London Convention Puts Brakes on Ocean Geoengineering

[GliderGuider]

Source: ETC Group

ETC Group www.etcgroup.org
London Convention Puts Brakes on Ocean Geoengineering
Risky ocean fertilisation schemes “not justified,” require oversight and regulation, says international maritime body

In a shot across the bows of geoengineering companies, the London Convention (the International Maritime Organization body that oversees dumping of wastes at sea) today unanimously endorsed a scientific statement of concern on ocean fertilisation and declared its intention to develop international regulations to oversee the controversial activities. It further advised states that such large-scale schemes are “currently not justified.”(ed: diplomat-speak for Don't You Dare!)

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Geoengineering refers to intentional large-scale manipulation of land, ocean or atmosphere in an attempt to ‘fix’ climate change. The governments meeting at the London Convention were confronted with a rash of private ‘carbon trading’ schemes that claim to sequester greenhouse gases by dumping large quantities of iron, urea or other additives into the sea. These techniques, known collectively as “ocean fertilisation,” claim to draw climate change gases out of the atmosphere by prompting growth of plankton. The geoengineers seek to win ‘carbon credits’ as a financial reward for these activities – despite the fact that international scientific bodies have warned of potentially devastating ecological consequences for marine ecoystems.

The historic decision of the international body meeting in London this week came just as one controversial ocean fertilisation company, Planktos, Inc., announced it had set sail from Florida, USA to dump iron in the ocean at an undisclosed location, possibly west of the Galapagos
islands. A second private geoengineering outfit, Ocean Nourishment Corporation (ONC) of Australia, caused uproar this week in the Philippines with the discovery of a proposal to dump industrial urea in the ecologically sensitive Sulu Sea region. ONC is reportedly in discussions with the government of Morocco on another proposed dump.

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“Geoengineering profiteers should have no right to alter the ocean commons for their private gain. Until now they’ve been exploiting the lack of international governance,” said Jim Thomas of ETC Group. “The London convention is sending a clear message to geoengineering cowboys
that ocean-dumping schemes are scientifically unjustified and must be regulated. We welcome the London Convention’s decisions on ocean-based geoengineering. We urge governments meeting at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Bali next month, as
well as the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, to follow the London Convention’s lead and begin an international process to put all geoengineering technologies under intergovernmental oversight,” said Thomas.

Read more: http://www.etcgroup.org/en/materials/publications.html?pub_id=661

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One for the good guys!

(and aplogies for all the bold text; I'm rather excited about this)