“No” to LOHAFEX’s Large-Scale Ocean Fertilization

Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition

28 January 2009

ASOC MEDIA ADVISORY:
“No” to LOHAFEX’s Large-Scale Ocean Fertilization Project

A large-scale ocean fertilisation experiment led by a German-Indian joint venture[1] has been approved by the German Research Ministry and is starting to take place in the Southern Ocean, despite protests from environmental groups and opposition from the German Environment Ministry (BMU). Although the documentation provided earlier indicated the fertilisation area would be at 50 degrees South, 37 degrees West, since receiving the go-ahead from the German Government the RV Polarstern has moved eastwards and is said to be dumping the iron sulphate outside the target area originally envisaged - on the high seas between Cape Town and Punta Arenas at an estimated 16 degrees West.[2]

ASOC is very disappointed that the German Research Ministry decided to grant approval for this project without requiring the type of comprehensive environmental impact assessments (EIAs) required in this case,[3] and in the absence of an international regulatory and decision-making regime for such experiments, even after the BMU strenuously objected to the project. In fact, the BMU requested on January 15 that the Research Ministry halt the experiment, and this week repeated its belief that the project is not allowed under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), to which Germany is a party, and asserted “attempting to halt climate change by interfering with our marine ecosystems is a disastrous approach.”[4] According to Jim Barnes, Executive Director of ASOC, “The German Environment Ministry has this exactly right: by allowing this ‘experiment’ to go forward in the face of its obligations under international law, the Research Ministry is undermining the Convention on Biological Diversity.”

LOHAFEX[5], as the experiment is known, will stimulate rapid growth of phytoplankton over an area of 300 square kilometers by “fertilizing” it with 20 tonnes of dissolved iron sulphate. It will then be studied for seven weeks to record the effects of the algal bloom that is expected to develop on the exchange of carbon dioxide (CO2) between the ocean and the atmosphere and on the planktonic food chain and the organisms of the underlying sea floor. LOHAFEX would be one of the largest fertilization experiments to date.

This type of research activity is currently unregulated, although two global frameworks clearly address such activity, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the London Convention and London Protocol (LC/LP). Currently both the CBD and the LC/LP strongly encourage their contracting parties to consider the potentially serious environmental impact of these projects. If projects are to go ahead, it is envisaged that extensive assessments should be carried out and reviewed ahead of the project being finalized, which didn’t occur in this case. Furthermore, the CBD placed a moratorium on any fertilization activities other than scientific research at small-scale and in coastal waters until such time as “a global, transparent and effective control and regulatory mechanism is in place for these activities”.

Environmental organizations have written to the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) expressing their belief that the LOHAFEX expedition is in breach of the terms of the de facto moratorium agreed by Parties to the CBD at the 9th Conference to Parties (COP). In particular, the project is targeting a location on the high seas while the COP decision allows for scientific research only within coastal waters. The managers of the experiment argue that the London Convention and London Protocol Resolution supersede or in some way amend the CBD moratorium, which are not restricted to experiments in coastal waters, however the CBD Secretariat has confirmed that no amendment of the CBD Resolution has taken place. In fact, the resolution agreed by the London Convention / London Protocol recognises the CBD decision but does not and could not supersede or alter it.

“It is still not too late for the German and Indian Governments to halt this project,” said ASOC’s Jim Barnes. “This makes a mockery of their governments’ treaty commitments, nor does the Southern Ocean need this additional stress.”

In light of the strong caution urged by the CBD and LC/LP, it is disturbing that the managers of the project believe they might pave the way for even more extensive ocean fertilization projects, stating that a successful outcome would help policymakers determine if fertilization should be used to mitigate climate change.[6]

ASOC Position

In the absence of an appropriate regulatory framework and public, comprehensive and peer-reviewed assessments of the environmental impacts and implications, ASOC opposes the undertaking of ocean fertilization projects in or adjacent to the Southern Ocean, because of:

- lack of knowledge of effectiveness of such projects,
- absence of knowledge of the potential environmental impacts of ocean fertilization, and
- the irreversibility of the project once underway.

ENDS

[1] Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research for the Helmholtz Association (AWI) and the National Institute of Oceanography, of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research.

[2] See map at: http://www.awi.de/de/infrastruktur/schiffe/polarstern/wo_ist_polarstern/

[3] In ASOC’s view, the assessments done by individuals from the British or German institutes fall far short of what is required, both substantively and in terms of process.

[4] German Federal Environment Ministry Press Release. 26 January 2009. “Federal Environment Ministry regrets approval by Federal Research Ministry of iron enrichment experiment.”
http://www.bmu.de/english/current_press_releases/pm/42985.php

[5] See LOHAFEX: Deutsch-indisches Forschungs-experiment zur Eisendüngung des Meeres. Science and research briefing.

[6] Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research. 26 January 2009. “Polarstern expedition “LOHAFEX” can be conducted.” See:
http://www.awi.de/en/news/press_releases/detail/item/bekanntgabe_lohafex/?cHash=a6807f9df8
[7] The Environment and Conservation Organisations (ECO) is a new member of the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition (ASOC).

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