"Climate Talks Get Down To Tough Business of Compromise"

"LE BOURGET, France — From deserts encroaching on African farmland to rising sea levels shrinking islands of the South Pacific, leaders of poor nations most affected by climate change shared their stories of global warming with leaders of some of the richest on Tuesday.

The encounters highlighted one of the biggest debates in the effort to reach an international accord to fight global warming: how much aid rich countries should give poor ones to help them adapt to climate change and reduce their emissions.

French President Francois Hollande heard from 12 African leaders who described the Sahara Desert encroaching on farmland, forests disappearing from Congo to Madagascar and rising sea levels swallowing homes in West African river deltas.

'When a young student is forced to go study under a street lamp at night, it clearly demonstrates the electricity issue,' Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita said.

Hollande said France would invest billions of euros in the coming years for renewable energy in Africa and to increase Africans' access to electricity: 'The world, and in particular the developed world, owes the African continent an environmental debt.'"

Sylvie Corbet and Angela Charlton report for the Associated Press December 1, 2015.