Bold Solutions Are Necessary & Require [Close Monitoring]

By: Juha Uitto, PhD, Director of Safety & Governance Protocols, Restore the Climate

The year that just ended is underway to break new records as the hottest year in recorded history.

The second warmest year before 2024 was 2023.

As I write this, massive wildfires are raging in Southern California, while much of central USA all the way to the mid-Atlantic coast is in the throes of a winter storm.

Extensive drought is affecting Southern Africa and even the largest rainforest in the world, Amazon, is threatened by drought.

At the same time, much of South Asia has suffered from record-breaking rains and subsequent flooding.

Despite lofty rhetoric and international treaties, like the Paris Agreement, greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise and meeting the goal of limiting global warming to +1.5oC above preindustrial levels seems highly unlikely.

Cutting emissions would require massive and rapid systemic and behavioral changes, which are not happening.

Moreover, even if we reached net-zero emissions by mid-century, that would not stop climate change because of the CO2 and other gases already in the atmosphere.

A massive volcanic eruption could cool the world but would have such dramatic side effects that no-can wish for one.

However, we have learned from past eruptions and can mimic some of the natural mechanisms to absorb carbon from the atmosphere.

One effective way, science says, is through increasing ocean biomass through techniques such as ocean iron fertilization.

Wait, that sounds like geoengineering, some of you would say.

There are too many risks and unknowns that we shouldn’t go there.

I agree that there are some risks and unknowns, but I would argue that the risks that we know of continued climate change are so bad that we can’t afford not to explore ways to remove carbon from the atmosphere.

Besides, enhancing ocean biomass is based on naturally occurring phenomena and there are years of research demonstrating its effectiveness.

Still, it is very important to carefully monitor all projects and to evaluate their effectiveness, impact and—importantly—possible unintended consequences.

The first principle for any activity is to ensure its safety, especially given that the focus is on testing innovative approaches to climate restoration.

It is of extreme importance to monitor the activities for any unanticipated impacts on the environment.

This is the focus of most of the scientific research.

Secondly, it is equally important to engage various stakeholders, notably communities living adjacent to the areas where the projects operate.

Their prior informed consent will be sought for any activity to obtain social license.

But we must go beyond that to monitor and evaluate the social and economic impacts to ascertain that coastal communities, Indigenous peoples, vulnerable groups and other stakeholders benefit from the projects and are not adversely affected.

Thirdly, compliance with local, national and international legislation and governance instruments must be carefully ascertained.

The RTC practice adheres to the M&E gold standard as developed by organizations such as the World Bank and the Global Environment Facility.

We adhere to the principles and ethical guidelines of the United Nations Evaluation Group, which incorporate the dimensions of:

Integrity – Honesty and truthfulness; professionalism; independence, impartiality and incorruptibility

Accountability – Transparency; responsiveness; taking responsibility; justifying and fairly and accurately reporting to stakeholders

Respect – Access to evaluation process and products by all stakeholders; meaningful engagement and fair treatment of all relevant stakeholders; fair representation of different voices and perspectives

Beneficence – Explicit and ongoing consideration of risks and benefits; maximizing benefits; doing no harm; ensuring that evaluation makes an overall positive contribution to human and natural systems

We must ensure that the activities we engage in to restore the climate for the world and for future generations are designed and conducted responsibly for both the people and the planet.

​This is the entire justification and purpose of RTC.

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