Written question asked by Virendra Sharma (Labour) on Tuesday, 7 December 2010, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 9 December 2010. It was answered by Andrew Mitchell (Conservative) on Tuesday, 14 December 2010 on behalf of the Department for International Development.

India: Climate Change

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much his Department has spent on climate change adaptation for smallholder farmers in India in each of the last five years; and what proportion this represents of (a) total spending on climate change overseas, (b) total spending on climate change adaptation overseas, (c) total spending on climate change in the developing world and (d) total spending on climate change adaptation in the developing world in each such year.

Answer: Our central recording systems do not capture this level of detail for project expenditure. Compiling the requested information would incur disproportionate cost.The Department for International Development (DFID) recognises that smallholder farmers are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and we take this into account in the design and implementation of a number of our development activities, including through our research programme and our adaptation programmes.The UK Government have committed to provide £1.5 billion in Fast Start finance over the period 2010-12, to help the developing world carry out the urgent work needed to adapt to climate change, adopt clean technology and reduce emissions from deforestation. In 2010-11 the UK is providing approximately 41% of its Fast Start allocation for adaptation, a significant share of which has been designed to benefit smallholder farmers. The Department is in the course of monitoring and evaluating the impact of these ongoing programmes.

Secondary information