A little-known UN agency, the International Seabed Authority, is meeting this week to discuss regulations for deep-sea mineral mining. The agency could open up the deep sea to mining within the next year and a half as demand for metals used to make electric vehicles and batteries is expected to skyrocket over the next two decades. But some countries worry about devising rules that adequately protect deep-sea environments on a tight deadline, and some scientists and conservation groups are calling for a moratorium on mining until more is known about these pristine environments. The World’s environment correspondent Carolyn Beeler reports.