§ Mr. Llew SmithTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on the implications for Her Majesty's Government's policy on global warming and climate change of the findings of the Natural Environment Research Council's terrestrial initiative in the global environmental research project released on 31 August; and what further funding will be made available to the project to follow up the research findings published to date.
§ Mr. YeoWork under the Natural Environment Research Council's terrestrial initiative in global environmental research—TIGER—will help to improve predictions of climate change and its impacts. The results will be part of the scientific evidence supporting the implementation of the framework convention on climate change under which the United Kingdom will be committed to take actions aimed at returning CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2000.
Funding of the programme is a matter for the Natural Environment Research Council. The Department will continue to support TIGER by facilitating joint work with the Hadley Centre climate prediction programme and through the climate impacts link project at the climatic research unit, university of East Anglia.