Ogier, Emily M., Pecl, Gretta T., Hughes, Terry, Lawless, Sarah, Layton, Cayne, Nash, Kirsty L., and Morrison, Tiffany H. (2025) Novel marine-climate interventions hampered by low levels of governance preparedness and climate goal consensus. Nature Climate Change, 15. pp. 375-384.

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Abstract

Novel marine-climate interventions are now being rapidly implemented to address both the causes and consequences of warming oceans. However, the governance implications of proposed upscaling of such interventions are uncertain. We conduct a survey of 332 intervention practitioners, revealing five types and 17 sub-types of interventions proposed or deployed in 37 marine systems globally. Most (71%) report marine-climate interventions aimed at supporting species and ecosystem adaptation, with 29% aimed primarily at climate mitigation and societal adaptation. Perceptions of climate benefits vary widely, with low consensus across practitioners on the climate goals of specific interventions. Intervention decision-making also remains focused on technical feasibility to meet minimum permitting requirements, with limited appraisal and management of broader ecological, cultural and social risks and benefits of intervention. Practitioners also warn that many marine-climate interventions are currently being tested and deployed in an under-regulated pseudo-scientific bubble.

Item ID:	85064
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	1758-6798
Keywords:	marine governance; climate change; ocean interventions
Copyright Information:	© The Author(s) 2025. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Funders:	Australian Research Council (ARC), ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies
Projects and Grants:	ARC Discovery Projects grant DP220103921
Date Deposited:	09 Apr 2025 01:22
FoR Codes:	44 HUMAN SOCIETY > 4406 Human geography > 440606 Political geography @ 30% 41 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES > 4101 Climate change impacts and adaptation > 410199 Climate change impacts and adaptation not elsewhere classified @ 40% 44 HUMAN SOCIETY > 4406 Human geography > 440699 Human geography not elsewhere classified @ 30%
SEO Codes:	19 ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY, CLIMATE CHANGE AND NATURAL HAZARDS > 1902 Environmental policy, legislation and standards > 190299 Environmental policy, legislation and standards not elsewhere classified @ 50% 19 ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY, CLIMATE CHANGE AND NATURAL HAZARDS > 1999 Other environmental policy, climate change and natural hazards > 199999 Other environmental policy, climate change and natural hazards not elsewhere classified @ 50%
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