Sam Adelman - Geo-engineering - Risks, Rights and Ethics | SOAS University of London
Channel: SOAS University of London
Date: 2018-03-23

This seminar titled "Geo-engineering: Risks, Rights and Ethics" was given by Dr Sam Adelman (University of Warwick) on 25 January 2018 as part of the Law, Environment and Development Centre (LEDC) Seminar Series at SOAS University of London. You can find out more about this event at https://goo.gl/95nZV7

Pressure to engineer the Earth’s climate will increase unless greenhouse gas emissions are substantially reduced in the near future. However, manipulating the Earth’s climate may provoke unforeseen, unintended and uncontrollable consequences that threaten human rights. Such risks arise especially from solar radiation management (SRM) techniques and, to a lesser extent, from carbon dioxide removal (CDR). SRM creates particular risks because it is difficult to test on a wide scale and may not be capable of being recalled after deployment. Adequate, enforceable governance structures do not currently exist to assess and regulate the risks of climate engineering, not least whether such technologies can be terminated in the absence of significant emissions reductions. My presentation evaluates these risks, discusses the ethics of geoengineering, and the extent to which international environmental law and human rights law might be used to regulate the research and deployment of geoengineering.

Sam Adelman teaches and researches climate change and international development law and human rights in the School of Law, University of Warwick. He has degrees from the University of the Witwatersrand, Harvard University and Warwick University. He was banned, detained and exiled during the struggle against apartheid. He is currently co-authoring a book on climate justice with Upendra Baxi and editing a Research Handbook on Climate Justice and Human Rights.