The Department for International Development has not directly commissioned studies on the impact of water shortages on migration patterns from the southern hemisphere to northern Europe.

We recognise climate change and increasing water shortages can combine with other factors to influence migration decisions and therefore fund analytical work to improve the understanding of the impacts of climate change in developing countries. Examples include our work with the Natural Environment Research Council on the Future Climate for Africa Programme and our support to the World Bank’s Water Global Practice, which has produced analyses on the effects of water shortages, including migration. We are also building the evidence base to better understand why people migrate as part of our efforts set out in the 2015 UK Aid Strategy to tackle the root causes of migration.

In 2011, the Government Office for Science commissioned the Foresight Report on Migration and Global Environmental Change which analysed how human population movements across the world could be affected by global environmental changes.

Our assessment is that the crisis in Sri Lanka is being adequately managed through existing mechanisms in Sri Lanka, including the Government’s National Disaster Management Office (NDMO) and humanitarian agencies on the ground, including the Sri Lankan Red Cross Society. The UK provides significant amounts of funding to UN humanitarian emergency agencies (such as UNHCR, UNICEF and WFP), the EU’s humanitarian emergency response agency (ECHO) and the Red Cross, all of whom are contributing to the response. At the moment therefore we do not anticipate that a bilateral response from the UK will be needed. Other countries in the region are also providing assistance, and the US and EU have offered their support.

The Department for International Development is assisting households affected by drought in Eastern Rwanda through our pre-existing agricultural support programme. Our social protection programme also provides direct support to the most vulnerable people in Rwanda, including those affected by the drought. We will continue to engage with the Government of Rwanda and other partners to monitor the food security situation in Eastern Rwanda and assess if further support is required.