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Published online 3 June 2008 | Nature News 453, 704 (2008) | doi:10.1038/453704b
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UN decision puts brakes on ocean fertilization
Countries agree on moratorium for commercial schemes.
Ocean-fertilization advocates suffered another setback last week as 191 nations agreed to a moratorium on large-scale commercial schemes to mitigate climate change.
The agreement, adopted on 30 May at a meeting of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity in Bonn, Germany, calls for a ban on major ocean fertilization projects until scientists better understand the potential risks and benefits of manipulating the oceanic food chain.
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Ocean fertilization might be worth studying, but it is certainly not "the only solution we've got if climate gets out of control". Many other ideas have been proposed, but unfortunately the potential side-effects of any extreme solution are difficult to predict. Prevention is better than cure: having back up plans is a good idea, but how about making a concerted effort to cut emissions now?
Ocean fertilization with iron to triger the algal growth was a wrong idea scientifically as well as environmentally and ethically. Please see all the dead zones of of our seas (Gulf of Maxico) and imagin the loss due to eutrophication effect of algal growth on sea life. I know every one living in capitalistic system runs after making money but we have to be very carefull as we have already ruined our natural resources while running after dollars. Before a concrete recommendation we have to atleast review the literature available on eutrophication and then large scale studies to test all the environmental,biological and climate effects specially (rain patterns due to less evaporation of water due to a blanket of algea on the surface of water) due to this single phenomenon.