To ask Her Majesty's Government what long-term policies they will develop to deal with water shortages in Africa.

My Lords, climate change will result in more frequent water shortages, such as the current drought in east Africa. A deal at Copenhagen is crucial to limit temperature rise to two degrees centigrade and ensure that vulnerable African countries have access to additional finance to adapt to climate change. We are working with a number of African countries to improve water management. We will provide up to 25 million people with drinking water over the next five years.

My Lords, with water shortages caused both by the effects of climate change and by population growth, as a recent conference of Africans in Cambridge pointed out, and being highly variable across Africa, are Her Majesty’s Government assisting each country in a focused way to establish its future water resources and policies? Will they ensure that there is adequate funding of technical support programmes by the Met Office and other UK agencies, and that these will continue at least at the current level?

My Lords, DfID funding has helped more than 7 million people in sub-Saharan Africa gain access to clean water and sanitation over the past four years. The Government are providing country assistance to water programmes in Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Sudan. We are supporting a regional programme within and between member states of the Southern African Development Community, and between the 10 countries that share the waters in the Nile Basin.

My noble friend will be aware that, as part of the £100 million that DfID has committed to climate research, we are developing a new partnership with the Met Office Hadley Centre to support African countries to improve knowledge and climate science capacity. We are also providing £15 million to the ClimDev programme in Africa, hosted by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa; we support the Climate Change Adaptation in Africa programme; and we provide core funding to the Global Water Partnership, which has helped 12 African countries to develop integrated water resource management plans.

My Lords, is the Minister aware that climatologists predict that by the 50th anniversary of the 1984 famine in Ethiopia, this kind of drought will hit the Horn of Africa in three years out of every four? Given the gravity of that situation, what does he hope will be achieved today at the EU meeting? What does he think are the outstanding issues for Copenhagen?

My Lords, drought in the Horn of Africa is a tragedy that we have seen in the past. We hope that the El Niño rains that have started to fall will help to make this drought something that passes relatively quickly but, as the noble Baroness rightly says, under climate change those activities that are to our disadvantage will be more frequent in future. We hope that Copenhagen will produce an agreement to put additional finances into climate change. We believe it is important that we do not abandon the African continent and its fight against poverty and for health and education by diverting money from the ODA and to climate change. That is why the Prime Minister is seeking £100 billion from the Copenhagen summit, and today at the EU he will be pressing for support in that regard, as set out in his speech on 20 September.

My Lords, is the Minister aware that, while there are huge national shortages of water, personal access to water is very important to people in Africa? Is he aware of the marvellous work being done by many charities—NGOs, as they call them—to provide pumps and things? Where people had to collect water in a little cup, now they can get a bucketful of water. It is important to ensure that this work is continued.

My Lords, I agree with the noble Baroness. We find that the work internationally and nationally of the NGO community, of Water Aid and other international bodies, assisting as partners in the fight to provide water and sanitation, is vital. This situation can be overcome only by the partnership of civil society, government and the international community.

My Lords, does the Minister agree that one of the greatest drivers for conflict in Africa at the moment is the scarcity and shortage of water in many parts, particularly in eastern Africa? Will he reconsider the answer he gave a moment ago about the countries where help is being given? I notice the omission of Kenya, particularly the situation in Turkana, where many tribesmen are coming in from southern Ethiopia to raid cattle and much conflict is being driven by the absence of water. Will the Minister consider including Turkana in northern Kenya within the list of countries that DfID is able to help?

My Lords, I listened with interest to the noble Lord. Some 65 people have lost their lives in conflict in Kenya this year over water disputes. I know that I will be chastised for giving long answers if I deal in detail with the question, so I shall happily take it away and respond in writing to the noble Lord.

My Lords, is it not the case that while the long term needs to be addressed, this is a short-term matter that has to be dealt with now, with Kenya having the worst drought for 10 years and Somalia in the worst position since 1991? What is DfID doing to deal with the situation on its own account and to alert the international community to the tragedy that is unfolding, which may hit us very soon?

My Lords, DfID is supporting countries in Africa in dealing with the drought in a number of ways. It has committed £83 million in humanitarian aid to Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya and Sudan. It has also provided £40 million to the UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund this year, making us the fund’s largest donor. So far, £36 million has been drawn from that fund for east Africa. DfID has also provided £35 million to the productive safety net programme in Ethiopia, which provides food and cash transfers to more than 7 million vulnerable people. We continue to work with countries across Africa and the regional development authorities, in SADC and beyond, to assist in this very difficult situation.

My Lords, I received a very distressing e-mail yesterday from a friend in northern Kenya, who had seen hundreds of dead cattle. That is an area where we traditionally have a lot of military training. Will the Minister talk to his colleagues in the Ministry of Defence to see whether there is anything we can do immediately to use the skills and resources of the British military to dig more wells in that area?

I listened with interest to the noble Lord. If he could let me have greater detail on that matter, I shall pass the information on to my colleagues in the Ministry of Defence.

My Lords, what evidence do Her Majesty's Government have of misappropriation of funds in this context?

DfID has a very robust system of checking that the funding that it gives is used properly. When we feel that Governments are not in that position, we use the civil society organisations and others. We audit the funds very carefully and, when we find misappropriation, we seek to take action to avoid funds being embezzled in any way, shape or form. It is a large budget and is spent across a number of countries, so there are bound to be occasions when things do happen. We keep them to a minimum and investigate them all.

My Lords, I believe that I should have declared an interest as former head of the Met Office.