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Governance of Marine Geoengineering
Citation
Brent, K and Burns, W and McGee, J, Governance of Marine Geoengineering, Special Report, Centre for International Governance Innovation, Canada (2019) [Government or Industry Research]
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Official URL: https://www.cigionline.org/publications/governance...
Abstract
After more than two decades of UN negotiations,
global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions continue
to rise, with current projections indicating the
planet is on a pathway to a temperature increase of
approximately 3.2°C by 2100, well beyond what is
considered a safe level. This has spurred scientific and
policy interest in the possible role of solar radiation
management (SRM) and carbon dioxide removal
(CDR) geoengineering activities to help avert passing
critical climatic thresholds, or to help societies recover
if global temperatures overshoot expectations of
safe levels. There are various proposals for SRM and
CDR marine geoengineering, but aside from ocean
iron fertilization (OIF) and marine cloud brightening
(MCB), none of these options have moved beyond
conceptual development and laboratory testing.
Marine geoengineering proposals show significant
diversity in terms of their purpose, scale of application,
likely effectiveness, requisite levels of international
cooperation and intensity of environmental risks. This
diversity of marine geoengineering activities will likely
place significant new demands upon the international
law system to govern potential risks and opportunities.
International ocean law governance is comprised
of a patchwork of global framework agreements,
sectoral agreements and customary international
law rules that have developed over time in response
to disparate issues. These include maritime access,
fisheries management, shipping pollution, ocean
dumping and marine scientific research (MSR). This
patchwork of oceans governance contains several
bodies of rules that might apply in governing marine
geoengineering activities. However, these bodies
of rules were negotiated for different purposes,
and not specifically for the governance of marine geoengineering. The extent to which this patchwork
of rules might contribute to marine geoengineering
governance will vary, depending on the purpose
of an activity, where it is conducted, which state is
responsible for it and the types of impacts it is likely
to have. Applying this patchwork to a specific marine
geoengineering activity is complex, and existing
rules may provide only limited concrete guidance as
to how an activity ought to be conducted. The 2013
amendment to the London Protocol on ocean dumping
provides the most developed and specific framework
for marine geoengineering governance to date. But the
capacity of this amendment to bolster the capacity of
international law to govern marine geoengineering
activities is limited by some significant shortcomings.
Negotiations are under way to establish a new global
treaty on conservation of marine biodiversity in areas
beyond national jurisdiction, including new rules
for area-based management, environmental impact
assessments (EIAs) and capacity building/technology
transfer. The potential provisions of this agreement
could be pertinent to marine geoengineering options.
This negotiation is both an opportunity and a risk
for marine geoengineering governance. A new
agreement has the potential to fill key gaps in the
existing patchwork of international law for marine
geoengineering activities in high-seas areas. However,
it is also important that this new treaty be structured
in a way that is not overly restrictive, which might
hinder responsible research and development
of marine geoengineering in high-seas areas.
Item Details
Item Type: | Government or Industry Research |
---|---|
Keywords: | marine geoengineering |
Research Division: | Law and Legal Studies |
Research Group: | Environmental and resources law |
Research Field: | Environmental law |
Objective Division: | Environmental Policy, Climate Change and Natural Hazards |
Objective Group: | Environmental policy, legislation and standards |
Objective Field: | Environmental policy, legislation and standards not elsewhere classified |
UTAS Author: | Brent, K (Dr Kerryn Brent) |
UTAS Author: | Burns, W (Professor William Burns) |
UTAS Author: | McGee, J (Associate Professor Jeffrey McGee) |
ID Code: | 136413 |
Year Published: | 2019 |
Deposited By: | Office of the Faculty of Law |
Deposited On: | 2019-12-18 |
Last Modified: | 2020-01-20 |
Downloads: | 0 |
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