NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, 2015 Hohonu Moana
Wild LIVE: Treasure or trouble - Should we mine for metals in the deep seas?
Register to join below.
Event details
Date
About the event
The UN High Seas Treaty came into force on 17 January 2026, creating the first global framework to protect marine life in waters beyond national borders. But with rising demand for metals needed for renewable technologies, pressure is growing to mine the deep sea—one of the planet’s most fragile and least understood ecosystems. This expert panel will explore whether deep‑sea mining can support the drive to net zero, or whether protecting these vast, largely untouched ocean habitats must come first.
Register to join us online.
Complete the form below to register to join this event for free. You will recieve the YouTube joining link via email. You can also suggest a question for the panel when completing the form.
If you select yes, you are opting in to hear from us by email, you’ll hear more about our work, news and campaigns as well as other ways to get involved.
We promise to protect your data in accordance with our Privacy Policies.
Our panel
Panel to be announced soon...
Chair
Craig Bennett OBE - Chief Executive of The Wildlife Trusts
Craig is Chief Executive of The Wildlife Trusts, Honorary Professor of Sustainability and Innovation at Alliance Manchester Business School, an Associate Fellow of Homerton College (Cambridge), and a Fellow of The Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership. He is also a Commissioner on the UK Government’s Clean Power 2030 Advisory Commission. He was awarded an OBE for services to the environment in the King’s New Year 2026 Honour’s List.
He has been described as “one of the country’s top environmental campaigners”, by The Guardian as “the very model of a modern eco-general” and has also been listed in The Sunday Times Green Power List of the UK’s top 20 environmentalists.
Craig was formerly CEO of Friends of the Earth where he led the organisation to numerous campaign victories including on bees, fracking and against airport expansion.
Earlier in his career, Craig was Deputy Director at The University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL), and Director of The Prince of Wales’s Corporate Leaders Group on Climate Change (from 2007 to 2010).
Craig has twenty-five years experience of designing and contributing to Executive Education and Leadership programmes at numerous universities and business schools around the world, and of providing advice and constructive challenge direct to CEOs and company boards. He is currently Chair of the Independent Challenge Group for Anglian Water.
He is also a Policy Fellow of The Centre for Science and Policy and a member of the Churchill Sustainability Practitioners Network at The University of Cambridge, a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a Fellow of the Hawkwood Centre for Future Thinking, a judge on The Wainwright Book Prize, a Trustee of the think-tank Green Alliance, and an Honorary Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM). He regularly appears in the print and broadcast media
He has a BSc (Hons) in Human and Physical Geography from The University of Reading and an MSc in Biodiversity Conservation from University College London, and Honorary Doctoral degrees from University College of Estate Management (UCEM), and Anglian Ruskin University (ARU).
We strive to make all of our panels as inclusive as possible and always aim to ensure a good balance in panel membership. We are keen to provide opportunities for underrepresented voices where we can.
Contact us: digital@wildlifetrusts.org