Any attempts to engineer the climate are likely to result in "different" climate change, rather than its elimination, new results suggest.

Prof Ken Caldeira, of Stanford University, presented research at a major conference on the climate risks and impacts of geoengineering.

These techniques have been hailed by some as a quick fix for climate change.

But the impacts of geoengineering on oceans, the water cycle and land environments are hotly debated.

They have been discussed at a meeting this week of 12,000 scientists in Vienna.

Researchers are familiar with the global cooling effects of volcanic eruptions, seen both historically and even back into the deep past of the rock record.

With this in mind, some here at the European Geosciences Union General Assembly have been discussing the possible worldwide consequences of pumping sulphate aerosols into the stratosphere to attempt to reflect sunlight back into space and cool the planet.

Ivory tusks seized during an anti-smuggling operation are displayed during a Hong Kong Customs press conference on October 20, 2012 Officials travelling to Tanzania with Chinese President Xi Jinping went on a buying spree for illegal ivory, an environmental activist group has said. The delegation bought so much ivory prices in the local market soared, the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) said in a report. Tanzania rejected the report as "stupid nonsense". China said the allegations were "groundless". Conservationists say demand for ivory in China is fuelling poaching. In recent years, poaching has increased across sub-Saharan Africa, with criminal gangs slaughtering elephants for ivory. Tanzania is the largest source of poached ivory in the world, according to the EIA. 'Security checks averted' The EIA report cited a trader in Tanzania's main port city, Dar es Salaam, named as Suleiman Mochiwa, who met undercover investigators. He said that when the Chinese government and business delegation arrived, ivory prices in the local market doubled to $700 (£438) per kilo during the visit. Earlier this year China destroyed a large quantity of confiscated ivory for the first time "The [delegation]... used the opportunity to procure such a large amount of ivory that local prices increased," the report says. Investigators alleged that the Chinese buyers could take advantage of a lack of security checks for those in the country on a diplomatic visit.

Corals are likely to suffer as a result of the changes to our oceans The health of the world’s oceans is deteriorating even faster than had previously been thought, a report says. A review from the International Programme on the State of the Ocean (IPSO), warns that the oceans are facing multiple threats. They are being heated by climate change, turned slowly less alkaline by absorbing CO2, and suffering from overfishing and pollution. The report warns that dead zones formed by fertiliser run-off are a problem. It says conditions are ripe for the sort of mass extinction event that has afflicted the oceans in the past. It says: “We have been taking the ocean for granted. It has been shielding us from the worst effects of accelerating climate change by absorbing excess CO2 from the atmosphere. “Whilst terrestrial temperature increases may be experiencing a pause, the ocean continues to warm regardless. For the most part, however, the public and policymakers are failing to recognise - or choosing to ignore - the severity of the situation.” It says the cocktail of threats facing the ocean is more powerful than the individual problems themselves. Coral reefs, for instance, are suffering from the higher temperatures and the effects of acidification whilst also being weakened by bad fishing practices, pollution, siltation and toxic algal blooms. IPSO, funded by charitable foundations, is publishing a set of five papers based on workshops in 2011 and 2012 in partnership with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN’s) World Commission on Protected Areas.