BURUNDI IS A landlocked country in Central Africa, south of Rwanda. It is home to about 8.4 million people, most of whom live in abject poverty; annual income is about $100 and life expectancy is just 45 years. About 36 percent of the land is arable. Natural disasters include droughts, alternating with rains, often causing landslides in the mountainous interior of the country. Overgrazing has led to soil depletion, while clear-cutting of the forest has caused erosion and loss of habitat.

Most climate experts believe that Burundi will be one of the countries hardest hit by global warming, as temperatures rise and stress an already weakened population. Burundi lies on the eastern shore of Lake Tanganyika, which contains about 18 percent of the world s liquid ...