Side Event

Geo-Piracy? implications of geo-engineering the planet for traditional knowledge, innovations and practice.

Organizer
Action Group on Erosion, Technology and Concentration

Date and Time
2 November 2009 13:15 - 14:45

Meeting
Sixth meeting of the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on Article 8(j) and Related Provisions (WG8J 6)

Geo-engineering refers to the intentional large scale manipulation of climate, oceans and soils in order to employ a quick technological fix to climate change. It includes proposals to pollute the upper atmosphere with nanoparticles, grow large patches of plankton in the oceans, bury charcoal in soils, whiten clouds and cover deserts with plastic. The past two years has seen a rapid increase in commercial and government interest in researching and deploying geo-engineering schemes and a push for real world experiments. While some geoengineering is being falsely sold as the product of traditional knowledge, those moving forward with geo-engineering are keeping both civil society and local and indigenous communities firmly out of any discussions with potentially disastrous downstream impacts.