Scottish Government backs £3m climate fund

Published on 01/06/2012 00:00

A MULTI-MILLION pound fund to help some of the world’s most poverty-stricken nations combat the effects of climate change has been launched by First Minister Alex Salmond and former Irish president Mary Robinson.

The Scottish Government announced yesterday that it would be making available £3 million through the newly-launched climate justice fund to support projects to improve access to water in countries such as Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania and Zambia.

Groups such as Christian Aid, Oxfam Scotland, Amnesty International, the Scottish Trades Union Congress and environmental groups WWF Scotland and Friends of the Earth Scotland are also backing the scheme, which will provide £1m a year to aid projects for the next three years.

Mrs Robinson, a former UN high commissioner who is now president of the Mary Robinson Foundation for Climate Justice, attended the launch with Mr Salmond in Edinburgh.

Mr Salmond said: “The huge injustice of climate change is that it is those who have done the least to cause the problem who are hardest hit by it.

“That is why we are launching Scotland’s climate justice fund.”