Civil society organizations, Indigenous Peoples, and climate justice groups gathered at the UN climate negotiations SB64 to raise urgent concerns over blue economy initiatives and the growing push for marine geoengineering.
Framed as climate solutions, these approaches are false solutions and dangerous distractions that deepen extractivism, enable destructive development models, and divert attention from real and just solutions to the climate crisis.
Marine geoengineering, which is a risky and deliberate large-scale technological scheme to manipulate the oceans, does not address the root causes of the climate crisis and aims to temporarily mask some of the effects of climate change.
Concerningly, both blue economy initiatives and marine geoengineering are increasingly being legitimized within UN climate policy spaces and global discussions on oceans. This also includes opening up of carbon markets to exploit the oceans.
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Date: 12 June, 2026
Location: Nairobi-4, WCCB, Bonn and Online Livestream Link
Speakers
– Ranjana Giri, Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development
– Kwami Kpondzo, Global Forest Coalition
– Aakaluk Adrienne Blatchford, Indigenous Environmental Network
– Mary Church, Center for International Environmental Law
Moderator
– Neha Gupta, Hands Off Mother Earth Alliance
