Oslo (8th Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Scientists in developing countries recently received new funding to study potentially dangerous ways to slow global warming. The method is “solar geoengineering,” which means artificially blocking sunlight by releasing reflective chemicals into the atmosphere, such as sulfur particles, similar to volcanic plumes. I’m trying to cool the earth. Also called “solar radiation modification” (SRM).
The Degrees Initiative, a non-governmental organization (NGO) in the United Kingdom, announced on the 8th that 15 developing countries, including Nigeria, Chile and India, would like to boost the lack of progress to date in geoengineering research. solar. a new contribution of $900,000 (about ¥118 million) to researchers in this field in Japan.
The money will be used to build computer models that analyze how solar geoengineering affects everything from rain to tropical cyclones, heatwaves and biodiversity. The Degrees Initiative also provided $900,000 in 2018 to projects in developing countries to understand risks such as the worsening drought in South Africa.
Until now, research centers in developed countries such as Harvard University and Oxford University have played a leading role in research on the possibility of blocking sunlight.
Andy Parker, Founder and CEO of The Degrees Initiative said, “Overall, the key is redistributing power in the SRM and the voice of the countries most affected in deciding whether or not to use it. It means strengthening the
“The level of (SRM) research worldwide is shockingly low given the magnitude of the risks,” Parker said, adding that global funding for SRM research is likely in the tens of millions of dollars per year.
Promoting SRM as a means of combating climate change could give fossil fuel companies an excuse to do nothing, and could disrupt weather patterns and further impoverish the most vulnerable countries, he said, which has been criticized.
“It’s so controversial. I can offer 100 things the world can do[i roi’r breciau ar newid yn yr hinsawdd]but geoengineering,” said Chukwumerije Okereke, director of the Center for Climate Change and Development at the Alex Ekweme Federal University in Nigeria. never enter it,” he said.
Okereke, who is also a visiting professor at the London School of Economics, said SRM was not even mentioned in the recommendations for global warming countermeasures published last year by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and noted that it was not.
Meanwhile, SRM supporters say the technology was inspired by volcanic eruptions. For example, the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in the Philippines in 1991 cooled the earth’s temperature for more than a year due to the high altitude plume.
The last eight years have been the warmest period in history, with global temperatures already rising by around 1.2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, and the Paris Agreement 2015 goal of limiting the increase to less than 1.5 degrees Celsius. To achieve, there is no doubt that we must find ways to limit global warming.
Still, Utrecht University professor Frank Bielmann denies that SRM distracts from the need for developed countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
The United States emits an average of 14.7 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) per person per year, compared to just 1.8 tons in India, Biermann said. In other words, if the world as a whole emitted as much as India, most Latin American and African countries, climate change would not be a major problem.
He argued that the focus should be on reducing emissions by developed countries when tackling the risks of climate change. “The question is who are we buying time for: humanity as a whole, the poor, the vulnerable, or the oil, gas and coal industries?” he asked.
Biermann said 390 scientists had signed a letter calling for a ban on the use of SRM and welcoming Mexico’s ban on unauthorized solar geoengineering experiments last month. The move prompted US start-up Make Sunsets to abandon plans to launch new balloons to release sulfur particles into the stratosphere.
However, researchers in developing countries have said that further research is needed to understand the effects and adverse effects of SRM, and that it is important for scientists in the southern hemisphere to catch up with SRM research, which has been focusing on the northern hemisphere. .
Former Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Lamy said, “Even if there are obvious risks (to SRM), there are huge risks to global warming. So to speak, risks face each other. ” He warned the mankind would be forced to make a difficult choice.
(Reporter Alister Doyle)
