https://figshare.utas.edu.au/articles/thesis/Governing_cloud_seeding_in_Australia_and_the_United_States_lessons_for_regional_solar_radiation_management/26625061?file=48455422

*Author*
Manon Simon

*18 August 2024*

*Abstract*
This thesis investigates the extent to which cloud seeding laws can be used
as a basis for governing regional solar radiation management activities.
Solar radiation management (SRM) is being proposed to reflect a portion of
sunlight away from Earth, to delay temperature increases while the
international community accelerates mitigation actions. It includes
planetary-scale interventions, as well as regional-scale activities, such
as marine cloud brightening (MCB). Research and deployment of these novel
technologies will require the development of governance frameworks to
manage associated risks and uncertainties. Whereas attempts to influence
the climate system at a global scale will require international governance,
domestic arrangements may be more appropriate to govern small-scale field
testing and regional SRM applications.

Cloud seeding is an established technology, developed after World War II to
modify precipitation patterns to enhance rain and snow, or suppress hail.
In the context of climate change, cloud seeding continues to be used as a
long-term water management strategy to increase freshwater resources in key
locations for water, food, and energy security. Governments across the
world have long invested in these technologies and developed legal
frameworks to govern cloud seeding activities. Cloud seeding and regional
SRM bear enough similarities to warrant an in-depth assessment of existing
legal and institutional arrangements for cloud seeding, and the extent to
which they can inform the governance of SRM technologies, such as MCB.

This thesis assesses the relevance of a legal analogy between cloud seeding
and regional SRM through the analytical and normative lens of adaptive
governance. Using adaptive governance principles, it examines the
governance of cloud seeding in two Australian states and two American
states. These case studies show that regional SRM regimes require (1) legal
arrangements to facilitate greater interactions between institutions across
scales of governance, to account both for the scale of deployment and the
scale of impacts; (2) broader participation of relevant stakeholders at an
early stage of research; (3) flexible legal mechanisms built into the
decision-making to foster iterative learning; and (4) mechanisms to prevent
and resolve potential conflicts.

*Source: University of Tasmania *

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