PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Madagascar: Climate Change (9 November 2021)

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what projects her Department is (a) funding or (b) helping to fund to support the people of Madagascar to adapt to the impact of climate change.

Asked by:
Dame Harriett Baldwin (Conservative)

As COP26 Presidents, the UK is committed to driving action to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees and support countries most vulnerable to climate change, such as Madagascar, adapt to its impacts. The UK is a long-standing supporter of adaptation to climate change in Africa, with around half of the UK's £2.7 billion adaptation budget between 2016 and 2020 spent across the continent. Ahead of COP26, we have contributed £175 million to the Risk-informed Early Action Partnership, operating across Africa, which aims to make 1 billion people safer from disasters globally by 2025 through expanding early action financing, improving early warning systems and building the capacity to act on the risks they identify. At COP26, the UK has strengthened these commitments, joining African nations and other donors in contributing £20 million to the Africa Adaptation Acceleration Programme - an African-owned initiative which aims to support at-risk communities in countries such as Madagascar build resilience to extreme weather - as well as an additional £42m for adaptation through our flagship Africa Regional Climate and Nature programme. The UK is also a major contributor to the World Bank International Development Association (IDA)'s large-scale infrastructure programme operating in Madagascar, which will support longer-term adaptation through the creation of multi-use water systems throughout the country's three southern regions.

The UK also remains deeply concerned by the humanitarian crisis in southern Madagascar, which is driven by multiple factors including climate shocks. We are working closely with the UN, Government of Madagascar and other donors to ensure aid reaches those in need. In 2021, the UK has allocated £5 million to UN humanitarian agencies to provide life-saving food assistance, nutrition and health interventions, access to safe water and to reinforce humanitarian system coordination in southern Madagascar. This UK funding will reach 250,000 people, including the provision of food assistance in the form of emergency cash transfers to 132,000 people. In addition, the UK is a core contributor to the UN Central Emergency Response Fund which has allocated approximately £5.78 million to the international response this year.

Answered by:
Vicky Ford (Conservative)
19 November 2021