Dorrik Stow, professor at Heriot-Watt University stood up for deep-water exploration as one of the main scientific and environmental challenges of the 21st century in his conference entitled “Deepwater sedimentary systems: new advances and current trends”. This knowledge, according to Stow, has a very important role for environmental control and sustainable resource exploitation because research in deep-water sediments is a key factor, together with political control (of energy rates of consume, CO2 emissions and the increasing of world population and poverty), for the protection of the ocean. Considering these factors is the only way, according to Stow, to be able to develop a sustainable exploitation plan for the sea in a "world hungry of energy" where more than 80% of power came from fossil sources.