cbd-ts-66-en

CHAPTER 6
Part I: Impacts of Climate-related Geoengineering on Biological Diversity
SOCIAL, ECONOMIC, CULTURAL AND ETHICAL
CONSIDERATIONS OF CLIMATE-RELATED GEOENGINEERING
6.1 INTRODUCTION
Climate change is likely to have serious impacts on biodiversity, ecosystems and associated ecosystem services. The
social, economic and cultural implications of unmitigated climate change and continued degradation of ecosystems
should not be underestimated (Chapter 3). Furthermore, the social, economic and cultural considerations regarding
geoengineering have significant inter- and intra-generational equity issues.
Geoengineering proposals have proved to be highly controversial, with a wide divergence of opinions about
potential risks and benefits. All new technologies or techniques are embedded in a wider social context and have
social, economic and cultural impacts that might become apparent only once they have been employed. However,
geoengineering raises issues beyond technical scientific assessments due to its intentionality, and the inter- and
intra-generational equity issues associated with its potential impacts. The controversies surrounding nuclear
power, genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and nano-technologies have shown the importance of connecting
scientific research to its wider social context.
The Conference of the Parties to the CBD, through its decision X/33 requested the Executive Secretary to identify
social, economic and cultural considerations associated with the possible impacts of geoengineering on biodiversity.
In this chapter, we discuss those issues, together with the role of indigenous groups and local communities in the
context of geoengineering and biodiversity. Initial sections deal with social, economic and cultural issues that are
relevant for geoengineering in general,392 in order to put geoengineering technologies in a wider social context,
and to highlight social, political, economic and cultural issues that ought to be of interest for the Parties to the
CBD. The second part of the chapter has an explicit focus on potential social concerns associated with different
geoengineering proposals and technologies and their impacts on biodiversity.
6.2 AVAILABLE INFORMATION
Assessing the social, economic and cultural impacts of geoengineering technologies as they relate to biodiversity is
an important, yet difficult, task considering the current state of knowledge and the lack of peer-reviewed literature
on the topic. It has also been questioned whether peer-reviewed literature can adequately reflect indigenous
knowledge; knowledge which is often as much a process of knowing as it is a thing that is known, and so does
not lend itself to the practice of documentation.393, 394 This is a major concern considering the role indigenous
and local communities play in actively managing ecosystems, sometimes through an active application of local
ecological knowledge that has evolved over long periods through co-management processes and social learning.395
Some work on this matter has been conducted within the framework of CBD activities on biodiversity and climate
change, including a workshop on opportunities and challenges of responses to climate change for indigenous
and local communities, their traditional knowledge and biological diversity (March 2008, Helsinki),396 as well
as through the consideration of the role of traditional knowledge innovations and practices during the second
392 These initial sections could be considered as beyond the explicit mandate of the group, but are included to put the technologies in a
wider social context, as well as responding to comments on a draft of this report.
393 Agrawal (1995).
394 Berkes (2008).
395 Berkes et al. (2004).
396 Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (2008).
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