April 2010 Global Food Crisis
Science Alert's feature article - The Coming Famine: risks and solutions for global food security
29 per cent of world fisheries are in a state of collapse according to Canadian scientist Boris Worm and colleagues (2007). The majority could be gone by the 2040s they warn. Plagues of jellyfish in the world's oceans signal the impact of overfishing and nutrient pollution, while carbon emissions are turning them acidic, imperilling the entire marine food chain.

FAO (2008) says "the maximum wild capture fishery potential from the world's oceans has probably been reached" and the same applies to freshwater. If we cannot double fish production as food demand doubles, then we will have to get the additional 100 million tonnes of meat from land animals. This will require a billion tonnes more grain and 1000 cubic kms of extra fresh water. FAO's projected increase in world meat demand by 2050 is 185 million tonnes. Add this to the fish deficit and we would need to discover three more North Americas to grow sufficient grain to feed all these animals. This gives some impression of the scale of the challenge of meeting global protein demand by the mid-century.

From the forthcoming publication -
The Coming Famine: The Global Food Crisis and What We Can Do to Avoid It. By Professor Julian Cribb, Science communicator and Adjunct Professor of Science Communication at the University of Technology Sydney.

April 2010 ONC participates in the Australia and Korea Partnership for the Future Project
Ocean Nourishment Corporation are proud supporters of the Australia and Korea Partnership for the Future Project and are featured in a two page article within the launch magazine. Managing Director John Ridley was invited to speak on the topic of food security and fisheries at the Sydney Launch of the Project held at the Establishment Hotel on the 23rd April 2010. For more information or to view the launch magazine please visit the Project web site at www.australiakorea.com.

March 2010 Sydney Morning Herald - Strengthening of the Eastern Australian Current leads to more nutrients and more fish
Scientists have recorded both warmer ocean waters off Sydney and waters with higher nutrient levels. This is attributed to the strengthening of the Eastern Australian Current. "The front that is associated with this current is biologically active, which can be seen from the change in the ocean colour, meaning the chlorophyll concentration is much higher this month, "Dr. Gary Brassington from the Bureau of Meterology said, "this means there are additional nutrients in the ocean, which is good for people trying to fish". Click here for the full article.

January 2010 Southern Surveyor completes voyage to test the influence of micro and macro-nutrients on ocean productivity in the Tasman Sea
A research voyage to study primary productivity induced by nitrogen and iron in the Tasman Sea (PINTS) was scheduled to be completed onboard CSIRO's Southern Surveyor in January/February 2010. Assessing key underlying processes that control primary productivity and carbon export to the ocean's interior such as micro and macro-nutrient bioavailability is required to fully understand the ocean's role in controlling climate change and improve modelling approaches. It is thought that the input of iron via dust to the Tasman may influence nutrient uptake, primary production and nitrogen fixation. The voyage objective was to study iron bioavailability, sources and its biogeochemical cycling in the surface waters of the Tasman Sea, along with the role of other micronutrients. See the voyage plan for further details.

December 2009 Oceans Day at COP15
Oceans Day at Copenhagen UNFCCC COP-15 (December 14, 2009), the first ever Oceans Day at a UNFCCC Conference of the Parties, brought together 320 leaders from governments, UN agencies, NGOs, science, and industry from 40 countries to focus on the central role of the oceans in climate change.

December 2009 FAO Report: Climate change implications for fisheries and aquaculture
Marine capture fisheries already facing multiple challenges due to overfishing, habitat loss and weak management are poorly positioned to cope with new problems stemming from climate change, a new FAO study suggests. The report calls for the integration of fisheries and aquaculture into national climate change and food security policies. The FAO press release and links to the report can be found here.

November 2009 SOLAS consider iron fertilisation
The Surface Ocean-Lower Atmosphere Study (SOLAS) released the report, "Ocean fertilization: Legislation, ethical considerations and the role of SOLAS". The report mainly discusses iron fertilisation and states that their position is that further scientific studies are necessary before large-scale ocean fertilisation.

October 2009 IMO Meeting
A regulatory regime for research into ocean fertilization has moved closer to finalization. The annual meeting of the Scientific Group of the London Convention (LC) and London Protocol (LP) took place during 25-29 May 2009, in Rome Italy. The LC and LP, subsidiaries of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), are responsible for regulating the deliberate placement of materials in the ocean. In February 2009, an intersessional working group on ocean fertilization devised a draft regulatory framework. The Scientific Group, at its meeting in Rome, improved this framework and is providing the result for consideration (including possible approval) at the annual meeting of the LC and LP which is to take place 26-30 October 2009. The report is available here.

September 2009 Royal Society Report Issue
On 01 September 2009, the Royal Society issued the report "Geoengineering the climate: Science, governance and uncertainty". This report was the result of many months of effort by a team of experts in the various fields. It pointed out the fact that none of the emission reduction scenarios that have been realistically discussed will lead to an adequate containment of levels of greenhouse gases. In this context geoengineering may be used to mitigate the effect of some of the greenhouse gas emissions. Because all proposed methods of geoengineering are novel applications of technology, there is a need to obtain more information before committing to implementation. The Royal Society called for a substantial increase in funding of the various geoengineering options.
The Royal Society divided the technologies into two types, those that remove carbon dioxide and those that manage solar radiation. The Royal Society prefers those technologies that remove carbon dioxide. Ocean fertilization is one of the technologies that remove carbon dioxide. The Report is available here.




Our Managing Director, John Ridley, has been invited to speak at the Australian Financial Review Carbon Reduction Conference to be held at the Hilton Hotel in Sydney on the 2nd June 2010.

Directors, Murray Scott and John Ridley, attended Oceans Day at COP15 in Copenhagen in December 2009. Discussions were focussed on the role of the oceans in climate change and potential impacts to world fisheries as a result of climate change.

Shaun Kim attended the IMOS Integrated Marine Observing System - Data User Workshop in November 2009. See the IMOS website for further information.

Carbon Expo: Our Managing director, John Ridley, will be speaking on the topic of ocean biosequestration in October 2009. Further information can be found at the Carbon Expo website.

In May 2009 our Chairman and MD attended the World Business Summit on climate change in Copenhagen. The Copenhagen Call was issued at this summit to the Danish Prime Minister, Lais Lokke Rasmussen to take forward to COP15.

ONC Press Release: Time for ocean carbon sinks to be included in the Copenhagen climate deal.

Peter Wheen, Chairman of ONC, was interviewed for the April edition of Engineers Australia magazine. The article focuses on the engineering aspects of Ocean Nourishment™ technology and the role of geo-engineering in climate change mitigation.

In March 2009 ONC's Managing Director, John Ridley, attended the International Scientific Congress on Climate Change, a critical scientific meeting aimed at informing political leaders of the latest climate change science in the lead up to COP 15 in December 2009. A summary report of the key findings from the Congress will be issued in June this year and a full report will follow in 2010.

In December 2008 ONC's Managing Director, attended the UNFCCC conference in Poznan, Poland. ONC also exhibited at the Technologies for Climate Protection exhibition, a side event to the UNFCCC conference. The interactive exhibition attracted more than 30,000 people including the Prime Minister of Poland Donald Tusk (shown in the photo below) and the Ministers of the Environment of the Netherlands and Japan.



In April 2008, Ocean Nourishment™ featured on "Five Ways to Save the World", the premiere program on Planet Green, Discovery Channel's weekly programming block dedicated to green-related content.

ONC exhibited at the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi. The exhibition showcased the latest innovations in technology, and the ideas of leading companies and experts in the fields of future energy and carbon management.




The OCB Ocean Fertilization Website. The Ocean Carbon and Biogeochemistry (OCB) program is a scientific community-driven coordinating body that promotes U.S. research and international cooperation to investigate the ocean's role in the global Earth system. Projected increases in atmospheric CO₂ levels and potential associated changes in the earth's climate have prompted scientists and engineers to devise strategies for removing some of this CO₂ from the atmosphere.

On the 14th October 2009, the United Nations Environment Programe (UNEP) released Blue Carbon: the Role of Healthy Oceans in Binding Carbon in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO. See the UNEP website.


Source: http://hqweb.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.asp?DocumentID=599&ArticleID=6337&l=en

Safe Climate Australia aims to mobilise Australia's extensive technological, economic and political expertise and resources in planning the transition of the Australian economy to zero net carbon, the sequestering of dangerous levels of existing carbon from the atmosphere, and in assisting the building of a global consensus for restoring a safe climate. See here for more information on Safe Climate Australia.

In June 2009, the UNEP released "The Natural Fix" the role of ecosystems in climate mitigation. See the UNEP website.

Ken Caldeira commented, Air Capture as covered in the Royal Societies report on Geoengineering, is not Geoengineering. For further reading see here.

The UK's Royal Society has brought together a working group of climate scientists and engineers to study a variety of "geo-engineering" schemes, proposed to reduce the impact of global warming. The study will review a variety of these ideas including proposals to put mirrors in space, seed the atmosphere with particles to reduce sunlight reaching the Earth and fertilisation of the oceans to stimulate plankton growth and absorb carbon dioxide. The aim of the study is to make progress towards defining the parameters and limitations of these approaches and to offer recommendations on which deserve more serious attention. The group is expected to report on its findings by mid 2009. Read more here.

Read ONC's submission to the Royal Society which addresses the place of ocean fertilisation with macronutrients in the suite of potential geoengineering approaches to mitigating climate change. ONC welcomes the opportunity to contribute to this important review.

The BBC interviewed Dr. Richard Lampitt on iron fertilisation of the ocean and the need for more research. Watch the video here.

ONC featured in Ethical Investor magazine in March 2009. The published article highlighted the oceans as the final carbon frontier, an area somewhat neglected to date in climate negotiations and regulations and now a timely investment opportunity.

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
http://unfccc.int/2860.php

Australian Department of Climate Change
http://www.climatechange.gov.au/

One Fish Community Knowledge Directory
http://www.onefish.org/global/index.jsp