Dr. ThomasTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make it his policy at the next Council of Agriculture Ministers' meeting to take steps to initiate a European study on the effects of sea rise from the greenhouse global warming effect on low-lying agricultural land.
§ Mr. RyderAtmospheric warming is of global significance and there will be a range of consequences. The effect on low-lying agricultural land is one of the many aspects which will need to be studied. But research into the greenhouse effect is still at a relatively early stage, and specialised studies such as this will be more appropriate later on.
For the moment there are several international studies and conferences taking place. For example, the United Kingdom is a participatory member of the intergovernmental panel on climate change, a worldwide organisation which is studying all aspects of global warming, and we are a party to joint studies with European researchers to investigate the potential effects to the coastline of a rise in sea level.