'Fertilising' the Ocean Could be a Cure That Kills
One of these new proposals is "geo-engineering"
to capture carbon from the atmosphere. A disproportionately high
concentration of carbon dioxide is believed to cause global warming,
and consequently climate change.
Leading scientists attending the IUCN (International Union for the
Conservation of Nature) World Conservation Congress in Barcelona say
such projects must be banned for good, especially plans by some private
corporations and governments from industrialised countries to
artificially "fertilise" the oceans with iron and chemicals.
This kind of 'fertilisation' is intended to accelerate the natural
process of carbon dioxide (CO2) sequestration by photosynthesis, and
help multiply microscopic organisms called phytoplankton that account
for about half of all absorption of carbon dioxide by plants. Through
photosynthesis, plankton capture carbon and sunlight for growth,
releasing oxygen into the atmosphere.
Phytoplankton productivity in the oceans is declining as a result of
warmer temperatures. The amount of iron that is naturally deposited
from atmospheric dust clouds into the oceans, providing nutrients for
phytoplankton, has also decreased dramatically in recent
decades.
....
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