Geoengineering is the intentional, large-scale manipulation of the Earth’s systems by artificially changing oceans, soils and the atmosphere. More than a set of technologies, however, it is a political strategy. Rather than nurturing and protecting biodiversity, geoengineering aims to create conditions that will allow us to sustain the excesses that brought on the current ecological and social crisis. It also allows the governments responsible for almost all historic greenhouse gas emissions to sidestep compensating the global South, which is not culpable in climate change but suffering its effects. In other words, geoengineering offers a technological “fix” to the same governments and industries that both created the climate crisis and failed to adopt policies that would mitigate its damage.

The consequences of geoengineering activities, including real world experimentation, are global. Before any action can be countenanced, the world’s peoples and governments must debate these consequences and determine limits. As the Ad-Hoc Technical Expert Group on Climate Change and Biodiversity noted in its recent report, the impact of geoengineering on ecosystems is unknown. (1)  No unilateral initiative – or one by a “coalition of the willing” – can be considered legally, practically or morally acceptable. Until the international community has had time to be properly apprised of the issue, has debated its relevance to addressing the concurrent global crises we are facing, and has determined what further action, if any, is necessary, the 10th Conference of the Parties (COP 10) should adopt a moratorium on all geoengineering activities.

Currently, there are no laws overseeing geoengineering experiments. The UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), which has already shown leadership on ocean fertilization (COP 9’s Decision IX/16C), should urgently address this governance vacuum. In Nagoya, Parties to the CBD will decide whether or not the Precautionary Approach will be applied not only to ocean fertilization, but also to all other geoengineering activities that are currently being contemplated by a growing group of scientists and policymakers in the global North.