http://future-and-politics.org/2014/07/22/how-to-avoid-future-geoengineering-conflicts-the-limits-of-control-and-a-pragmatic-governance-approach/
Extract First, it is necessary to raise the transparency of geoengineering activities. A global register accounting for all actors and activities concerned with research, testing, and application of geoengineering measures should be established, for example under the auspice of the UN. This register should then be extended by a monitoring-system for geoengineering applications. Design is key here. Such a system can be neither exclusively geophysical nor state-centric in character. Instead, it should involve a variety of actors and methods. Broad participation is, second, of utmost importance also beyond this concrete initiative. The governance of geoengineering needs to involve both state and non-state actors, the latter ranging from firms to civil society. In principle, any actor that could apply geoengineering measures and also those potentially affected by such measures should be heard and taken seriously. Third, these diverse actors should constitute a regular forum that works towards formulating a declaration of principles that govern the overall approach to geoengineering. This is not an easy task. However, it facilitates the dialogue that is needed to eventually reach consensus. Fourth, dialogue should also be upheld in situations of acute crisis. To ensure this, a global political high-level geoengineering council should be established for discussing results of the monitoring activities and the forum, and most importantly for providing an infrastructure for ad hoc consultation in times of crisis. This governance scheme can help to foster global consensus. A word of caution, however, needs to be added. The scheme can and will not prevent critical political situations. But given the shifts mentioned above, so I would argue, also more ambitious governance approach would not be able to do so. What the scheme does provide, however, is the infrastructure to handle critical situations productively and pragmatically. In this way, it can make a real difference in the governance of geoengineering. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "geoengineering" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/geoengineering. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
