Dr. Rahul Sharma (retired) was a Chief Scientist at the National Institute of Oceanography in Goa, India. He received his PhD in Marine Science from Goa University in 1997. His research interests include development of underwater photography for deep-sea exploration, environmental impact assessment for deep-sea mining, and application of environmental data for deep-sea mining and environmental conservation. He is the editor of the book on 'Deep-sea mining: resource potential, technical and environmental considerations' published by Springer in 2017 and has undertaken several assignments for international research organizations, academic institutions and the International Seabed Authority.

• PartA: Environmental issues.- Chapter1: Deep-sea mining and environment –  an introduction.- Chapter2: Environmental issues of deep-sea mining – a global perspective.- Chapter3: Environmental impacts of nodule, crust and sulphide mining – an overview.- Chapter4: Towards an ecosystem approach to environmental impact assessment for deep-sea mining.- Chapter5: Technologies for Safe and Sustainable Mining of Deep-Seabed Minerals.- PartB: Environmental impact assessment.- Chapter6: Assessment of deep-sea faunal communities - indicators of environmental impact.- Chapter7: Long term monitoring of environmental conditions of benthic impact experiment.- Chapter8: Metal mobility from hydrothermal sulfides into seawater during deep seafloor mining operations.- Chapter9: Mining in hydrothermal vent fields: predicting and minimizing impacts on ecosystems with the use of a mathematical modeling framework.- Chapter10: Ecotoxicological bioassay using marine algae for deep-sea mining.- PartC: Environmental data standardization and application.- Chapter11: New techniques for standardization of Environmental Impact Assessment.- Chapter12: Environmental factors for design and operation of deep-sea mining system - based on case studies.- PartD: Environmental management.- Chapter13: Environmental Policy for Deep Seabed Mining.- Chapter14: Ecosystem approach for management of deep-sea mining activities.- Chapter15: Improving environmental management practices in deep-sea mining.- Chapter16: The development of Environmental Impact Assessments for deep-sea mining.- Chapter17: Protection of the marine environment: The international and national regulation of deep seabed mining activities.- PartE: Economic Considerations.- Chapter 18: Deep sea natural capital: putting deep see economic activities into an environmental context.- Chapter19: Review of mining rates, environmental impacts, metal values and investments for polymetallic nodules mining.- Chapter20: Techno-economic perspective on processing of polymetallic ocean nodules