UK'S PLEDGE ON CLIMATE CHANGE HELP FOR POOR IS A SHAM - HALL

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Wed 21st May 2008

Lib Dem MEP for North East England, Fiona Hall, has slammed the Government over climate change help for poor countries.

In 2007 The Government announced an £800m International Environmental Transformation Fund to help poor countries respond to climate change and reduce poverty, through the implementation of environmental management initiatives.

The Government has now backtracked, announcing that much of this money will take the form of interest free loans, not aid.

Said Fiona, who sits on the European Parliament's Committee on International Development:

"The International Environmental Transformation Fund was to be used to help developing countries combat climate change and reduce poverty, but how can this be done if the recipient countries are to be saddled with vast new debts?

"The Chancellor confirmed the total of £800m for this fund in last year's Budget. The fact that it was to be a loan, irrespective of whether it would be interest free or not, was never once mentioned.

"The primary aim of this fund was to tackle climate change and protect the environment, hand in hand with reducing poverty. There is now the worry that developing countries will have to invest in profit-driven schemes to ensure they can repay the loans, at the expense of initiatives such as forestry conservation or adaptation measures which have proved very successful in combating climate change but are non profit making.

"The International Environmental Transformation Fund is a golden opportunity to help developing countries manage the effects of climate change, but this opportunity is now being lost."