The UN GESAMP ocean intervention assessment framework (OIAF)

The complex nexus between climate and ocean governance is increasingly being acknowledged. Not only is there growing awareness of the risks posed to marine environments by climate change (deoxygenation, acidification, coral bleaching, etc.), there is also an increasing focus on the role of the ocean in mitigating adverse effects of climate change. Proposals for intervening into marine environments to help mitigate climate change (either by increasing ocean carbon sequestration or albedo properties, sometimes collectively termed ‘marine geoengineering’) have proliferated in recent years. All of these proposals are in the early stage of development, and they present many environmental, technological, political and societal unknowns that are yet to be comprehensively researched and assessed. It is essential to adopt a broad and transdisciplinary approach to assessing ocean interventions for climate mitigation given the inherently dynamic and interconnected nature of marine ecosystems, the potential for conflicts with other marine activities and marine protection, as well as concerns about the possible effects on social and cultural relationships with the ocean.

GESAMP is a group of independent experts that provides advice to the UN system on scientific aspects of marine environmental protection. In 2015, GESAMP established Working Group 41 on ‘marine geoengineering’ under the lead of International Maritime Organization (IMO) and supported by The Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (IOC-UNESCO) and World Meteorological Organization (WMO). In 2019, GESAMP WG41 published a report which undertook one of the first high-level assessments of ‘marine geoengineering’ interventions. The report highlighted that the assessment was not able to be fully comprehensive, and that there was a need to further “[f]oster the development of socio-economic, geopolitical and other relevant societal aspects of marine geoengineering assessments, including societally relevant metrics where possible, to ensure a holistic approach to subsequent assessment process(es)” (GESAMP 2019).  

Building upon this recommendation, the Terms of Reference for the second phase of GESAMP WG 41 that began in 2020 state that one key task of the expanded group is to: ‘Develop a framework to integrate inputs from natural sciences and societal disciplines into a holistic assessment of ocean interventions for climate change mitigation or other purposes consistent with the London Protocol’s definition of marine geoengineering, to be used by regulators, policy-makers, funders or anyone considering or permitting proposals’.

WG 41 has correspondingly developed a transdisciplinary Ocean Intervention Assessment Framework (OIAF) that is designed to help a wide variety of potential users (i.e. state regulators, policy-makers, developers, funders and other stakeholders involved in assessing and permitting proposals) to holistically assess relevant ecological, scientific, institutional and societal issues that may arise in relation to ocean intervention proposals.

This presentation/paper presents and discusses the GESAMP OIAF by: (1) outlining and reflecting upon the process by which it was developed; (2) providing an illustrative example of how it could be applied to a specific ocean intervention proposal, and (3) showing how the application of the framework can help all those involved in future research, assessment, development and management of ocean interventions to embody the ethos of responsible research and innovation.