§ Mr. DalyellTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development what action the Government have taken since his oral statement in the Adjournment debate on 1 July 1998,Official Report, columns 324–30, to protect coral reefs. [65477]
§ Mr. FoulkesI have been asked to reply.
Since the Adjournment debate on 1 July, we have maintained our effort to conserve coral reefs, monitor their status and help to achieve their sustainable use.
The Department for International Development (DFID) has further extended its support for the creation of a South Asia Regional Coral Reef Monitoring Network in Sri Lanka, Maldives and India, being a contribution to the global network sponsored by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). The programme has trained national managers to monitor the biophysical status of reef resources and the use of these resources by dependent coastal communities. DFID has also supported their participation in regional and international planning processes. An independent review in September 1998 concluded that the DFID/IOC programme has laid a very solid foundation for future development of the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network.
A UK/Caribbean Regional Workshop in Jamaica during October 1998, funded by FCO and DFID, attracted representatives from 22 Caribbean States to consider the conservation status of marine biodiversity in the Caribbean including threats to the coral reefs of the region. The results of this Caribbean meeting were reported to the Second London Oceans Workshop sponsored by Department for the Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR), attended by delegations from 40 countries, at which the keynote address by the Deputy Prime Minister focused on 23W the central role of coral reefs as indicators of the health of the oceans, and on the need to take action to protect both reefs and other sensitive marine ecosystems.
During December 1998, DFID approved funding of £0.6 million to extend for a further three year period the programme implemented by the International Centre for Living Aquatic Resources Management (ICLARM) studying the social, economic and environmental benefits which have arisen from the protection of coral reefs in Jamaica and in British Virgin Islands.
DFID has also approved new support for the Coastal Resources Management Project providing advice to the Government of Turks and Caicos Islands for the protection and management of a marine protected area including some spectacular coral reefs, and the development of local capacity and infrastructure to ensure that this is a long sustained process.
The UK's ratification of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance has been extended to the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) and this came into force on 8 January 1999. BIOT is now preparing to put forward for listing as a Ramsar site an area of the Chagos Archipelago which includes a number of globally outstanding coral reefs.