Local MP Cathy Jamieson recently met Christian Aid partners from the Philippines and Bolivia, to hear first-hand what it is like to live with the reality of climate change and how it is affecting the world’s poor most acutely.

The Kilmarnock and Loudoun MP met Voltaire Alferez, who runs a group of organisations campaigning on climate change in the Philippines, and Elizabeth Peredo, Director of Fundacion Solon, which campaigns on climate change in Bolivia.

The meetings were part of Christian Aid’s Hunger for Justice weekend, which will see hundreds of events around the country aimed at raising awareness of the need for action to tackle climate change.

Cathy said: “I think it is vital that we meet people from around the world who have to live face-to-face with a changing climate.

Climate change affects us all. But whilst it is increasingly affecting new parts of the world, at present it is the world’s poorest people who are suffering the most from it.

The statistics tell their own story but it is only when you meet someone who is living with the affects of climate change on a daily basis that you appreciate the true impact and scale of the problem.

Christian Aid is doing some excellent work to address the things which cause poverty and make it worse – like climate change. But unless we see decisive action at a global level the problem will continue to worsen and it will be the world's poorest that suffer the most.” Simon Kirkland, Christian Aid’s Parliamentary Adviser, said: “We were very glad that Cathy took the time to meet Voltaire and Elizabeth. Climate change is a truly global problem with global causes and a global solution. In our ever more interconnected world it is important that our political leaders hear from the people that are affected by our actions."