This document contains the presentation by S. Masood Ahmad on impact of climate change on hard corals of Lakshadweep islands, presented at National climate research conference, IIT Delhi, March 5-6, 2010. Living scleractinian corals (eg. Porites spp.) provide an excellent archive of paleoclimatic records. Stable carbon and oxygen isotopes (d13C and d18O) in these hard corals are extensively used for tracing climatic histories on monthly to weekly time scales. Oxygen isotopes are mainly used in determining past sea surface temperature (SST) changes. High-density bands in Lakshadweep corals are formed during the southwest monsoon, whereas low-density bands are formed during the non-monsoon period. These coral bands can be identified in X-radiographs. The skeletal ?18O values during monsoon and non-monsoon periods are mainly controlled by the fluctuations in sea surface temperature. The low SST values are manifested in an increase in skeletal ?18O, whereas high SST values are characterized by the depleted skeletal ?18O. Authors have generated very high-resolution (monthly-scale) records of SST changes for the 20th century from the scleractinian corals of Kavaratti (Lakshadweep) island (10o34