Sir, The UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen is important. Hopefully it will come up with robust commitments and not just words.

The wellbeing of the oceans is pivotal for the survival of our planet and, indeed, for its demise if we get it wrong. Until fairly recently little was understood about the normal function of the seas, which cover 71 per cent of our Earth’s surface. The international marine research community now knows much more about what is turning out to be an extremely complex and sensitive environment and how it interacts with the land, weather, temperature change and mankind’s livelihood, safety and health.

The UK’s marine research organisations, with the support of the Natural Environment Research Council, other funding agencies, NGOs and commercial organisations, have been at the forefront of this endeavour. Real progress has been made in understanding the chemistry, physics and biology of the ocean, and in our ability to predict likely changes in response to global warming and rising carbon dioxide levels. Indeed, our own laboratory showed recently that the seas are becoming more acidic, and much work internationally is aimed at working out what this will mean for the marine environment and, therefore, for our world.

This work is complex, expensive and time consuming, and requires long-term and increasing financial commitment. In these tough financial times we all recognise in the research community that we must contribute by efficiency and by focusing our activities on gaining knowledge that is likely to have practical value for our planet, but environmental research budgets in the UK have already been earmarked for significant savings.

This is not, however, the time to constrain marine research. A fuller understanding of our oceans, coastal waters and estuaries will undoubtedly come up with solutions for energy and fuel production, carbon capture and storage and protection of marine life and therefore food security. The way things are going, we run the risk of doing unknown harm to our oceans, endangering our future.

We must enhance our national and international commitment to marine environmental research. Hopefully, Copenhagen will be the necessary catalyst.

Terence Lewis
Chairman, Plymouth Marine Laboratory

Sir, Tristan McConnell writes vividly of the suffering unfolding in drought-stricken East Africa (“Four-year drought pushes 23 million Africans to brink of starvation”, Oct 22). With more than 20 million people in urgent need of help, this is a serious crisis. There are no quick fixes, but there is much that can be done — in both the immediate and longer term.

First, governments must immediately fund the UN World Food Programme’s appeal for the region, which currently faces a shortfall of $977 million. This will save lives.

Second, they must follow through on the commitments they made at the G8 summit in Italy in July, to plough $20 billion into longer-term support for farmers in poor countries. This would include funds for improved seeds and fertilisers, irrigation systems and transport infrastructure, as well as helping farmers to market their produce and access credit.

Third, all governments must strive to reach agreement at the summit in Copenhagen in December — to limit harmful emissions and to fund projects to help poor countries to adapt to the impacts of global warming, a crisis not of their making. Ethiopia, for example, emits 0.007 metric tonnes of CO2 per capita annually. Only six countries (all African) emit less.

Twenty-five years after the famines of 1984-85, much has changed for the better in Ethiopia and its region, and yet these countries are now on the sharp end of the greatest challenge to mankind’s existence.

Oliver Buston
Europe Director, ONE
London W1

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