Malawi and Zambia given £600,000 to tackle climate change

Scottish Government cash of £600,000 is to be spent tackling climate change in Africa, as Environment Secretary Roseanna Cunningham insisted ministers here have a “moral obligation” to help nations that will be hardest hit by rising temperatures.

The funding will go to Scottish-based organisations working with partners in Malawi and Zambia, and will help pay for projects piloting the use of solar ovens and biogas as a fuel source.

Some of the cash will also be used to help train farmers in the countries in more “climate smart” agricultural practices.

The funding, which is being distributed from the Scottish Government’s climate justice innovation fund, was announced during Climate Week.

Ms Cunningham said: “We have a moral responsibility to do what we can to tackle the effects of climate change, particularly as they will be felt most strongly by those vulnerable communities who have done the least to cause it.

“This funding will support innovative projects to directly help local communities, from piloting solar ovens in co-op bakery businesses to helping 200 farmers use climate resilient methods to diversify the crop production.

“At a time when Scotland has almost halved our greenhouse gas emissions, I am proud the Climate Justice Innovation Fund is providing much-needed investment to empower some of Africa’s most vulnerable communities to find new skills and their own solutions to make them more resilient to the effects of climate change.”

International development minister Ben Macpherson, who has recently returned from a trip to Malawi and Zambia, said he had “seen first-hand how small grants of funding such as these can have a big impact on local communities”.

He added: “Projects like this show our commitment to helping some of the world’s most vulnerable people and enhance Scotland’s role as a good global citizen.”