Navraj Singh Ghaleigh contributes to landmark UN Ocean assessment on marine geoengineering
Tue 9 June 2026
Navraj Singh Ghaleigh, Senior Lecturer in Climate Law, has contributed to a major United Nations report published in 8 June 2026. The Third World Ocean Assessment (WOA III), the only global integrated assessment of the world’s oceans encompassing environmental, economic, and social aspects, serves as the primary output of the third cycle of the Regular Process for Global Reporting and Assessment of the State of the Marine Environment, including Socioeconomic Aspects. His contributions focus on the regulatory challenges raised by marine geoengineering, including questions of international oversight, environmental protections, precaution, accountability and the relationship between climate and governance.
He said: “Marine geoengineering highlights not only gaps in international regulation, but the reality that governance is fragmented across different legal and institutional frameworks. Scientific uncertainty, the precautionary principle, and concerns about planetary boundaries all point towards restraint; yet these must be balanced against climate imperatives and competing economic and political interests. In this context, there is no single authority capable of resolving these tensions in a definitive way. The challenge is therefore not to construct a fully unified system of control, but to ensure that these different frameworks operate in a way that is mutually aware, responsive, and accountable. This requires forms of coordination and oversight that can manage conflicts between regimes, while embedding precaution and environmental protection within decision-making. Governance will necessarily remain plural and evolving, but it can still provide meaningful limits on intervention if these principles are taken seriously across the relevant institutions.”
WOA III is a collective effort of interdisciplinary writing teams made up of more than 650 experts This report provides a key scientific foundation for governmental considerations and intergovernmental processes, alongside policy makers and other stakeholders involved in ocean affairs.
Building on the previous World Ocean Assessments, WOA III aims to provide updated, comprehensive ocean data across regions, while introducing new features: forward-looking sustainability pathways, gender and equity considerations, and Indigenous, traditional owner and local community knowledge.
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