Making the headlines on BBC online today, Andrew Simms of the New Economics Foundation accuses the British government of being slow in contributing to two United Nations funds which are intended to help poor countries adapt to climate change.

Britains' Department for International Development says the first payment is being made in June.

Tomorrow, Simms makes the case on openDemocracy for living "within ecological means" and honouring "ecological debts" - of the rich North to the poor South.

On the evidence so far, he says, we may be more stupid than frogs, which - contrary to popular myth - are actually smart enough to jump out of water before it gets too hot.

DFID papers on poverty and climate change can be found here

Under what conditions can aid, including that for climate adapation, work? It depends on the quality of both the donor and the recipient, says Ngaire Woods (Prospect, May).

Caspar Henderson