Conservatives should proudly help poor nations protect their people from extreme weather events

In the new year I'm planning a special series of features on effective aid spending. Just because too much aid goes to the wrong people (as Sajid Javid argued last week) we should not say that all aid fails. Much aid - given publicly and privately by the British people - is preventing very poor people from dying of hunger or treatable disease. I hope next year's series will help convince more ConHome readers of that.

Another important use of aid is to help poor countries cope with extreme weather events. You don't have to believe that climate change is man-made to agree that many developing countries could do with help in protecting their people from hurricanes, flooding and other natural disasters. Making these countries richer through freer trade is the best way of helping them to afford resilience but aid spending and technical assistance can play a part too.

In the powerful video below Greg Clark, Shadow Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, reports from Bangladesh on how we can help the poorest people of our world survive extreme events. He emphasises helping people adapt to a changing climate (rather than combatting climate change). That is very much in line with Lord Lawson's 'Plan B' for the environment that I summarised yesterday.

Tim Montgomerie