Ecologists slam `fertilising' sea near Antarctica for climate research

Ecologists have protested a joint mission by Indian and German scientists to Antartica to seed the sea near Antartica with iron sulphate, saying it is a breach of a global convention on a moratorium on `fertilising' the sea.

The Indian Biodiversity Forum has protested the involvement of the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) in a study on the melting of polar ice cap even as NGOs in South Africa have sought cancellation of the expedition.

India's National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), in collaboration with the Alfred Wegener Institute of Germany is launching a project called Indo-German Iron Fertilisation Experiment (LOHAFEX) that aims to halt the melting of the polar ice cap.

The researchers plan to 'fertilise' 300 sq km of the Scotia Sea, close to Antarctica, with 20 tonnes of iron sulphate. (Ocean fertilisation is the dumping of iron in the ocean in order to generate an algal bloom).

The international team of 50 researchers set sail on 7 January from Cape Town, South Africa, and is on course to reach their experiment site at a stormy stretch in Scotia Sea between Argentina and the Antarctic peninsula.

The Indian Biodiversity Forum has protested the involvement of the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) in the expedition that will study the rapid and worrisome melting of the polar ice cap, especially in the western region.

Another environment group, called the ETC group, has put out a news alert titled 'Turn Around the Geo-engineering Ship'. The group has also started a signature campaign to recall the experiment.

In a letter to prime minister Manmohan Singh, IBF members - ecologist S Faizi, vice-chairman of IUCN Commission on Ecosystem Management Dhrubajyothi Ghosh and the former principal chief conservator of forests DPS Verma - said the expedition constituted a breach of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). The conference of parties of the convention in May last year had, by consensus, put a moratorium on ocean fertilisation until ''there is an adequate scientific basis on which to justify such activities, including assessing associated risks, and a global, transparent and effective control and regulatory mechanism is in place for these activities,'' they said.

''India is a key player in CBD negotiations and it is in our self-interest that the authority of this international law is respected. For, as a victim of recurring bio-piracy, we need to invoke this convention more often than many others,'' they said.

The researchers leading the LOHAFEX expedition will conduct a 2-month mega experiment to test the controversial technique that they say may help fight climate change.

Environment activists say the experiment has not been tried and want the experiment stopped before any possible harm is done.

They say the project has already caused severe resentment among the global environmental community. A large number of civil society groups around the world are protesting against the project.

Scientists will also look at the polar biodiversity, especially several microbes for possible bio-technological purposes and also medicinal uses.

India is one of the few countries globally, which has set up a permanent station at Antarctica.