at Rarotonga port, holding banners reading \u2018Don\u2019t Mine The Moana\u2019 as it returns from a 21-day deep sea exploration expedition visiting sites in the mineral exploration areas licensed by the Cook Islands authorities, who are consistently supporting the development of deep sea mining. The research being conducted on the Nautilus is funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Ocean Exploration Cooperation Institute and comes just six months after President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order tasking NOAA to fast track the licensing process for deep sea mining.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/cook-islands-seabed-mining-decision-delayed-following-local-opposition\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Cook Islands seabed mining decision delayed following local opposition\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/\",\"name\":\"Greenpeace Aotearoa\",\"description\":\"Our mission is to ensure Earth\u2019s ability to nurture life in all its diversity.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#\/schema\/person\/8ad94ace6af16f4f2b07156cbdc74182\",\"name\":\"Juressa Lee\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/294cdee467eed7a8d88f1c8edc1435e36aba63dc27597743729d4b320fe53023?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/294cdee467eed7a8d88f1c8edc1435e36aba63dc27597743729d4b320fe53023?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Juressa Lee\"},\"description\":\"Juressa Lee (Te Rarawa, Ng\u0101puhi, Rarotonga) is the seabed mining campaigner at Greenpeace Aotearoa, working to stop seabed mining in Aotearoa, protecting marine wildlife and the delicate ecosystems of the deep sea, move NZ away from destructive extractivism and towards a circular economy. The whakapapa of my wh\u0101nau is a journey through Te Moana Nui a Kiwa. From the Whangape Harbour to Rawhiti via Ngawha, down to Tauranga Moana, over to Tupapa and Ngatangiia in Rarotonga, and north again to Tahiti. My tamariki, through their p\u0101p\u0101, also whakapapa to Toi village in Niue. I was raised by a frugal mother who was always mindful of her impact on the planet, and navigated it accordingly. My dad has always enjoyed nature and instilled in us that there were responsibilities we had to be able to keep enjoying it. This was my very first influence. When I became an adult and then a mother myself, decolonising my life became a priority to raise my tamariki with an unapologetic, Indigenous worldview. Along the way and without realising, my whakaaro around kaitiakitanga began to shift, or rather, return. I felt more responsible, but also more empowered. I connect the dots between 160+ years of colonisation, extractivism, social and environmental harms and injustices and a worldview that sees the environment as separate to people. That people are somehow entitled to take, own, throw away, destroy and degrade. We are witnessing the impacts from living in a system rooted in colonialism and racism and extractive industries are devastating the planet and furthering the climate crisis. Now, wannabe miners are eyeing up the seabed in the South Taranaki Bight, and also seeking to plunder the deep seas. This problem is colossal, but so is our fight to protect te taiao. There are solutions to these issues. We must stop seabed mining before it starts.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/author\/juressa\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Cook Islands seabed mining decision delayed following local opposition","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/cook-islands-seabed-mining-decision-delayed-following-local-opposition\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Cook Islands seabed mining decision delayed following local opposition","og_description":"Greenpeace says news a decision on whether seabed mining can occur in the Cook Islands will now be delayed until at least 2032, is evidence of the growing opposition to the destructive industry in the Pacific.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/cook-islands-seabed-mining-decision-delayed-following-local-opposition\/","og_site_name":"Greenpeace Aotearoa","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/greenpeace.nz","article_published_time":"2025-11-13T02:51:28+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-11-13T02:51:37+00:00","og_image":[{"width":800,"height":557,"url":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2025\/10\/fee4dd26-gp0su75o1_low-res-800px.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Juressa Lee","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@GreenpeaceNZ","twitter_site":"@GreenpeaceNZ","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Juressa Lee","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/cook-islands-seabed-mining-decision-delayed-following-local-opposition\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/cook-islands-seabed-mining-decision-delayed-following-local-opposition\/"},"author":{"name":"Juressa Lee","@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#\/schema\/person\/8ad94ace6af16f4f2b07156cbdc74182"},"headline":"Cook Islands seabed mining decision delayed following local opposition","datePublished":"2025-11-13T02:51:28+00:00","dateModified":"2025-11-13T02:51:37+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/cook-islands-seabed-mining-decision-delayed-following-local-opposition\/"},"wordCount":560,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/cook-islands-seabed-mining-decision-delayed-following-local-opposition\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2025\/10\/fee4dd26-gp0su75o1_low-res-800px.jpg","keywords":["Seabed Mining"],"articleSection":["Greenpeace"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/cook-islands-seabed-mining-decision-delayed-following-local-opposition\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/cook-islands-seabed-mining-decision-delayed-following-local-opposition\/","url":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/cook-islands-seabed-mining-decision-delayed-following-local-opposition\/","name":"Cook Islands seabed mining decision delayed following local opposition","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/cook-islands-seabed-mining-decision-delayed-following-local-opposition\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/cook-islands-seabed-mining-decision-delayed-following-local-opposition\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2025\/10\/fee4dd26-gp0su75o1_low-res-800px.jpg","datePublished":"2025-11-13T02:51:28+00:00","dateModified":"2025-11-13T02:51:37+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#\/schema\/person\/8ad94ace6af16f4f2b07156cbdc74182"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/cook-islands-seabed-mining-decision-delayed-following-local-opposition\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/cook-islands-seabed-mining-decision-delayed-following-local-opposition\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/cook-islands-seabed-mining-decision-delayed-following-local-opposition\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2025\/10\/fee4dd26-gp0su75o1_low-res-800px.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2025\/10\/fee4dd26-gp0su75o1_low-res-800px.jpg","width":800,"height":557,"caption":"Cook Island activists peacefully confront the Nautilus at Rarotonga port, holding banners reading \u2018Don\u2019t Mine The Moana\u2019 as it returns from a 21-day deep sea exploration expedition visiting sites in the mineral exploration areas licensed by the Cook Islands authorities, who are consistently supporting the development of deep sea mining. The research being conducted on the Nautilus is funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Ocean Exploration Cooperation Institute and comes just six months after President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order tasking NOAA to fast track the licensing process for deep sea mining."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/cook-islands-seabed-mining-decision-delayed-following-local-opposition\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Cook Islands seabed mining decision delayed following local opposition"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/","name":"Greenpeace Aotearoa","description":"Our mission is to ensure Earth\u2019s ability to nurture life in all its diversity.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#\/schema\/person\/8ad94ace6af16f4f2b07156cbdc74182","name":"Juressa Lee","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/294cdee467eed7a8d88f1c8edc1435e36aba63dc27597743729d4b320fe53023?s=96&d=blank&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/294cdee467eed7a8d88f1c8edc1435e36aba63dc27597743729d4b320fe53023?s=96&d=blank&r=g","caption":"Juressa Lee"},"description":"Juressa Lee (Te Rarawa, Ng\u0101puhi, Rarotonga) is the seabed mining campaigner at Greenpeace Aotearoa, working to stop seabed mining in Aotearoa, protecting marine wildlife and the delicate ecosystems of the deep sea, move NZ away from destructive extractivism and towards a circular economy. The whakapapa of my wh\u0101nau is a journey through Te Moana Nui a Kiwa. From the Whangape Harbour to Rawhiti via Ngawha, down to Tauranga Moana, over to Tupapa and Ngatangiia in Rarotonga, and north again to Tahiti. My tamariki, through their p\u0101p\u0101, also whakapapa to Toi village in Niue. I was raised by a frugal mother who was always mindful of her impact on the planet, and navigated it accordingly. My dad has always enjoyed nature and instilled in us that there were responsibilities we had to be able to keep enjoying it. This was my very first influence. When I became an adult and then a mother myself, decolonising my life became a priority to raise my tamariki with an unapologetic, Indigenous worldview. Along the way and without realising, my whakaaro around kaitiakitanga began to shift, or rather, return. I felt more responsible, but also more empowered. I connect the dots between 160+ years of colonisation, extractivism, social and environmental harms and injustices and a worldview that sees the environment as separate to people. That people are somehow entitled to take, own, throw away, destroy and degrade. We are witnessing the impacts from living in a system rooted in colonialism and racism and extractive industries are devastating the planet and furthering the climate crisis. Now, wannabe miners are eyeing up the seabed in the South Taranaki Bight, and also seeking to plunder the deep seas. This problem is colossal, but so is our fight to protect te taiao. There are solutions to these issues. We must stop seabed mining before it starts.","url":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/author\/juressa\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/72"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74711"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74711\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74712,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74711\/revisions\/74712"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74711"},{"taxonomy":"p4-page-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/p4-page-type?post=74711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}