Abstract

Since starting a campaign to see the United Nations Treaty on the High Seas 2023 ratified by 85 nations and given force of international law 17 January 2026, the following events have happened which are changing the course of history. Firstly, new inventions have been devised which if funded properly could return the ocean to its historic role of the biggest carbon sink in the world as well as a massive oxygen producer, and an important provider of food and transport. Secondly a war which inadvertently reduces the use of fossil fuels by force. Thirdly a defiant USA which plans to abort any treaty requirements that prevent it mining the sea floor for rare earth minerals. This article will review in full new inventions against the background of the ongoing war and the search for rare earth minerals in the ocean.  These innovative technologies are designed to “read” (monitor) ocean pollution while simultaneously decreasing temperature and addressing alkalinity (de-acidification). They are focused on Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement (OAE) and electrochemical separation. These inventions work by increasing the ocean’s pH—making it less acidic—which allows it to absorb more carbon dioxide  from the atmosphere, thus slowing global warming and mitigating ocean acidification. The contribution of this paper  is an attempt to promote funding and research urgently in the areas that can save our oceans while mitigating climate change. Another aspect not considered is to include carbon credits created by these oceanic pollution inventions in a nations’ emission reduction accounting calculations. In this paper a new approach is proposed called the Ocean Dividend project which avoids the bad side effects of OAE projects.

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