Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what support his Department has provided to reduce risks to (a) life, (b) health, (c) homes, (d) livelihoods, and (e) education from flooding of the Nile river system along its course in the last 12 months.

The UK has responded to flooding along the Nile in Sudan this year and in South Sudan in 2019. In Sudan the UK is providing £25million in 2020 to the UN Sudan Humanitarian Fund to support a range of urgent needs, including flood response. In South Sudan, the UK provided vital support to affected communities including food, clean water and sanitation, disease prevention and shelter, as well as a helicopter to deliver vital supplies to those communities and support to livelihoods recovery.

We also reduce flooding risks through the UK funded Weather and Climate Information Services for Africa programme. This support to the work of meteorological and associated offices across East Africa helps strengthen weather forecasting and early warning, as well as longer term climate forecasts. Access to early warning is one important aspect of building resilience to floods and other climate shocks.