Plankton & Prometheanism Carbon Sequestration and Ocean Policy - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Plankton & Prometheanism

Tess Brandon, Joe Kubik & Andrew McCloskey

Carbon Sequestration and Ocean Policy

Overview

• Carbon Sequestration

– Overview – Ocean Fertilization

• Ocean Policy

– Fisheries – UNCLOS

• The Ocean as a global resource

Carbon Sequestration

• Carbon dioxide Capture

and storage (CCS) is a way of separating CO2 from industrial and energy processes and transporting it for long- term storage and isolation from the atmosphere.

• Two possibilities exist -

terrestrial/geological, and

• ceanic

From IPCC Special Report on Carbon Sequestration

Ocean Fertilization

• Iron-rich Dust Phytoplankton Carbon Sink
• Lots of uncertainty: ecosystem damage, nutrient

redistribution, creation of anoxic zones, ocean acidity

http://www.mbari.org/expeditions/SOFeX2002/history&purpose.htm

Disconnect between Science and Government

• The Department of Energy

has created an entire department called the Carbon Sequestration Core Program for research on carbon sequestration

• Have introduced ocean

fertilization as a new and exciting technical fix for atmospheric carbon dioxide vs.

• NSF and scientific

community want to study

• cean fertilization for its

inherent value to understanding the physical and ecological processes and paleoclimate in the

• cean, not because of its

potential as a solution to global warming.

Overview

• Carbon Sequestration

– Overview – Ocean Fertilization

• Ocean Policy

– Fisheries – UNCLOS

• The Ocean as a global resource

International Ocean Policy: The Early Years

1609 - Mare Liberum

“The Freedom of the Seas” Doctrine

• Open-pool resource
• Inexhaustible resources
• Colonial Legacy

Hugo Grotius

1839 - Three Mile Territorial Seas

• est. between France & England

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Grotius

1945 – President Harry Truman

claims jurisdiction over the US continental shelf and coastal fisheries

Fisheries and their Impact

Setting the Stage for UNCLOS

EVENTS

• Hardin’s “Tragedy of the Commons:
• pen access & overcapitaliza-tion
• Transition of fish (as a resource)

from a nonrival to rival commodity

• “Common Heritage of Mankind”
• 3 Mile territorial zone becomes

inadequate (Treaty of Washington)

• 1958 “Cod War” culmination of many

factors

CONCEPTS

http://img78.photobucket.com/

UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea)

“The problems of ocean space are closely interrelated and must be considered as a whole”

• preamble of the Law of the Sea
• Emphasizes precaution

The Primary Jurisdictions

• Places restrictions upon the Mare

Liberum doctrine

• Treats ocean governance and the ocean

itself as a connected whole

CONCEPTS

• United States has refused to rafity
• Most widely agreed on

international law (ratified by 139 UN nations)

• Divides the seas up in to 4 main

jurisdictional zones

DETAILS

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Convention_on_the_ Law_of_the_Sea

Implications –

What does all this mean for ocean fertilization research?

• What happens when (or if) ocean

fertilization pasts the research phase?

Exclusive Economic Zones in the Western Pacific

• Part XIII of UNCLOS promotes scientific

research

• However, Article 240, section (C): “Shall

not unjustifiably interfere with other legitimate uses..”

• Would fall under the North-East Pacific,
• r Pacific jurisdictional regions under

UNEP’s Regional Seas Programme

• Ocean fertilization would most likely
• ccur in international waters, where Mare

Liberum still applies.

http://walrus.wr.usgs.gov

Overview

• Carbon Sequestration

– Overview – Ocean Fertilization

• Ocean Policy

– Fisheries – UNCLOS

• The Ocean as a global resource

Global Resource Management: A New Paradigm

Increasing Connectivity

• Natural Resource Management:
• Horizontal Connectivity
• Vertical Connectivity
• Economics and Politics:
• Globalization
• International Law

www.flickr.com

The Ocean as a Global Resource

Equatorial Pacific Ocean Southern Ocean

• NMFS and Fisheries Management
• Ownership of the Ocean
• Ecosystems-based Management
• Deep-Ocean Carbon Sequestration
• S.O. as the “great communicator”
• Scientific Implications
• Political Implications

฀topex-www.jpl.nasa.gov

Looking Ahead: The Future of Ocean Policy

• UNCLOS: first step in recognizing

that the ocean is a complex, interrelated system

• Steps must still be taken in

abandoning Hugo Grotius’s Mare Liberum – the idea that the worlds

• ceans are an open-pool resource
• This includes:
• 1. A restructuring of international

waters

• 2. Realization that interaction

among stakeholders is necessary

• 3. Ratification of UNCLOS by the

U.S.

U.S. Exclusive Economic Zones

www.afsc.noaa.gov/images/useez.jpg

Looking Ahead: Ocean Fertilization

How It Might Look

• Hybrid system between that

proposed by the Kyoto Protocol and that of US wetland mitigation banks

• Semi-private carbon mitigation

banks based on a system of “carbon credits”

• Limited number of permits allotted
• UN pre-approves appropriate

areas

CONCEPTS

• Lack of regulation could lead to

disastrous consequences

• Would be treated like any other

private enterprise

• International waters still function

under the concept of Mare Liberum

• UNCLOS does not address the

issue of ocean fertilization, or any type of carbon sequestration involving the oceans

ISSUES

Summary & Conclusions

• Ocean fertilization as a Promethean

solution to climate change

• Future ocean policy should

approximate guidelines of sustainable development

• Open-pool resource Common-pool

resource

• Realistic use: carbon credit market

Connections

"We all believe technology offers great promise to significantly reduce [greenhouse gas] emissions -- especially carbon capture, storage and sequestration technologies." President George W. Bush June 11, 2001

usinfo.state.gov

Thank you! Questions?