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House of Commons

Friday 14 December 1990

The House met at half-past Nine o'clock

PRAYERS

[Mr. Speaker-- in the Chair ]

PETITION

MV Derbyshire

9.34 am

Mr. Eddie Loyden (Liverpool, Garston) : I beg the leave of the House to present a petition on behalf of the MV Derbyshire Families Association to establish a new inquiry in the light of new evidence presented by Professor Geraint Price of Brunel university to the Royal Institution of Naval Architects on 18 October and the new evidence obtained by Tyne Tees Television in the underwater film of the wreckage of the Kowloon Bridge. The petitioners pray : Wherefore your petitioners pray that your honourable House urge the Secretary of State for Transport to establish a new public inquiry into the loss of the MV Derbyshire And your Petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray, etc.

To lie upon the Table.

EUROPEAN COMMUNITY DOCUMENTS

Ordered,

That European Community Document No. 7053/90 relating to a research programme in the field of human capital and mobility (1990-94), shall not stand referred to European Standing Committee C.-- [Mr. Patnick.]

Overseas Development

Motion made, and Question proposed, That this House do now adjourn.-- [Mr. Patnick.]

[Relevant document : European Community Document No. 7059/90 on a Research and Development Programme for Life Sciences and Technologies for Developing Countries.] 9.36 am

The Minister for Overseas Development (Mrs. Lynda Chalker) : I am delighted to introduce this debate on the all important issues of development aid. Development is a complex process, and so is managing an aid programme, but there is a single theme underlying our programme. It is to achieve a continuing and sustainable reduction in the grinding poverty in which so much of the developing world lives. The solutions are not simple ; nor can they be imposed. If we are to achieve our aim, we must work in partnership with not only our fellow donors, but, most of all, the people of the developing countries themselves.

The key development issues for the 1990s are : support for effective Government policies in developing countries, built around open, accountable government and sound economic management ; tackling specific needs through well-designed and well-managed projects ; and a commitment to environmental sustainability, combined with a realistic approach to population issues.

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The agenda for the 1990s is a challenging one, but I believe that Britain is well equipped to respond to it. Last month, we announced plans for gradual continued real growth in the aid programme for developing countries over the next three years. The new plans envisage a 17 per cent. cash increase, equivalent to around 2 per cent. in real terms. Entirely separately from this, we have also announced provisions for assistance to eastern Europe and the USSR, and, for the first time, global environmental assistance. This shows that our help for eastern Europe has not been at the expense of aid for developing countries.

Britain continues to take the lead in proposing further debt relief for the poorest. In September this year my right hon. Friend the then Chancellor of the Exchequer launched new proposals--the Trinidad terms--designed to reduce by two thirds the debt owed by the poorest countries to creditor Governments. These are now under active discussion in the Paris Club.

Successful development is not only about transfer of resources. It is equally about quality and effectiveness. The Overseas Development Administration is well regarded by many donors not only for the high quality of its own staff, but for being able to call on the services of a wide range of British non-Governmental Organisations, academic insti- tutions and the private sector, with whom we continue to work so closely.

The first of our key development challenges--is support for effective government. The attack on poverty requires, first, sustained economic growth and, secondly, a determination to ensure that the developing world's poor share in the benefits of that growth.

Following the poor economic performance of many developing countries in the 1970s, it was increasingly recognised that the old prescriptions had failed to deliver. The task in the 1980s has been to restore the basis for economic growth through policy and institutional reform.

Reform can be painful, but those who blame reform programmes for the present plight of developing countries confuse the disease with the cure. More and more countries have themselves realised the need for reforms. Sixty-two countries had sought and received assistance for economic reform from the World bank by the end of 1989. As in so much of our work, international co-operation is essential. No single donor can provide all the support required by developing country Governments in designing and implementing their reform programmes. It is right that the international financial institutions, particularly the International Monetary Fund and the World bank, should take the lead, but they need to be supported by bilateral donors. The British Government have been in the forefront in providing the intellectual, practical and financial support to adjustment programmes.

The House will be aware that our support is of two

types--politically to persuade countries in need of reform to adopt sensible policies and financially to support countries who have undertaken reform programmes. We provided more than £400 million in balance of payments support to sub-Saharan Africa between 1984 and 1989. This year we expect to spend about £130 million in this way. We have co-operated with the bank and fund on the design of adjustment programmes, for example on civil service reform in Ghana, on assistance to reform the Tanzanian banking system and on private sector policy

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reform in Uganda. We have also provided essential technical expertise in key posts, such as that of the general manager of the central bank in Gambia.

I have already emphasised the importance of donor co-ordination in support of economic reform. A particularly important multi-donor initiative was launched in 1987 called the special programme of assistance to Africa. It is co-ordinated by the World bank and it has mobilised $6 billion to support poor countries in Africa which had excessive debt burdens and were pursuing a viable adjustment strategy. Currently, 21 countries are eligible for assistance under this facility.

Britain pledged £250 million to the first multi-donor SPA programme-- more than 9 per cent. of total bilateral pledges. A successor to the SPA is currently being negotiated, with a target of $8 billion--about a one third increase on the previous level. Our contribution will be at least at the level of SPA 1.

It is still early days, but the results of economic reform programmes are encouraging. The economies of the countries participating in the special programme of assistance have grown by an average of 3.5 per cent. per year since 1985. That compares with less than 1 per cent. per annum in the early 1980s.

Ghana adopted a reform programme in 1983 after years of decline. As a result, real gross domestic product has grown by 5 per cent. per annum, real investment by 13 per cent. per annum and exports by 19 per cent. per annum--a highly creditable performance. The economy is more efficient, manufacturing capacity has been brought back into operation, and inputs and consumer goods are more widely available. The reforms help the poorest by shifting the terms of trade in favour of the rural sector, where most of the poor live. In addition, an essential part of our approach to economic reform is to help the poorest people to take advantage of the opportunities which the reforms present. Extra help is given in practical and specific ways agreed between us and the recipients. For example, we are contributing £1.5 million in Ghana for non-formal education aimed at improving female literacy. All such education, wherever it takes place, helps a country to build up its strength.

Female literacy is a great need throughout the world. Nearly two thirds of the world's illiterates are women, and they number over 1, 000 million people. In Malawi, we are assisting programmes to increase income-earning opportunities for women and poor urban families. Wherever one looks, there are specific, closely designed programmes to help the need of the country and of the specific area of the country.

Sound economic management is not the whole picture. Only last week, the annual high level meeting of the development assistance committee of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development reaffirmed its conviction that

"There is a vital connection between open, democratic and accountable political systems, individual rights and substantial reductions in poverty."

The same message was earlier endorsed by both donors and recipients at the conference on the least developed countries in Paris in September. Underlying this is the belief that, for successful development, the people of the developing world need to have a stake in their countries'

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development. That has complex implications for our aid management. The challenge is to achieve effective and accountable institutions, so vital for development, but each country needs to be considered individually.

Two cases where the scales have tipped negatively are Sudan and Somalia, where we and others have judged that we can no longer provide effective long-term aid. For most countries, however, our task is to help them in the right direction. This is not a crusade. It is about helping those who want to help themselves. We have therefore particularly welcomed the recommendations of the recent conference in Kenya on political reform. The reforms proposed, taken together with the recent announcement that security of tenure for the judiciary would be restored, mark an important step in the right direction.

We can help the process towards better government in many ways. First, we must send a clear message of support to those committed to better government. We have been at the forefront of discussion on this among donors and recipients. Secondly, we can provide more practical assistance. We have just agreed to provide electoral assistance for Nepal, together with training for members of its parliamentary secretariat.

In Uganda, we are funding the appointment of judges, training court staff and providing legal text books. In Namibia, one of our senior Clerks from this House has been providing advice on parliamentary procedures. In addition, we have provided advice on civil service structures and other matters.

Better government is not just about the institutions and the people at the centre of government. It is about what happens at a local level. This brings me to another aspect of our approach--good project design and management.

The key to that is to have the right systems in place and the right people to apply them. A case in point is our approach to slum improvement projects in the sub-continent. From Dr. Khan in the Orangi slum in Karachi, we learned a lot about the approach needed if improvements were to be effective and sustainable. Our slum improvement projects in India now cover health, education and income generation, as well as infrastructural improvement.

Another new and central element is the involvement of people living in the slum communities in the decision taking about new facilities and their maintenance. That called for the municipal authorities to acquire new skills and reorganise their priorities. The concept is being replicated in ODA-funded slum projects in Pakistan and five Indian cities.

Another good example of the encouragement of local participation is our support for the Bangladesh rural advancement programme. The aims of the programme are to alleviate poverty with special emphasis on the landless poor. It operates through a village network to provide training in management skills and to make available a revolving loan fund for income generation activities. Among other things, our help will establish a self- supporting bank that will help to maintain the programme on a sustainable basis.

In Gokwe in Zimbabwe, we are supporting a programme to strengthen the institutional capacity of district and provincial planners. The programme is modelled on similar ODA-supported schemes in Zambia. It tackles the chronic problems of management and implementation capacity, which are major constraints on

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development, particularly in the social sectors. By encouraging the participation of local people, it generates not only commitment, but greater local accountability.

We have achieved what we have in our projects and programmes only because we have been well served by British expertise in research and design. I pay tribute to all those, from many walks of life, who have worked for years, particularly in the past 10, to improve our programmes. Without them, we would not be so effective in delivering our aid.

Although the GATT negotiations are not an essential part of this debate, they are essential for the life of the developing world. I greatly regret that we did not achieve a successful outcome of the GATT negotiations in Brussels. That was no fault of my right hon. Friends the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry. Our developing countries need trade just as much as they need aid --they get three quarters of their income from trade and only one quarter from aid. In January, when the talks are resumed, our efforts will be absolutely critical for the future of the developing world. I hope that our American colleagues, and some of our European ones, take to heart what the outcome could be if those GATT negotiations do not liberalise trade for the sake of the developing world.

It is important to consider problems associated with the environment and the population. Most environmental problems know no boundaries ; therefore, more than almost any other challenge, the environment requires a truly collaborative international effort. This decade, environmental diplomacy will become a key theme of international politics--of that there is no doubt, especially as we work towards the major UN conference on environment and development that will be held in Brazil in 1992. It is vital that developing countries participate fully in the international effort, and we are assisting them to do so.

The Government's commitment to environmental issues is plain from our White Paper, "This Common Inheritance", published in September, which makes clear our commitment to sustainable development. That means living on the earth's income rather than its capital. That way, we may hand down to future generations the natural and man-made wealth they will need if living conditions are to improve. We have made much progress in the past three years. The British aid programme is now as green as any. More than 300 of the ODA's staff at home and overseas have been trained to use our environmental assessment manual. Our procedures are recognised by the German aid agency and the European Commission, both of which use our manual. They are recognised by organisations such as the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation, which sends its staff on our training courses. In other words, we have made some first and critical steps towards improving environmental acceptability of the projects needed in the developing world.

Our environmental appraisal procedures apply equally to projects under the aid and trade provision. We recognise that such projects need careful environmental assessment and I am glad to say that the ODA's procedures have improved dramatically in that respect compared with 10 years ago.

Global environmental problems, like climate change, pose special problems for everyone. I mentioned earlier the Government's plans for the growth of the aid budget for

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developing countries. In addition, we have just created a separate new item of public expenditure for global environmental assistance. From this, we will make our contribution to the new global environment facility. The GEF will be managed by the World bank, the United Nations Development Programme and the United Nations Environment Programme. It is designed to help developing countries tackle global environmental problems such as climate change and the loss of the biological diversity of our plant and animal species. The facility will be different from traditional aid programmes. It will fund only projects which, while they have significant global benefits, would not be justified by the national benefits to the country concerned. Two weeks ago, we announced that Britain would contribute £46 million to the facility. That makes us one of the first and leading contributors.

We want the GEF to become the funding mechanism to help developing countries comply with proposed conventions on climate change and biodiversity that we hope to see agreed by 1992. It will fund projects such as one to cap flaring from natural gas in Nigeria, which alone accounts for 0.2 per cent. of man-made global CO production. Another project under consideration is one to establish 15 conservation areas in Mexico, to ensure that the protection of Mexico's unique plant and animal species is maintained.

It is now clear that the developing world is likely to be the first, and worst, affected by climate change. The livelihoods of millions could be wrecked by the effects of rises in sea level. One has only to think of the beautiful but low-lying Maldive islands to appreciate the problem. We must also plan to help the hundreds of millions, especially in Africa, who could suffer from changes in rainfall and the loss of agricultural productivity. I shall deal with the special and desperate situation in the Horn of Africa and elsewhere later. The first priority is to help developing countries to understand the threat and to plan to deal with it. We are already helping Bangladesh to deal with existing flood problems. In December 1989 we hosted the major international pledging conference for the Bangladesh flood action plan. In addition, we are financing seminars for Ministers from developing countries on the results of the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change. The first one takes place in Mauritius on Monday. We have also offered the Governments of Kenya and Ghana finance for studies on the impacts of climate change on their countries.

We will be helping developing countries to play a full part in the preparation of a global convention on climate change when negotiations begin in February.

We are also helping developing countries limit their contribution to global warming. That is one of the key aims of our energy efficiency initiative, under which we are indentifying a number of countries such as India, China, Ghana and Nigeria for increased assistance. We have already made a grant of £50 million to India to help improve its energy efficiency.

Perhaps the gravest environmental threat facing the developing world is deforestation. The main responsibility for managing tropical forests rests with the governments of the countries which house them, but we can help and are helping. Two years ago, we were financing 80 projects at a cost to the taxpayer of £45 million. Now, there are over 200 projects in progress or in preparation at a cost of £160 million.

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Our contribution is part of an overall international effort, so I shall comment on developments in strengthening international action. A number of hon. Members have rightly been concerned at the need to reform the tropical forestry action plan, the TFAP. It is more than a year since I called for a real reform of the TFAP. An independent review was established, which made recommendations in June. Good progress was made at the governing council of the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation in Rome three weeks ago.

Britain's chief natural resources adviser has been asked to advise on the establishment of an independent new consultative group to guide the work of TFAP. Therefore, we are right in there, ensuring that reform takes place. That will help to make TFAP more open, effective and accountable, and we expect 1991 to deliver these reforms. More than 80 tropical countries are voluntary parties to TFAP, and that is why the mechanism needs to be made effective and to work.

The International Tropical Timber Organisation also has a key role to play, especially in making sure that traded timber comes from well managed sources. My Department has taken over the lead on the ITTO in Whitehall, because ITTO is increasingly concerned with the better management of forests. We are working towards the next meeting of the ITTO council in May, which will be looking, in particular, at incentives to help developing countries to manage their forests sustainably.

At the Worldwide Fund for Nature symposium this week on sustainably managed timber, I committed us to a roundtable discussion to look at incentives. We are already funding a key study on labelling, and there is more that I hope we shall be able to do in that matter. On many environmental problems, we are learning by doing. We are also carrying out major natural resources research programmes, now running at £25 million a year. The twin pillars of sound science and sound economics underpin our work. That is why we play an integral part in the decision-making process on the European Community's science and technology development programme for developing countries.

I pay particular tribute to the outstanding British organisations with which we work, such as the ODA's own Natural Resources Institute, the Oxford Forestry Institute, the International Institute for Environment and Development, the Institute of Hydrology and many others. The British expertise that is being contributed to sustainable environmental development across the world is nothing short of outstanding. ODA funds much of that, but the British effort, in institutes and universities, is remarkable.

The environment will remain fragile and in danger if we do not tackle the other great problem ahead. If the world's population continues to grow at its present rate, there is no way that environmental resources can fulfil our needs. The world's population has doubled since 1950. It will double again, to 10 billion or more, during the next century, by about the year 2050. About 95 per cent. of that increase in population will occur in developing countries. Most developing country Ministers whom I meet recognise that rapid population growth is an important problem. Many are committed to trying to tackle it. There are some positive signs. Over 40 per cent. of couples

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throughout the world now try to plan whether or not they will have children ; 300 million more want to do so, but have no access to family planning services.

We know of many societies where, despite intense health education, couples do not want to take action to limit family size. That may be for religious or cultural reasons, but once the benefits of a planned family are well understood, surprisingly good progress can be made. Dr. Mechai of Thailand has proved that.

A central issue in population planning is the role and status of women and their ability to contribute successfully to stable family development. Women must have better education and employment opportunities. They must have access to better health care, with high quality services for infertility and sexually-transmitted diseases. The AIDS epidemic, with which we must also deal, heightens the urgency. But men have health responsibilities, too. Frequently, women in the Third world must rely on them to ensure that they get a fair deal.

I described the way in which our emphasis on good government has shaped the way we work with developing countries on new projects. The same applies to population. We have developed firm principles to guide our aid for population. We believe that every child should be a wanted child and that each couple should have the right of access to means for regulating fertility.

The British Government do not support the use of any forcible measures to limit family size or increase the use of contraception. It must be up to couples to decide their actions on the basis of choice, which must be available to all.

All the ODA's health advisers now look for opportunities to do more work on population and women's health. We are training our other advisers and administrators to find similar opportunities. That is all part of our programme to increase support for population activities. We have already helped to increase the availability of family planning services in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Kenya. We have plenty more to do in the years ahead. We often achieve the best results through working more closely with multilateral population agencies, including the United Nations population fund and the International Planned Parenthood Federation. I am discussing how we can increase our support for them.

The NGOs, the private sector and the academic community have a major role to play in our bilateral work. This year, we agreed a five-year programme of increased support to the Liverpool and London schools of tropical medicine. Early next year we intend to meet major British NGOs, to share ideas on population assistance and to draw on their experience and strength. We expect to do more in partnership with the private sector. We want to do more to ensure that we get the best British brains and energy to back us in this important task. I come to the dreadful prospect of famine in Africa, a subject which is of great concern to the whole House. We are all aware of the deteriorating situation in the Horn of Africa and particularly the threat of famine in Ethiopia and Sudan. We and the NGOs have been fully alive to this prospect during 1990 and have been working steadily at our programme of assistance throughout the year. As a result, the Government have so far this year provided over £23 million in emergency aid to Ethiopia and Sudan. We are now well advanced in preparing our emergency programmes for next year. Crucial in this

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planning are the reports coming in from the World Food Programme and FAO crop assessment missions to Ethiopia and Sudan.

It is clear already that there will be severe famine and widespread loss of life in Ethiopia and Sudan next year unless action is taken by the international community to help those desperate people. If those nations were free of war, their chances of survival would improve. With our NGO partners, we shall, in the coming few days, decide exactly what further assistance to provide in the Horn of Africa to help avoid a similar catastrophe to that which occurred in 1984-85.

Apart from the crisis in the horn of Africa, there are crises in countries such as Angola and Mozambique. I assure the House that we have not lost sight of those and the many other humanitarian problems that are to be faced across the world. We shall be doing all we can to provide the necessary emergency aid. The development challenges of the 1990s reflect a fast changing world.

Mr. Dennis Skinner (Bolsover) : The Minister said that she was anxious to help the people of the horn of Africa. She should be telling the Prime Minister and the rest of her colleagues in the Government that that area will not be greatly helped if we take part in an all-out assault in a war in the middle east. Action of that type would certainly not help the countries in need to which she has referred.

May I offer the right hon. Lady some advice about money? We do not need hypocrisy from Administrations who have cut overseas aid by about a half since the Conservatives came to office and who have bailed out the four national clearing banks in Britain--National Westminster, Midlands, Lloyds and Barclays--to the tune of £3 billion in the last four years. Why do they not--

Madam Deputy Speaker (Miss Betty Boothroyd) : Order.

Mrs. Chalker : The development challenges of the 1990s reflect a fast-changing world. We need to respond flexibly to those changes, which means that we must address them country by country, sector by sector. Britain alone cannot solve the problems of the developing world. We do not try to--we try to work with our partners in the Community, the World bank and all the other organisations in which, together, we can begin to solve some of the problems and find new ideas that will help the developing world. We have been doing that solidly during the past five years, and I am determined that we shall continue to make a real and major contribution. I am delighted to be doing this job, because I am committed to an improvement in the state of the people of the developing world, as well as the lives of the people of Britain.

10.10 am

Mrs. Ann Clwyd (Cynon Valley) : My colleagues and I welcome the opportunity to debate the Government's claimed progress in promoting economic reform and addressing population growth and the environment in developing countries. Those are vital issues and I only wish that we had the opportunity to debate the Government's development policy more often, in their time, rather than ours. This is the first debate on development policy initiated by the Government in a year and a half. There has not been a statement to the House by a Minister for

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Overseas Development since 1984, which is a disgrace. It is a sign of how little the Government care about development.

I welcome the Minister's comments this morning about her proposals to look urgently and in detail at the current famine in Africa--we realise that, in five African countries, the position is dire and that millions of people will die soon unless emergency aid is provided by the developed world. I hope that there will be an opportunity to debate that subject in more detail as soon as possible. Those of us who have been to countries like Ethiopia know how desperate are the needs of those countries.

For Africans in particular, this decade has been a disaster. In developing Africa, average income per person fell by 1.7 per cent. each year. Investment, export, imports and commodity prices also fell. Meanwhile, debt doubled to $256.9 billion. By the end of the 1980s, there were more than 150 million people severely hungry and under-nourished in Africa. Despite all that, in 1988, Africa paid the industrialised countries $21.7 billion-- more than we gave them in aid or loans. That is the reality. It is one of the reasons for the current famine, which is due not only to the weather, but to the fact that Africa is being bled dry by the developed world.

Before discussing the three main issues of economic reform, environment and population, I shall put the Government's policy and contribution to overseas development in context. The 1980s were a disaster for development. The progress of previous decades was rolled back in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Since 1979, the British Government have slashed the aid budget. This year, problems have been compounded by the Gulf crisis, increased oil prices, loss of remittances from the Gulf, the cost of resettlement of refugees, slower world economic growth and the diversion of attention from poverty in the Third world to the needs of eastern Europe. In response, the Government have refused extra help to compensate for higher oil prices, and have dipped into the Third world's meagre pot to help out Egypt, Jordan and Turkey. Development is affected not only by the policies of the ODA but by the policies of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Departments of Trade and Industry, of Energy and of the Environment, and the Treasury. The present Government seem unaware of that. We have rarely heard other Ministers even refer to the implications of their policies for overseas development. The insensitivity of Ministers may be because the Government do not have a coherent policy on overseas development. Where is the policy?

The new east-west relationship has changed the position of developing countries enormously, but there has been no reassessment of development policy by the Government. They have never even produced a White Paper on development. Surely they cannot still be relying on the last Labour Government's 1978 paper, "More Aid for the Poorest". When can we expect to see such a policy document? The title of today's debate is typical. The Government have picked three of the most important issues in development, affecting millions of people's lives, and thrown them together in one debate. Why not have a debate on the alleged success of all the Government's development policies, on their overall strategy? I expect the difficulty arises because there is no such strategy. One might be expected to find details of the Government's

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strategy for overseas development in the British overseas aid annual review for 1990, but that fails to provide any sign of overall strategy.

The Minister should take credit that her Department has, during the past year, produced many glossy publications with nice pictures, but she may take some of the blame for the Government's lack of vision and strategy. But perhaps the priority assigned to development is best illustrated by its miserly aid budget. Not only has British aid fallen dramatically as a percentage of gross national product since 1979, but in real terms, by whichever expenditure measure one uses, Britain is still spending considerably less on overseas aid than it was in 1979.

As for the quality of aid, British aid last year went to more than 130 countries, including several that are not in the poorest category, such as Turkey, Portugal and Israel. The National Audit Office report published earlier this year gave several examples of how commercial considerations have frequently taken precedence over development needs in shaping aid policy under the Government. I do not want to repeat the many criticisms of the quantity and quality of aid that I have made in previous debates initiated by the Opposition, so I shall consider today's topics of environment, population and economic policy.

A new Government vision is needed most on environmental issues but, sadly, that is the sphere where it is most lacking. The only document that could possibly be called a policy document is the green glossy one produced in May, which lists project after project, sector after sector, and the many agencies and institutions with which the ODA works. It witters on about the importance of sustainable development, but totally fails to provide a vision of what it is and how to achieve it. It fails to emphasise that sustainable development requires a total change in the way we live and plan our lives, as well as an overhaul of the process of development in developing countries, and thus an overhaul of policy of development agencies such as the ODA.

If anything is to be done about poverty, world industrial production must, according to the Brundtland report, increase by five or ten times over the next 50 years. If that increase in production is to be sustainable, the technologies employed must be at least five to 10 times more efficient in their use of natural resources. There is no sign that any Government Department is responding to that challenge.

Let us examine the record. The Government proudly proclaimed a contribution of £9 million to enable countries such as India and China to phase out CFCs in compliance with the Montreal protocol. Developing countries certainly need financial help if they are to meet their global obligations, and I welcome the fact that aid for global environmental projects is separate from and additional to the aid budget for development projects. But while allocating that £9 million the Government in 1989 spent £80 million on energy projects and £30 million on mining in developing countries. These are projects which, if the record is anything to go by, will destroy the land and pollute the atmosphere in the countries concerned.

As the Minister said this morning, the Government recently announced that they will contribute £46 million to the new global environmental fund of the World bank

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--the United Nations Environment Programme and United Nations Development Programme. I welcome that pledge and the fact that it is additional to the aid budget ; but closer inspection reveals that the £9 million for CFC substitutes will be taken out of the £46 million contribution to the new environmental fund.

This is not surprising. The £100 million for tropical forests announced by the former Prime Minister and frequently boasted about by other Ministers was not new money either. The £46 million is less than half what the Government are spending on the aid and trade provision projects this year. ATP projects too often work in direct opposition to environmental goals because they often subsidise the export of out-of-date technologies which are no longer in demand in the United Kingdom and are no longer allowed in many European Community countries.

The old-fashioned equipment used at the Rihand power station in India, with no flue gas desulphurisation, is typical. The Minister claimed this morning that ODA procedures have improved dramatically since. I remind her that the ODA's power sector mission in India reported in 1986 that additional energy would be most

cost-effectivelly provided by the improved repair and maintenance of existing power stations and by more effective distribution, not by building new power stations.

Mrs. Chalker : I remind the hon. Lady that that is exactly why we have given £50 million to India for energy efficiency--to use existing equipment but to make it more efficient and to stop the waste of energy caused by some of the technology put in during the 1970s. It is wasteful technology, and we have to put it right. That is why we are tackling the problem job by job--to ensure that the money is wisely used to improve what is already there.

Mrs. Clwyd : I thank the Minister for that explanation. Can she explain why the ODA has carried on targeting aid on new power stations as well? Phase 2 of the Rihand power station is going ahead, I believe--

Mrs. Chalker : indicated dissent.

Mrs. Clwyd : --and I believe that flue gas desulpherisation is still the order of the day on phase 1 of that power station.

Mr. Bowen Wells (Hertford and Stortford) rose --

Mrs. Clwyd : I shall give way in a moment.

New power stations mean more jobs for the boys back home and more prestige for the recipient Government, whereas, as the power sector mission pointed out, repairing and maintaining existing systems involve high local costs and militate against the use of tied aid. So, with only 10 per cent. of British aid untied--one of the lowest percentages of all OECD donors--it is easy to see why the ODA is still funding power stations, despite all its protestations to the contrary. It is fine to support British industry, but not at the expense of the third world.

Mr. Wells : One of the principal reasons for supporting the further production of electricity in India is the conservation of the environment. The unavailability of electricity for rural and urban populations means that the source of cooking heat has to be trees or wood. The construction of power stations in India will be a major conservation measure for the environment.

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Mrs. Clwyd : I know the hon. Gentleman well enough to know that he would not claim that polluting the atmosphere in India, in the interests of providing people with electricity--I do not accept that that is the way to provide them with it--is the way forward. The massive pollution caused by phase 1 of the Rihand power station complex was heavily criticised by the National Audit Office in its report on aid to India. I do not believe that even Conservative Members would claim that the station has been an enormous environmental success.

It is not surprising that recipients suspect the ODA of funding forestry projects overseas for our own benefit rather than for their development. Let us take the example of the Karnataka--the so-called social forestry-- project in India. It is heralded as an example of local participation. I understand that the Minister hopes that it will become a showcase of a reformed tropical forestry action plan, but the main community group in the area, Fevord Karnataka, has been unable to find details of the proposed project. The local forestry office refused the group documents. It wrote to the Minister for Overseas Development but she has apparently not replied. The suspicions seem well founded, since half the forest will be designated zone 2, a no-go area for local people. I hope that no Conservative Member will claim that this is an example of good practice.

People in the area think that the Government are funding a sink for the carbon emissions that Britain produces, and cloaking that as development. I remind the House that we are major polluters. United Kingdom citizens emit 2.64 tonnes of global warming gases each year, whereas Indians emit one tenth of that. If this is the best the Government can do to involve local people in forestry projects, they should give up right now. If they can do better, perhaps the Minister will tell us how.

It is essential for the sake of millions of people in the Third world, as the Minister said, to take immediate action to prevent or limit global warming. The thought that 68 million people would lose their land if the sea rose by one metre in Egypt, Bangladesh, Vietnam and China alone should be enough to spur the industrialised countries into action. Millions more farmers would be devastated by the effect of a warmer climate, particularly in arid lands. With 10 million people facing famine in Ethiopia and Sudan, and millions more in Angola, Liberia and Mozambique, the potential disaster is barely imaginable.

The Government's inaction on Britain's carbon emissions and their foot dragging in European and international talks makes it clear that the voice of the Third world is not getting through. Perhaps that is because no one around the Cabinet table cares enough to make their point on their behalf.

To return to the new global environmental facility, I am delighted that the World bank has realised the need to finance environmental improvements, but the new environmental fund will undermine long-term sustainable development if it means that the bank can once again ignore the environmental effects of the rest of its work. Over the years, there has been a litany of environmentally disastrous projects backed by the World bank. There is increasing evidence that some structural adjustment programmes harm the environment as well as the poor. It is essential for the bank to review all its lending policies if it wants to promote sustainable development.

In their green glossy, the Government claim that the ODA encourages and supports the efforts of multilateral

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