PROJECTS aimed at tackling the devastating impact of climate change in developing nations are to receive a multi-million-pound funding boost from the Scottish Government.

News today of the investment of more than £3.6 million came as the World Bank called on developed nations to do more to help the most vulnerable nations build resistance to the dangers.

The demand was made on the back of a report released at the UN Climate Change Conference in Germany which shows Fiji alone would need to spend 10 times the amount of its annual gross domestic product to counteract the worst effects.

Even then, sea levels could make some parts of the island nation inhabitable, with increased tropical cyclones hitting the tourism industry and spreading water-borne disease.

The report was drawn up by the World Bank and Fiji, which is presiding over the Bonn conference. The aim of the event is to write a “rule book” to implement the Paris Agreement to curb climate change – despite Donald Trump saying he will pull the US out of the deal.

Scotland’s Environment and Climate Change Secretary, Roseanna Cunningham, and First Minister Nicola Sturgeon visit the convention this week. Announcing the investment in the climate change projects, Cunningham said Scotland and other developed nations had a “clear moral duty” to help. The latest funding includes £3.2m to support community-led initiatives which will improve production of clean drinking water and boost agricultural production in Malawi.

A further £250,000 is being given to improve access to water, sanitation and infrastructure as part of Malawi’s Hydro Nation Justice Project. A sum of £180,000 will support the sharing of learning between the two countries on adapting to climate change risks.

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Cunningham said: “Climate change is a problem that affects all of us, and the UN conference presents a unique opportunity for political differences to be put aside in order to tackle the problem collectively.

“Scotland and the rest of the developed world has a clear moral duty to ensure our lifestyles do not cause harm to the world’s poorest people.”

At the conference, Cunningham will renew the Scottish Government’s commitment to phasing out fossil fuel vehicles, a move welcomed by WWF Scotland.

“The Scottish Government is quite right to be showcasing its commitment to phase out the sale of new fossil fuel vehicles by 2032 on a world stage at the Bonn climate change talks,” said acting director Dr Sam Gardner. “By setting this target, eight years ahead of the UK, Scotland has placed itself among the leading countries in a league table on clean vehicle ambition.

“With transport now the single biggest contributor to climate change in Scotland – and implicated in thousands of premature deaths from air pollution every year – it’s great to see the Scottish Government at the forefront of the transition to clean transport. Getting fossil fuel vehicles off our streets will help create new industries, cut climate change emissions and clean up Scotland’s polluted air.”

Sturgeon will address the conference on Wednesday. She will be joined on the panel by UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres, the Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama, UN Climate Change Convention executive secretary Patricia Espinosa and Bonn mayor Ashok-Alexander Sridharan.

Friends of the Earth Scotland will be among a host of environmental groups also attending.

Head of campaigns Mary Church said: “Current targets are woefully inadequate to stop warming at 2C, let alone the 1.5C that countries most vulnerable to the impacts of global warming need to have any chance of surviving climate chaos.

“Rich countries that have done the most to cause the climate crisis are still not cutting emissions fast enough, but a growing global movement is forcing them to start facing up to their responsibility and take action.

“Friends of the Earth will use the talks to call for an end to the use of polluting fossils fuels and a rapid and just transition to low-carbon economies around the world. For Scotland this means ramping up ambition in our new Climate Act to zero emissions by 2040, and planning for a fair shift away from North Sea oil and gas.”