§ Sue DoughtyTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the impact of climate change on the quantities of water that may be sustainably abstracted over the next 50 years, broken down by region. [168370]
MorleyI refer the hon. Member to the Answer given to her on 19 April 2004.Official Report, column 161W.
§ Mr. ChaytorTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the concept of contraction and convergence as the basis for international negotiations on climate change beyond 2010. [172936]
§ Mr. Morley[holding answer 18 May 2004]: On the one hand, the contraction and convergence framework promises both global participation in efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and a means of ensuring that greenhouse gas concentrations are stabilised in the atmosphere at a level that avoids dangerous climate change. On the other hand, it requires upfront agreement on the level at which greenhouse gas concentrations should be stabilised, something that many countries are reluctant to discuss; it is based on a per-capita approach which a number of countries with high per capita emissions strongly oppose, and requires a governance structure that binds countries in for decades. The UK remains open to discussing the relative merits of the contraction and convergence approach with other countries and stakeholders, along with other approaches.