CLIMATE CHANGE: Controversy Sails with the Polarstern

• by Maricel Drazer* - Tierramérica (dÜsseldorf, germany)
• Friday, February 27, 2009
• Inter Press Service
• Tierramérica

The experiment, under way to the northeast of the South Georgia Islands in the southern Atlantic, is intended to promote the growth of phytoplankton and consequent absorption of carbon by dumping 20 tonnes of iron sulphate over an area of 300 square kilometres.

The iron induces a proliferation of algae, which absorb more carbon dioxide (CO2) from the water during photosynthesis. Because the CO2 dissolved in the ocean's surface water is in equilibrium with the atmosphere, a deficit of the gas in the water is compensated by taking more CO2 from the air.

The idea is that enriching the water with iron could become a way to fight global climate change, say the experts running the experiment.

But some environmentalists disagree, and warn about the experiment's unknown consequences. The study is now immersed in an international-scale debate.

'The absorption of carbon dioxide through the activation of algae growth in the sea does not constitute an effective method to fight climate change and, furthermore, it involves great environmental risks. The sea cannot be turned into a bio-reactor,' Stephan Lutter, of the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF), told Tierramérica.

They also question efforts focussed on absorbing CO2 instead of reducing production of this greenhouse gas in the first place.

'One consequence of this kind of risky project could be that it can take away financial resources in other places for reasonable research in energy efficiency, for renewable energy and for reducing emissions of greenhouse gases,' said Lutter.

Meanwhile, the researchers involved in the study have been surprised by the 'intensity' of the criticism.

'The objective of our experiment is to manipulate one point of the ocean in its natural context in order to understand and quantify the processes that characterise the ocean ecosystems,' said Professor Ulrich Bathmann of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, entrusted with the project alongside the National Oceanography Institute of India.

The test 'will show how plankton reacts to the addition of iron, what quantity of phytoplankton forms, how much CO2 is fixed - absorbed -, what percentage of carbon remains in the system, and how much carbon is sunk in the depths of the ocean,' Bathmann explained to Tierramérica.

Based on what has happened so far, the Argentine Foreign Ministry has expressed concern about the experiment and asked for explanations from the German delegation in that country, given that, although conducted in international waters, the results could affect the seas off the coast of Argentina.

Environmental groups argue that the study runs up against international law.

In fact, the 9th Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, held May 19-30, 2008 in Bonn, laid out critical statements about this type of initiative.

Germany's Environment Ministry web site states that the Conference took a clear position against activities like artificial fertilisation of maritime areas for the purpose of CO2 absorption, because scientists fear serious negative consequences for the marine environment.

But on Jan. 26 the German authorities gave the green light to the experiment, dubbed 'Lohafex' ('loha' means iron in Hindi).

And so 49 scientists, mostly from India and Germany, but also from Italy, Spain, Britain, France and Chile, began the planned iron enrichment of the Atlantic waters. They had already been aboard the icebreaker Polarstern for 20 days, awaiting authorisation.

'The experiment is going well. Fertilisation was carried out in a closed oceanic eddy. The phytoplankton are growing and the biomass has more than doubled,' Bathmann, in charge of monitoring the experiment from land, told Tierramérica.

In the last 15 years, oceanic carbon capture has been tested scientifically in a dozen small experiments, five in the Antarctic Ocean.

In 2007, however, the U.S.-based Planktos company had to halt its plans to disseminate iron in Ecuadorian waters near the Galápagos Islands, in the Pacific, due to strong opposition from environmental activists and officials in the region.

Planktos had hoped to negotiate carbon credits on the global market, as proposed in the Kyoto Protocol on climate change.

The heads of Lohafex, however, have ruled out any commercial motivations.

Nevertheless, environmentalists see serious risks in the effort. 'There is the danger that interested companies will try to sell iron fertilisation as a measure against global warming, and include it in the global emissions market,' states the North Sea Action Conference.

'It is a megalomaniac plan of the researchers. The background is the economic interest to find a low-cost solution for the global problem of CO2,' says the environmental group in a pubic statement.

Regardless, and according to the original plan, the Polarstern will wrap up its experiment Mar. 17, when it reaches the coast of Punta Arenas, in southern Chile, with the ongoing debate as its cargo.

(*This story was originally published by Latin American newspapers that are part of the Tierramérica network. Tierramérica is a specialised news service produced by IPS with the backing of the United Nations Development Programme, United Nations Environment Programme and the World Bank.)

© Inter Press Service (2009) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service

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