Developing countries 'need a say in geoengineering debates'

Mićo Tatalović in SciDev.net: Decisions on whether and how to use massive technical solutions known as 'geoengineering' to mitigate or reverse climate change must involve developing countries, a session on geoengineering governance at the Planet Under Pressure conference agreed yesterday (28 March).

Geoengineering proposals have included reflecting sunlight away from the Earth by spraying ocean water into clouds or loading the stratosphere with sulphate aerosols, bioengineering crops to be paler and more reflective of sunlight, managing solar radiation and removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Although geoengineering research groups are emerging in Africa, China and India, the controversial discipline is dominated by a small number of organisations in North America and Europe, the meeting heard.

"It's very important that people with knowledge and understanding of science and the climate change challenges faced by developing countries are involved in setting the agenda for research," Jason Blackstock, a visiting geoengineering expert at the Institute for Science, Innovation and Society at the University of Oxford, United Kingdom, told SciDev.Net. The issues faced by vulnerable populations "should be front and centre in the conversation about the technologies and the governance structures that are going to evolve," he said....

White roofs of the rural Brač island architecture, village Škrip, Croatia. K. Korlević. Painting roofs white to reflect sunlight is one geoengineering technique