President Lazarus Chakwera says a Scottish fund for poor countries hit by climate change should be a prototype for the whole world.

The Scottish government announced in 2021 that it would begin funding so-called “loss and damage” projects.

After much wrangling, world leaders followed Scotland’s lead at last year’s UN climate summit in Egypt.

Mr Chakwera said the small Scottish fund has already made a significant difference in six Malawian villages.

A quarter of the £2m ($2.4m) allocated for this year is being spent in Malawi, which has long-established ties with Scotland.

A further £5m is being made available from April.

In a BBC interview, Mr Chakwera said: “It has made huge differences in the people and their livelihoods because they are given a hand up, so the resilience we talk about becomes a practical issue.”

He added that what Scotland is already doing is what everybody else needs to be doing.

In Zomba, the Scottish government money is being used to rebuild parts of a seven-kilometre (four-mile) flood embankment on the Phalombe River which was breached by storms last year in 10 places.

Further south, new flood defences are being built in the village of Mambundungu where the village was relocated to higher ground to avoid flooding but was then hit by a deluge running off the hills.