Since 2011 progress has been made in furthering the democratic transition across the North African Maghreb. Nevertheless we recognise the importance of underpinning stability by enhancing political and economic inclusion of all citizens. We are alive to the regional threat of terrorism and regularly engage with our Maghreb partners, both at ministerial and official level, to support efforts to address security challenges, ensure political and economic stability, and manage migration. We are working with our regional partners to support ongoing reform processes, and to boost trade and investment, including through programming valued at more than £20 million this financial year. These programmes have provided support in areas such as governance, security, human rights, economic reform and border security.

Further information on our North Africa programmes is available on the gov.uk website.

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.