MOMBASA, Kenya — As the historic 11th Our Ocean Conference (OOC11) concluded in Mombasa, a major rift emerged between commercial innovators and global civil society over the rapid introduction of marine geoengineering technologies.
While the conference mobilized $6.4 billion across 320 new commitments for ocean conservation, climate justice groups used the platform to fiercely condemn the acceleration of marine Carbon Dioxide Removal (mCDR) and Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement (OAE) projects. Activists labeled the schemes “false solutions” and a new form of “blue colonialism” that threatens to turn the Global South into an eco-technological testing ground.
The primary flashpoints included the unveiling of an African Marine CDR Roadmap by the Ocean Climate Innovation Hub Kenya, alongside massive funding injections from the Carbon to Sea Initiative to expand open-ocean testing.
“The ocean cannot be treated as a new frontier for speculative climate schemes,” warned Dr. Mfoniso Xael of the Health of Mother Earth Foundation. Civil society organizations are calling for an immediate halt to outdoor experimentation, urging world governments to enforce the standing de facto global moratorium on geoengineering.
