A new GESAMP working group on marine geoengineering held its first meeting at IMO Headquarters, London, this week (23-25 May). The overall objective of the Working Group (WG 41) is to better understand the potential impacts of proposed marine geoengineering techniques on the marine environment – including social and economic consequences. The Group will also provide advice to the London Protocol Parties to assist them in identifying those marine geoengineering techniques that may be sensible to be considered for listing in the new Annex 4 of the Protocol.
The Working Group, established at the forty-second session of GESAMP, held in Paris last year, is being led by IMO with the support from IOC of UNESCO and WMO. This first, inception meeting, under the chairmanship of Dr. Chris Vivian (United Kingdom) and Professor Philip Boyd (Australia), included scientists from Australia, Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States. The Group will deliver an initial high level assessment report to the nine UN Sponsoring Agencies which make up GESAMP, in 2017.