Last year, you could see something that doesn’t happen very often: paddleboarders, fishermen, sailors, surfers, and swimmers all getting together in the water. Not to go to a festival. Not for a race. To speak out. The ocean groups wanted to make it clear that they were watching the Underwater Minerals Conference, which was taking place on the island. It says a lot about what is going on in the Cook Islands right now that those people chose the sea as their stage.
There isn’t any deep sea mining going on here yet. Companies that work in the waters around the Cook Islands are still in the fourth year of a five-year exploration phase. During this time, they are gathering information, mapping the seabed, and researching whether manganese nodules can be extracted without harming the environment in a way that can’t be fixed. But while the science is going on quietly below the surface, something else has been going on that has been criticized more than the drilling.
In simple terms, June Hosking, president of the local environmental group Te Ipukarea Society, said that the mining companies “have basically infiltrated every part of society.” That is a serious accusation. She doesn’t mean it as a figure of speech. It’s something real and useful to her—community grants, cultural sponsorships, and publication funding, which she says have changed public opinion in ways that were clearly planned.
At the center of this conversation is CIC Ocean Research, which set up a trust called Te Rito o Taku Peu Tupuna, which means “the richness of culture” in English, to fund community projects all over the Cook Islands. One of the projects it backs is Te Maeva Nui, a cultural celebration that lasts for a week every year and is very important to many Cook Islanders. The company also helped get two books written by respected cultural leader Michael Tavioni published.
Hosking said that people in the community who were strongly against deep-sea mining before seeing or hearing this support have changed their minds. “I have actually been told that these guys are great,” she said. “People are completely sucked in by it.” She said it was smart and clearly well-thought-out; it was business strategy disguised as cultural appreciation.
That’s not how Tavioni sees it. He admitted that some people have said he was bribed, but he pushed back against that idea. “I would love to be bribed,” he said in a funny, honest way. “I need money to make my wānanga bigger, my gallery bigger, and my workshop for kids.” He says that his writing about the possible benefits of mining is just his opinion added to a larger public debate and not paid for by the mining industry.
Shona Lynch, who is the country manager for CIC, gave a more direct defense. She said that CIC’s sponsorships are like what Vodafone Cook Islands and other companies do to help their communities. “If you do not do anything, you get accused, and if you do something, you still get accused,” she said. On the surface, it sounds like a reasonable claim, and there is some truth to it. It’s not always easy to tell the difference between real community investment and building your influence for political reasons.
Still, it’s important to note the difference. Vodafone doesn’t want to wait to find out if it can take things from the seabed in the country where it’s sponsoring events. Things are not as important. And it is this lack of balance that critics find troubling.
In the meantime, the Pacific as a whole is still split. Last month, Pacific leaders met in Suva to talk about deep-sea minerals. Some countries, like Palau, Fiji, and Vanuatu, asked for a safety pause, while others, like the Cook Islands and Nauru, are still open to exploration. Groups from civil society had hoped to be a part of those talks. That’s not true. Phil McCabe of the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition pointed out that countries are required by international law to safeguard the marine environment, not just find a way to balance this duty with their desire to make money.
The Cook Islands Seabed Minerals Authority said they couldn’t talk to international media because of “recent media attention.” That silence makes it hard not to think of something. When the group in charge of overseeing seabed minerals won’t talk to the press during a time when public interest is growing, it’s clear that the conversation is more complicated than either side wants to admit.
What is happening in the Cook Islands is not unusual in the world of resource extraction. In this type of story, communities are often courted, cultural institutions are funded, and public opinion is carefully managed. What makes this feel different is how close it is. In this small island society, relationships are important, and a company sponsoring your culture festival isn’t just a business; it’s a person. That’s the exact reason why it works. And just why it makes so many people uncomfortable.
