HL Deb 31 March 1999 vol 599 cc47-8WA
The Earl of Haddington

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What information they have on the cause of (a) the rise in height of the Indian Ocean; and (b) the destruction of coral reefs in that area and elsewhere; and what representations they are making to overseas governments on the basis of this knowledge. [HL1698]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (Lord Whitty)

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC) concluded in 1995 that there is now a discernible human influence on the climate system. Global temperatures have risen by about 0.5° C over the last 100 years and sea level by between 10–25cms. Much of this can be attributed to global warming. Sea levels are likely to rise by 50cms, in the range 15–95cms, over the next 100 years and will continue to rise over several centuries as oceans slowly heat up and expand.

The Government are currently negotiating with the Institute of Hydrology and other institutions in UK, India and Bangladesh a research project which will examine the impact of climate and sea level change in the Indian sub-continent.

According to the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network, the condition of coral reefs in the Indian Ocean varies considerably, from virtually pristine (such as the atolls in mid-ocean) to those which are heavily impacted by direct and indirect human activities.

In 1998 there was an unprecedented "bleaching" of corals across the Indo-Pacific Oceans, as a result of unusually high sea-surface temperature caused by the largest El Niño since records began in 1870. Bleaching affected over 90 per cent. of shallow water corals, generally resulting in their death. The most severe bleaching occurred in the central Indian Ocean islands of the Maldives and Sri Lanka, where many massive corals are still under stress and partially bleached.

The Government have supported since 1995 the development of a regional approach to coral reef conservation in the northern Indian Ocean and have funded the establishment of the South Asia coral reef monitoring network from which these reports have emanated. The Government have agreed to continue working with the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission and with the governments of the region to ensure that a sustainable coral reef monitoring network is in place by 2002.

The Government will continue to highlight the links between climate change, oceans and pollution. In addition to the ongoing efforts to tackle climate change, we will also be pressing for improved international co-ordination on oceans matters at the Commission on Sustainable Development meeting in New York next month.