HOME Alliance – Resources
HOME Alliance – Resources
Press Release: At Our Ocean Conference A Dangerous Push for Marine Geoengineering Undermines Ocean Protection
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24 June, 2026
Mombasa, Kenya
As Our Ocean Conference comes to an end, civil society groups across the globe are raising serious concerns over a series of announcements accelerating the development and scaling of marine geoengineering, particularly marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR), under the guise of climate action. New initiatives unveiled at the conference, including the launch of an African Marine CDR Roadmap by the Ocean Climate Innovation Hub Kenya and a major funding commitment by the Carbon to Sea Initiative to expand global research into ocean alkalinity enhancement, signal a coordinated push to normalize large-scale interventions in ocean ecosystems.
Climate justice campaigners and civil society experts have repeatedly warned that marine geoengineering is a false solution that diverts attention from the urgent need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at source. Technological schemes such as marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) are being promoted even though they do not demonstrate that carbon can be effectively sequestered or stored with any permanence.
Amos Nkpeebo, FIDEP Foundation, Ghana said, “The growing enthusiasm for mCDR is not occurring in a political vacuum. As financial interests, carbon markets, and commercial actors move rapidly into the sector, Africa must carefully examine who benefits, who bears the risks, and who ultimately controls the future governance of ocean-based climate interventions. Africa should not enter the marine geoengineering debate merely to support or oppose proposals developed elsewhere. Africa has an opportunity to lead by advancing a governance vision rooted in precaution, ecological stewardship, democratic participation, and intergenerational responsibility.”
“The relentless attacks on the ocean through the development of carbon market schemes constitute crimes against marine life, marine ecosystems and the coastal communities and peoples who depend on the ocean. As another color of colonialism, the blue economy is expanding and taking control of our Ocean and of the people living and depending on the Ocean,” added Kwami Kpondzo, Global Forest Coalition and Centre pour la Justice Environnementale-Togo.
The proposed expansion of field research and experimentation risks turning the oceans, particularly in the Global South, into testing grounds for unproven and potentially harmful technologies. The framing of these initiatives as “responsible research” does not address fundamental risks associated with these speculative schemes. The scale of proposed funding and infrastructure is also likely to encourage accelerating deployment of these untested technologies.
It is also highly likely that marine geoengineering would change the chemistry of oceans, cause changes in nutrient levels, impacting ocean ecosystems and the communities whose livelihoods, food systems, and cultural practices are deeply tied to the ocean.
“Marine geoengineering brings risks to the livelihoods of indigenous peoples, local and traditional communities, and fisher folks who rely on marine and coastal ecosystems. Fisher folks and coastal communities are already impacted by the temperature rising, flooding and coastal erosion. The deployment of the dangerous and distractive technologies to remove carbon from the ocean will only worsen the climate crisis and the impacts on people and communities. Africa rejects all forms of geoengineering including marine geoengineering. Our continent is not a laboratory for dangerous technologies,” added Kpondzo.
Against this backdrop, we welcome the announcement by Kenya’s Minister for Mining, Blue Economy and Maritime Affairs expressing support for a moratorium, or precautionary pause, on deep sea mining. The Minister’s rationale highlighting threats to fisheries, risks to coastal communities, and the dangers of acting amid scientific uncertainty demonstrates a clear commitment to protecting ocean health and livelihoods.
“As discussions on marine geoengineering gather momentum, there is a growing risk that oceans become viewed primarily as sites for carbon storage and technological experimentation rather than as living ecosystems and global commons that sustain millions of people. The same precautionary principles being applied to deep-sea mining should equally guide decisions on marine geoengineering. Africa has an opportunity to provide leadership by advancing approaches rooted in ecological integrity, democratic governance, and the protection of ocean-dependent communities. The ocean cannot be treated as a new frontier for speculative climate schemes or commercial interests, but must be protected as a shared commons for present and future generations,” added Dr. Mfoniso Xael, Health of Mother Earth Foundation.
We call on governments to prevent outdoor marine geoengineering experiments from taking place, protect oceans and marine ecosystems by urgently prioritizing real solutions to the climate crisis and upholding restrictive international governance.
Aakaluk Adrienne Blatchford, Indigenous Environmental Network said, “Marine geoengineering is a continuation of colonization and exploitation of Indigenous Peoples and their inherent rights to steward the land in a way that creates harmony and balance in our ecosystems that have allowed our peoples to thrive in some of the harshest climates in the world. Indigenous Peoples will advance the world into restorative practices that have allowed us to thrive in our homelands since time immemorial with our Cosmovisions, our spiritual practices and collective inherent connection to the land and what it provides. Our traditional knowledge holds truth and a millenia of lived experience. Geoengineering, also known as climate mitigation with the use of technology, is not the answer.”
A longstanding precautionary international governance framework includes the de facto moratorium on geoengineering that was reaffirmed in 2024, and the London Convention/London Protocol’s restrictive regulation of various marine geoengineering technologies. Ignoring these principles in the rush to deploy marine geoengineering technologies undermines global agreements to protect ocean ecosystems.
Mary Church, CIEL added, “The ocean is our greatest ally in the fight against climate breakdown, not a laboratory for risky geoengineering. Already under severe pressure from heating, pollution, and overexploitation, these highly speculative interventions could undermine or even reverse its vital role as Earth’s largest carbon sink. Marine carbon dioxide removal technologies – driven in large part by voluntary carbon markets – risk causing irreversible harm while diverting scarce resources and political will away from proven, rights-based climate solutions. States must act now and uphold precaution, halt the proliferation of open ocean geoengineering experiments, and reject the normalization of these dangerous and unproven technologies.”
Additional Information
- Press Release: Blue Economy And Marine Geoengineering Threats – Stop Commodifying, Experimenting And Exploiting Our Oceans
- Press Conference: Blue Economy And Marine Geoengineering Threats – Stop Commodifying, Experimenting And Exploiting Our Ocean
- Press Release: Not Our Solution – Global South Civil Society Groups Reject Geoengineering
- Policy Briefing: Don’t Geoengineer Africa
- Statement: Home Alliance Statement On Marine Geoengineering Experiments
- Geoengineering Governance: Restrictive Framework Must Be Upheld and Strengthened
- Geoengineering Projects Tracker
About Hands Off Mother Earth (HOME) Alliance
The Hands Off Mother Earth (HOME) Alliance is a driving force in the fight against the growing threat of large-scale technological manipulation of the climate and biodiversity: geoengineering. We are an international civil society network of close to 200 organizations from over 45 different countries, from the Global South and the Global North. HOME was first launched as a global campaign in April 2010 at The World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth in Cochabamba, Bolivia. Follow us: Website| LinkedIn | Bluesky | X | YouTube
For media enquiries please contact
Neha Gupta
Communications Coordinator, Hands Off Mother Earth (HOME) Alliance
24 June, 2026
Mombasa, Kenya
As Our Ocean Conference comes to an end, civil society groups across the globe are raising serious concerns over a series of announcements accelerating the development and scaling of marine geoengineering, particularly marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR), under the guise of climate action. New initiatives unveiled at the conference, including the launch of an African Marine CDR Roadmap by the Ocean Climate Innovation Hub Kenya and a major funding commitment by the Carbon to Sea Initiative to expand global research into ocean alkalinity enhancement, signal a coordinated push to normalize large-scale interventions in ocean ecosystems.
Climate justice campaigners and civil society experts have repeatedly warned that marine geoengineering is a false solution that diverts attention from the urgent need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at source. Technological schemes such as marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) are being promoted even though they do not demonstrate that carbon can be effectively sequestered or stored with any permanence.
Amos Nkpeebo, FIDEP Foundation, Ghana said, “The growing enthusiasm for mCDR is not occurring in a political vacuum. As financial interests, carbon markets, and commercial actors move rapidly into the sector, Africa must carefully examine who benefits, who bears the risks, and who ultimately controls the future governance of ocean-based climate interventions. Africa should not enter the marine geoengineering debate merely to support or oppose proposals developed elsewhere. Africa has an opportunity to lead by advancing a governance vision rooted in precaution, ecological stewardship, democratic participation, and intergenerational responsibility.”
“The relentless attacks on the ocean through the development of carbon market schemes constitute crimes against marine life, marine ecosystems and the coastal communities and peoples who depend on the ocean. As another color of colonialism, the blue economy is expanding and taking control of our Ocean and of the people living and depending on the Ocean,” added Kwami Kpondzo, Global Forest Coalition and Centre pour la Justice Environnementale-Togo.
The proposed expansion of field research and experimentation risks turning the oceans, particularly in the Global South, into testing grounds for unproven and potentially harmful technologies. The framing of these initiatives as “responsible research” does not address fundamental risks associated with these speculative schemes. The scale of proposed funding and infrastructure is also likely to encourage accelerating deployment of these untested technologies.
It is also highly likely that marine geoengineering would change the chemistry of oceans, cause changes in nutrient levels, impacting ocean ecosystems and the communities whose livelihoods, food systems, and cultural practices are deeply tied to the ocean.
“Marine geoengineering brings risks to the livelihoods of indigenous peoples, local and traditional communities, and fisher folks who rely on marine and coastal ecosystems. Fisher folks and coastal communities are already impacted by the temperature rising, flooding and coastal erosion. The deployment of the dangerous and distractive technologies to remove carbon from the ocean will only worsen the climate crisis and the impacts on people and communities. Africa rejects all forms of geoengineering including marine geoengineering. Our continent is not a laboratory for dangerous technologies,” added Kpondzo.
Against this backdrop, we welcome the announcement by Kenya’s Minister for Mining, Blue Economy and Maritime Affairs expressing support for a moratorium, or precautionary pause, on deep sea mining. The Minister’s rationale highlighting threats to fisheries, risks to coastal communities, and the dangers of acting amid scientific uncertainty demonstrates a clear commitment to protecting ocean health and livelihoods.
“As discussions on marine geoengineering gather momentum, there is a growing risk that oceans become viewed primarily as sites for carbon storage and technological experimentation rather than as living ecosystems and global commons that sustain millions of people. The same precautionary principles being applied to deep-sea mining should equally guide decisions on marine geoengineering. Africa has an opportunity to provide leadership by advancing approaches rooted in ecological integrity, democratic governance, and the protection of ocean-dependent communities. The ocean cannot be treated as a new frontier for speculative climate schemes or commercial interests, but must be protected as a shared commons for present and future generations,” added Dr. Mfoniso Xael, Health of Mother Earth Foundation.
We call on governments to prevent outdoor marine geoengineering experiments from taking place, protect oceans and marine ecosystems by urgently prioritizing real solutions to the climate crisis and upholding restrictive international governance.
Aakaluk Adrienne Blatchford, Indigenous Environmental Network said, “Marine geoengineering is a continuation of colonization and exploitation of Indigenous Peoples and their inherent rights to steward the land in a way that creates harmony and balance in our ecosystems that have allowed our peoples to thrive in some of the harshest climates in the world. Indigenous Peoples will advance the world into restorative practices that have allowed us to thrive in our homelands since time immemorial with our Cosmovisions, our spiritual practices and collective inherent connection to the land and what it provides. Our traditional knowledge holds truth and a millenia of lived experience. Geoengineering, also known as climate mitigation with the use of technology, is not the answer.”
A longstanding precautionary international governance framework includes the de facto moratorium on geoengineering that was reaffirmed in 2024, and the London Convention/London Protocol’s restrictive regulation of various marine geoengineering technologies. Ignoring these principles in the rush to deploy marine geoengineering technologies undermines global agreements to protect ocean ecosystems.
Mary Church, CIEL added, “The ocean is our greatest ally in the fight against climate breakdown, not a laboratory for risky geoengineering. Already under severe pressure from heating, pollution, and overexploitation, these highly speculative interventions could undermine or even reverse its vital role as Earth's largest carbon sink. Marine carbon dioxide removal technologies - driven in large part by voluntary carbon markets - risk causing irreversible harm while diverting scarce resources and political will away from proven, rights-based climate solutions. States must act now and uphold precaution, halt the proliferation of open ocean geoengineering experiments, and reject the normalization of these dangerous and unproven technologies.”
Additional Information
- Press Release: Blue Economy And Marine Geoengineering Threats – Stop Commodifying, Experimenting And Exploiting Our Oceans
- Press Conference: Blue Economy And Marine Geoengineering Threats – Stop Commodifying, Experimenting And Exploiting Our Ocean
- Press Release: Not Our Solution – Global South Civil Society Groups Reject Geoengineering
- Policy Briefing: Don’t Geoengineer Africa
- Statement: Home Alliance Statement On Marine Geoengineering Experiments
- Geoengineering Governance: Restrictive Framework Must Be Upheld and Strengthened
- Geoengineering Projects Tracker
About Hands Off Mother Earth (HOME) Alliance
The Hands Off Mother Earth (HOME) Alliance is a driving force in the fight against the growing threat of large-scale technological manipulation of the climate and biodiversity: geoengineering. We are an international civil society network of close to 200 organizations from over 45 different countries, from the Global South and the Global North. HOME was first launched as a global campaign in April 2010 at The World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth in Cochabamba, Bolivia. Follow us: Website| LinkedIn | Bluesky | X | YouTube
For media enquiries please contact
Neha Gupta
Communications Coordinator, Hands Off Mother Earth (HOME) Alliance
