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Letter: Geo war

Published 21 October 2009

From Alyson Bailes

Another plea in your pages for geoengineering (12 September, p 34) makes me wonder if I am alone in my concern about the potential for warlike abuse of these techniques. Several of those now discussed could be used to intentionally damage territories and populations by inciting droughts or floods, or by changing sea or air chemistry.

The 1978 Environmental Modification (ENMOD) convention banned hostile use of geoengineering techniques. With talk of implementing these technologies, isn’t there a case for digging out and updating that convention?

Reykjavik, Iceland

Issue no. 2731 published 24 October 2009

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