Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of (a) loss and damage caused by climate change and (b) the wider humanitarian situation in East Africa.

The UK recognises that the current impacts of climate change are likely to increase in frequency and severity. Investment in mitigation and adaptation will help reduce these impacts. More needs to be done at global, regional and local levels to help countries and local communities. Between 2016 and 2020 the UK spent £2.4 billion in areas relevant to addressing losses and damages. At COP27 the UK announced it will triple funding for adaptation programmes from £500 million in 2019 to £1.5 billion in 2025.

Across East Africa, over 71 million people require humanitarian aid due to a combination of pressures. Principal drivers of need are conflict and climate change including an unprecedented fifth consecutive season of failed rains and exceptional flooding in some places. Humanitarian requirements will remain at critical levels throughout 2023. Tens of millions of people across East Africa have benefitted from UK funded resilience building programmes in recent years and the UK will allocate at least £156 million towards humanitarian crises in East Africa this financial year.