Solar Geoengineering Research Governance Proceedings of a Workshop—in Brief (2020) / Chapter Skim
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Solar Geoengineering Research Governance: Proceedings of a Workshop - in Brief
Solar Geoengineering Research Governance: Proceedings of a Workshop - in Brief
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In the context of the workshop, geoengineering was sometimes referred to as climate intervention and solar geoengineering as solar climate engineering. 2 National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
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, stated that results of early research using climate models suggest that well-managed SG might be able to mitigate climate effects with limited direct environmental risks. Nevertheless, he said, the prospect of potential future SG deployment raises such profound governance challenges that even the pursuit of SG research is controversial.
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He proposed that SG should instead be looked at in terms of "benefits and harms" or "risks and opportunities." He suggested guarding against threats like the temptation for the current generation of the most affluent to "pass the buck" to future, poorer people, as well as the lack of adequate institutions and theories to defend against those temptations. Gardiner proposed moving beyond the Oxford Principles to embrace the Tollgate Principles: framing, authorization, consultation, trust, ethical accountability, technical availability, predictability, protection, respecting general ethical norms, and respecting ecological norms.5 SESSION 2: ENGAGEMENT AND REPRESENTATION IN SOLAR GEOENGINEERING RESEARCH The first session panelist, Nick Pidgeon (Cardiff University)
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Without their own local SG expertise, developing countries would be relegated to approving or opposing governance proposals designed in wealthy nations, he said, rather than playing an integral role in drafting and negotiation. He suggested that capacity building in the Global South is both desirable and achievable, as has been demonstrated by the DECIMALS research fund that was launched by SRMGI in 2018.6 DECIMALS was the first international SG research fund, supporting eight research teams across the Global South.
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The LP-LC provides a tool for assessing proposed activities on a caseby-case basis to determine if proposed activities constitute legitimate scientific research that is not contrary to the aims of the LP-LC.10 Professional standards of good scientific conduct should always be applied to SG research, Santillo said, such that there should never be a trade-off between freedom of scientific inquiry and good scientific conduct. Professional standards, he continued, may help identify potential issues, conflicts, and risks but do not alone provide adequate governance of real-world experiments.
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2017. Toward a Responsible Solar Geoengineering Research Program.
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provided an overview of existing international norms governing climate interventions. He described existing general governance frameworks for climate intervention with transboundary effects, noting that there is a general duty under customary international law to use due diligence to prevent transboundary harm, to assess activities likely to cause transboundary harm, and to notify potentially affected states.
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The statute does not distinguish between research and commercial use of weather modification, and the broad definition of weather modification could be interpreted to include SG, although it does exempt small projects designed to have purely local effects.17 Federal regulations implementing NWMA may require notifications of marine cloud brightening and cirrus cloud modification research.18 Hester noted that tort law is a possible avenue to pursue domestic legal challenges to SG. According to Hester, standing can be challenging for plaintiffs, as state laws differ with respect to weather modification permitting regimes, and some state laws may have liability shields.
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CONCLUDING ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION WITH ALL SESSION PANELISTS The workshop ended with an open discussion among panelists and other workshop participants. Committee chair Chris Field noted that one dominant theme that had emerged during the workshop was that it might be challenging to develop an international treaty on SG because of the time and effort required.
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REVIEWERS: To ensure that it meets institutional standards for quality and objectivity, this Proceedings of a Workshop -- in Brief was reviewed in draft form by Tracy Hester, University of Houston Law Center; Sikina Jinnah, University of California, Santa Cruz; Gary Marchant, Arizona State University; and Ambuj D Sagar, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi.
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