Asked by: Lord Soames of Fletching (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether her Department is offering advice to African countries on desertification.
Answered by Nick Hurd
DFID supports the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) which has had a strong impact on raising awareness of land degradation in Africa. The UK will hold the EU Presidency during the next UNCCD Conference of Parties and will champion the achievement of the land degradation targets agreed within the 2015 Global Goals.
DFID supports countries on desertification through our forestry and resilience work. For example the Building Resilience and Adaptation to Climate Extremes and Disasters (BRACED) programme works with farmers in the Sahel on better natural resource management and regeneration. DFID also provides support to the Global Partnership on Forest Landscape Restoration, through the International Forestry Knowledge programme (KNOWFOR), to help operationalise the ambitious targets of the Bonn Challenge. KNOWFOR helps countries assess the potential for restoration in their countries, developing tools and carrying out a range of analyses to support decision making, planning and attracting financing. 11 countries in Africa have so far pledged restoration targets (including Niger, Rwanda, Uganda, DRC and Ethiopia); the demand is growing as countries see the potential adaptation as well as mitigation benefits of restoring degraded land.
Asked by: Lord Soames of Fletching (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent assessment she has made of the humanitarian situation in Occupied Palestinian Territory.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
The UN assesses that the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPTs) is a protracted crisis with humanitarian consequences, driven by insufficient respect for international law by all sides. According to the UN, Palestinians in the OPTs face a range of serious threats including threats to life, liberty and security, destruction or damage to homes and other property, forced displacement, restrictions on freedom of movement and access to livelihoods, and lack of accountability and effective remedy. We are particularly concerned by the recent violent clashes across the OPTs and Israel, which underline the need for a just and lasting political settlement that ends the occupation and delivers peace for both Israelis and Palestinians.