Africa

"As South Africa declares a national disaster due to flooding, other countries in the region hold their breath while water levels continue to rise."

Nomadic herdsmen in East Africa have adapted to shifting patterns of water and forage for thousands of years. Now climate change is forcing them farther afield, and communities are killing each other.

Egypt's 80 million people have always depended on the Nile River. Under a 1929 treaty, 80 percent of the river's flow is reserved for Egypt and Sudan, which were then ruled as a single country. Now the seven upstream countries (Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, and Rwanda) want to revise the treaty, calling it an unfair relic of colonialism.

"The nations of East and Central Africa and some of the world's largest conservation organizations have developed a 10-year conservation action plan to save thousands of endangered eastern chimpanzees."

"Africa contributes the least to global warming, but stands to suffer the most. That is the case African leaders are making at U.N. climate talks in Copenhagen. ... But ... daily survival remains the focus of many Africans."

"Researchers cannot agree whether the melting is attributable mainly to humanity’s role in global warming."