Ocean iron fertilization: why further research is needed
Despite large uncertainties in the fertilization efficiency, natural iron fertilization studies and some of the purposeful iron enrichment studies have demonstrated that Southern Ocean iron fertilization can lead to a significant export of carbon from the sea surface to the ocean interior. From an e...
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ftzbwkiel:oai:econstor.eu:10419/30043 2023-12-24T10:25:06+01:00 Ocean iron fertilization: why further research is needed Güssow, Kerstin Oschlies, Andreas Proelss, Alexander Rehdanz, Katrin Rickels, Wilfried 2009 http://hdl.handle.net/10419/30043 eng eng Kiel: Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW) Series: Kiel Working Paper No. 1574 gbv-ppn:618323325 http://hdl.handle.net/10419/30043 RePEc:zbw:ifwkwp:1574 http://www.econstor.eu/dspace/Nutzungsbedingungen ddc:330 K33 Q51 Q54 Q56 Climate change geoengineering ocean iron fertilization international carbon market public international law precautionary principle Klimaschutz Meer Düngemittel Stahl Internationale Umweltpolitik Emissionshandel Internationales Recht Vorsorgeprinzip Welt doc-type:workingPaper 2009 ftzbwkiel 2023-11-27T00:43:19Z Despite large uncertainties in the fertilization efficiency, natural iron fertilization studies and some of the purposeful iron enrichment studies have demonstrated that Southern Ocean iron fertilization can lead to a significant export of carbon from the sea surface to the ocean interior. From an economic perspective the potential of OIF is far from negligible in relation to other abatement options. Comparing the range of cost estimates to the range of estimates for forestation projects they are in the same order of magnitude, but OIF could provide more carbon credits even if high discount rates are used to account for potential leakage and non-permanence. However, the uncertainty about undesired adverse effects of purposeful iron fertilization on marine ecosystems and biogeochemistry has led to attempts to ban commercial and, to some extent, scientific experiments aimed at a better understanding of the processes involved, effectively precluding further consideration of this mitigation option. As regards the perspective of public international law, the pertinent agreements dealing with the protection of the marine environment indicate that OIF is to be considered as lawful if and to the extent to which it represents legitimate scientific research. In this respect, the precautionary principle can be used to balance the risks arising out of scientific OIF activities for the marine environment with the potential advantages relevant to the objectives of the climate change regime. As scientific OIF experiments involve only comparatively small negative impacts within a limited marine area, further scientific research must be permitted to explore the carbon sequestration potential of OIF in order to either reject this concept or integrate it into the flexible mechanisms contained in the Kyoto Protocol. Report Southern Ocean EconStor (German National Library of Economics, ZBW) Southern Ocean |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
EconStor (German National Library of Economics, ZBW) |
op_collection_id |
ftzbwkiel |
language |
English |
topic |
ddc:330 K33 Q51 Q54 Q56 Climate change geoengineering ocean iron fertilization international carbon market public international law precautionary principle Klimaschutz Meer Düngemittel Stahl Internationale Umweltpolitik Emissionshandel Internationales Recht Vorsorgeprinzip Welt |
spellingShingle |
ddc:330 K33 Q51 Q54 Q56 Climate change geoengineering ocean iron fertilization international carbon market public international law precautionary principle Klimaschutz Meer Düngemittel Stahl Internationale Umweltpolitik Emissionshandel Internationales Recht Vorsorgeprinzip Welt Güssow, Kerstin Oschlies, Andreas Proelss, Alexander Rehdanz, Katrin Rickels, Wilfried Ocean iron fertilization: why further research is needed |
topic_facet |
ddc:330 K33 Q51 Q54 Q56 Climate change geoengineering ocean iron fertilization international carbon market public international law precautionary principle Klimaschutz Meer Düngemittel Stahl Internationale Umweltpolitik Emissionshandel Internationales Recht Vorsorgeprinzip Welt |
description |
Despite large uncertainties in the fertilization efficiency, natural iron fertilization studies and some of the purposeful iron enrichment studies have demonstrated that Southern Ocean iron fertilization can lead to a significant export of carbon from the sea surface to the ocean interior. From an economic perspective the potential of OIF is far from negligible in relation to other abatement options. Comparing the range of cost estimates to the range of estimates for forestation projects they are in the same order of magnitude, but OIF could provide more carbon credits even if high discount rates are used to account for potential leakage and non-permanence. However, the uncertainty about undesired adverse effects of purposeful iron fertilization on marine ecosystems and biogeochemistry has led to attempts to ban commercial and, to some extent, scientific experiments aimed at a better understanding of the processes involved, effectively precluding further consideration of this mitigation option. As regards the perspective of public international law, the pertinent agreements dealing with the protection of the marine environment indicate that OIF is to be considered as lawful if and to the extent to which it represents legitimate scientific research. In this respect, the precautionary principle can be used to balance the risks arising out of scientific OIF activities for the marine environment with the potential advantages relevant to the objectives of the climate change regime. As scientific OIF experiments involve only comparatively small negative impacts within a limited marine area, further scientific research must be permitted to explore the carbon sequestration potential of OIF in order to either reject this concept or integrate it into the flexible mechanisms contained in the Kyoto Protocol. |
format |
Report |
author |
Güssow, Kerstin Oschlies, Andreas Proelss, Alexander Rehdanz, Katrin Rickels, Wilfried |
author_facet |
Güssow, Kerstin Oschlies, Andreas Proelss, Alexander Rehdanz, Katrin Rickels, Wilfried |
author_sort |
Güssow, Kerstin |
title |
Ocean iron fertilization: why further research is needed |
title_short |
Ocean iron fertilization: why further research is needed |
title_full |
Ocean iron fertilization: why further research is needed |
title_fullStr |
Ocean iron fertilization: why further research is needed |
title_full_unstemmed |
Ocean iron fertilization: why further research is needed |
title_sort |
ocean iron fertilization: why further research is needed |
publisher |
Kiel: Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW) |
publishDate |
2009 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10419/30043 |
geographic |
Southern Ocean |
geographic_facet |
Southern Ocean |
genre |
Southern Ocean |
genre_facet |
Southern Ocean |
op_relation |
Series: Kiel Working Paper No. 1574 gbv-ppn:618323325 http://hdl.handle.net/10419/30043 RePEc:zbw:ifwkwp:1574 |
op_rights |
http://www.econstor.eu/dspace/Nutzungsbedingungen |
_version_ |
1786200512583958528 |