UK aid cuts will compound climate crisis for poorest, says charity
Campaigners criticised the UK for cuts to its international development budget that hit 32 of the 45 countries most at risk from climate change.
Officials will detail the effects of the reduced aid on each country this week. The cuts come as the UK prepares to host the world’s leading climate conference this year.
This year’s Cop26 summit will be held in Glasgow in November with the aim of accelerating action towards the goals laid out in the Paris Agreement and the Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Save the Children said the consequences of the aid cut could be dire for many countries.
“As the host of Cop26, the UK has a huge opportunity and responsibility to bring the world together behind a plan to tackle climate change and support the communities worst affected,” said the charity’s chief executive Kevin Watkins.
“Calling on other countries to do more while the UK does less is a dereliction of leadership.”
Cuts of more than 50 per cent in Britain’s bilateral aid budget were implemented at the start of the year. The UK committed to spending 0.7 per cent of its gross domestic product on foreign aid, a target met every year since 2013. However, late last year the government announced this would be cut to 0.5 per cent.
Save the Children estimated that about 673 million children live in the 32 countries directly affected by the proposed aid cuts. Five of those – Yemen, Syria, Libya, Sudan and Somalia – are from the Arab world and enduring armed conflict.
Climate is increasingly linked to conflicts, as floods, droughts and other extreme weather events result in mass displacement, as well as food and water shortages and disease.
Syria faced its worst drought on record a few years before protests erupted in 2011, leading to war. In Somalia, drought is fuelling ongoing conflict as people are driven into cities, refugee camps or towards militant groups.
Yemen, a country with little arable land, has been so devastated by the twin effects of climate change and conflict that more than two million children are suffering from acute malnourishment, a database used by aid experts calculates.
Save the Children said the UK’s aid for basic child nutrition and food assistance in Yemen is set to fall by £36 million ($50.33m) – or 12 per cent. Last month, the British government said it would reduce its overall Yemen aid package by 60 per cent to £87m from £214m.
Aid to Syria may be cut by 67 per cent and to Libya by 63 per cent, according to figures leaked to open Democracy, a UK website.
In Sub-Saharan Africa, Britain’s aid contribution would be almost wiped out – with a cut of 93 per cent being considered.