Ocean Fertilization in the Sulu Sea, PHILIPPINES by the Ocean Nourishment Corporation ONC)

Elpidio V. PeriaBiodiversity, Innovation, Trade and Society (BITS) Policy Center, Inc.

Climate Engineering Conference 201420 August 2014Berlin, Germany

OVERVIEWRecalling What Happened

Civil Society Efforts Nationally, InternationallyLessons Learned

http://scfishproject.iwlearn.org/about/the-region/geographic-scope, accessed 21 August 2014

http://www.mediahex.com/Comics, accessed 21 August 2014

Recalling What Happened (1)

• the University of the Philippines Visayas (UPV) in 16 August 2007 wrote to a government agency dealing with fisheries, the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources or BFAR, seeking permission to conduct an experiment for ocean nourishment in the Sulu Sea

• The project, which is in cooperation with the University of Sydney, aims to inject into the surface ocean “some amount of nitrogen” and phosphorus some 20 kilometers from the shoreline or any marine reserve.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_the_Philippines_Visayas, accessed 21 August 2014

Recalling What Happened (2)

• On 4 September 2007, BFAR Director Malcolm Sarmiento Jr. replied to the letter of Dr. Romeo Fortes, project leader of the Research on Ocean Nourishment Demonstration of UPV.

• REPLY : while the proposal of UPV “is very much welcomed by this office,” such an experiment might result into harmful algal bloom, just like what occurred in Western Samar in January 2005, where the fish killer phytoplankton excessively bloomed due to the presence of dissolved nutrients such as nitrogen.

Recalling What Happened (3)• Environmental groups – World Wildlife Fund-Philippines, SEARICE, Third

World Network, Greenpeace protested the activity

• The Department of Environment and Natural Resourcces issued a press release saying they will not issue an environmental compliance certificate

• Even the legislator in the province, Representative Nur G. Jaafar, gave a Privilege Speech in the Philippine House of Representatives, Nov 27, 2007, protesting the activity, where he also cited the UP Diliman’s Marine Science Institute:

• …”before an Australian company conducts large scale experiments on ocean fertilization in Philippine waters, it should demonstrate their efficacy in Australian waters, such as the Gulf of Capentaria in their Northern Territories, a tropical one

 

Recalling What Happened (4)

• In spite of the denials, satellite images of the site led one marine biologist to note there was a large phytoplankton bloom off NW Mindanao around November 2007

• Though inquiries with BFAR show that the group went only through the preparation stages and did not proceed; BFAR said they will investigate

Civil Society Efforts Nationally, Internationally

• Exerted pressure on the national government to follow through, investigate and issue press statements on the issue

• Built alliances with scientific community in and out of the country

• Brought the issue before the meetings of the London Convention and the Convention on Biological Diversity

LESSONS LEARNED

• Government officials are usually open to these types of experiments; they raise the usual concerns but without pressure from civil society groups, the local and international media, and the local scientific community, they are not usually inclined to stop these activities

• Freedom to research has its limits – it has to respect the local sensitivities, respect the national and local authorities

LESSONS LEARNED • Proponent should have enabled broad and open

public discussion of the project BEFORE proceeding with their activity and made a public disclosure of their experiment AFTER doing what they may have done

• Proponents should have tampered their zeal to solve the world’s problems according to how they see it; those who don’t inhabit the proponent’s world have more pressing concerns; those pressing concerns should be addressed first

• Thank you!