Environmental aspects of the Mining code: Preserving humankind's common heritage while opening Pardo's box?

This paper analyses to what extent the Mining Code lives up to the environmental standards as originally meant to be applicable to the deep seabed. The focus will be on the ethical background of the common heritage and its reflection in the current application of the principle on deep seabed mining. The evolving legal status of the common heritage of humankind as part of the 'Constitution of the Ocean' plays a significant role in keeping the Mining Code in check. In this regard, the legal meaning of common heritage in 1967 might very well differ from that almost half a century later. Probably, the environmental component was a secondary priority when the common heritage was proposed as a principle. Of major importance is if the Mining Code suffices to protect and preserve the resources of the deep seabed from a perspective of intra- and intergenerational justice. This article is one attempt to trace the environmental roots of the common heritage concept.