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TWN Info Service on WTO and Trade Issues
(Jun11/03) ETC Group Civil Society Organizations to IPCC: Today, 125 international and national organizations,
representing at least 40 countries from all continents, sent an open
letter to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), demanding
a clear statement of its commitment to precaution and to the existing
international moratorium on geoengineering. The IPCC will hold an expert
meeting on geoengineering 20-22 June in Geoengineering is the deliberate manipulation of Earth systems to alter the climate, including high-risk technologies such as blasting particles into the stratosphere to mimic volcanic eruptions (to block sunlight) and “fertilizing” oceans to grow plankton blooms for carbon sequestration. Formerly in the realm of science fiction, geoengineering has been gaining ground as a possible – even necessary, some argue – response to the climate crisis. Climate manipulation has been on the radar of powerful Northern governments for decades. Originally conceived as a military strategy, climate manipulation has been rebranded as geoengineering: a weapon in the war on climate change. The “As the world watched the Australian airline industry
thrown into chaos this week by volcanic ash drifting from In October 2010, the UN Convention on Biological Diversity established a moratorium on geoengineering. Nonetheless, Christiana Figueres, the Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC told The Guardian last week, “We are putting ourselves in a scenario where we will have to develop more powerful technologies to capture emissions out of the atmosphere,” referring to geoengineering techniques. Meenakshi Raman from Third World Network - Malaysia, another signatory of the letter to the IPCC, argues, “It is completely misguided for Ms. Figueres to suggest that we work on sucking carbon out of the atmosphere rather than stop putting it in; it is equally misguided for the IPCC to assume that geoengineering has any place at all in what they call the ‘portfolio of response options’ to climate change.” The open letter criticizes the IPCC for reneging on its pledge to be “policy-neutral.” The Scientific Steering Committee (SSG) that organized the expert meeting includes geoengineering researchers who have advocated increases in research funding and real-world experimentation, as well as scientists with patents pending on geoengineering technologies and/or other financial interests. The SSG did not allow committed civil society organizations to participate, even as observers. Still, the IPCC says it will take up the issue of “governance” and “social, legal and political factors.” Raman stresses that the IPCC has no place taking up the issue of geoengineering governance because “this is not a scientific question; it’s a political one.” La Via Campesina, the world’s largest small-scale farmers network, is concerned that the impacts of climate manipulation on agriculture would be felt particularly by peasants in the South and that tinkering with the oceans could destroy the livelihoods of thousands of small fishermen. Via Campesina argues, “Geoengineering is a false solution to climate change and so dangerous to nature and to the world’s people, it should be banned.” Alejandro Argumedo from the indigenous organization
ANDES ( For further information: Silvia Ribeiro, ETC Group, silvia@etcgroup.org; Pat Mooney, ETC Group, etc@etcgroup.org;
Ricardo Navarro, Cesta – Friends of the Earth,
Contacts in Diana Bronson, ETC group, diana@etcgroup.org; Meenakshi Raman, Third World Network, meenaco@pd.jaring.my;
Contacts in Silvia Ribeiro, ETC Group, silvia@etcgroup.org Alejandro Argumedo, Asociación Andes, alejandro@andes.org.pe,
tel 51-84-245021, Hands Off Mother Earth / HOME campaign in opposition
to geoengineering ETC Group, Geopiracy: The Case Against Geoengineering: http://www.etcgroup.org/en/node/5217 Diana Bronson
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