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: From: USIS Indonesia <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
: To: Adri Amiruddin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
: Subject: Text: State Department Spokesman on Bleaching of Coral Reefs
: Date: 14 Juli 1999 12:07
:
: Text: State Department Spokesman on Bleaching of Coral Reefs (Cites experts' call for expanded use of remote sensing) (670)
:
: An international assembly of scientists and policy experts has called for expanding the use of remote sensing technologies to provide early warning of coral bleaching caused by climate change.
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: According to a statement by U.S. State Department Spokesman James Rubin released July 12 in Washington, the experts have called on governments, international organizations, academic institutions and private industry to immediately undertake more than a dozen recommendations, including expansion of the so-called "HotSpot" tracking system and the deployment of sensors needed for the remote sensing of coral reefs.
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: Rubin said the meeting, held June 7-10 in Honolulu, Hawaii, and sponsored in part by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), was one of the first concerted responses to a series of recommendations made by the State Department in a report released earlier this year. That report concluded that the increasing frequency and regional severity of coral bleaching events are likely due to "a steadily rising baseline of marine temperatures."
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: Following is the text of the Rubin statement:
:
: (begin text)
:
: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
: Office of the Spokesman
: July 12, 1999
:
: STATEMENT BY JAMES P. RUBIN, SPOKESMAN
:
: NOAA, ICLARM MEET TO STRENGTHEN WAYS TO MANAGE CORAL REEFS
: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the International Center for Living Aquatic Resource Management (ICLARM) recently convened an international assembly of scientists, policy specialists, and marine resource managers in Honolulu, Hawaii, June 7-10, 1999. The purpose of the meeting was to identify how to advance the application of remote sensing technologies to the management of coral reefs.
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: NOAA's meeting was one of the first concerted responses to a series of recommendations for action made by the U.S. Department of State in a report it released on March 5, 1999, at a meeting of the US Coral Reef Task Force. Titled "Coral Bleaching, Coral Mortality, and Global Climate Change," the report concluded that: "... the geographic extent, increasing frequency, and regional severity of mass bleaching events are likely a consequence of a steadily rising baseline of marine temperatures."
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: In support of these conclusions, the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force passed a resolution stating that, "Agencies must consider their role in drawing attention to the predicted impacts of global scale climate change on the resources they manage. We believe conservation goals can no longer be achieved without taking into account global climate change."
: The experts at NOAA's meeting called for governments, development assistance agencies, international organizations, academic institutions, and the private sector to immediately undertake more than a dozen recommendations, including expansion of the "HotSpot" tracking system which can provide an early warning of coral bleaching events; retrieving and rescuing old remote sensing data so that it can be used as a baseline against which to measure change; and imploring agencies and private industry to configure and deploy sensors optimal for remote sensing of coral reefs.
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: Last month, World Wildlife Fund, in conjunction with the Marine Conservation Biology Institute, released a report titled "Turning Up the Heat: How Global Warming Threatens Life in the Sea;" and just last week, Greenpeace released "Climate Change, Coral Bleaching, and the Future of the World's Coral Reefs." Citing the report released earlier by the Department of State, these organizations reiterate the concern that the impacts of climate change are already adversely impacting coral reefs and thus the communities that depend upon them for fisheries, tourist income, and coastal protection.
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: Through the International Coral Reef Initiative, which was founded under the leadership of the Department of State in 1994, and through the US Coral Reef Task Force established by presidential Executive Order at the National Ocean Conference in June 1998, the Department of State continues to lead efforts to evaluate the science and to develop sound policy to respond to the impacts of anthropogenic climate change on coral reefs and other ecosystems and species.
: (end text)
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