At a recent African Union summit, Uganda's combustible president, Yoweri Museveni, declared climate change an act of aggression by the rich world against the poor one-and demanded compensation. The moral arguments on climate change are even murkier than arguments about other wrongs done to Africa, such as slavery, but Mr Museveni may have hit on something. If the predictions of the UN'S Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), hold true, climate change may have a graver effect on Africa than on any other continent; the final part of the panel's latest report has just been published (see page 68). Scientists now blame industrialisation (read, the rich world) for some of the warming. In any event, the contrast between poverty in Africa and carbon gluttony elsewhere is sharp. Why should the poorest die for the continued excesses of the richest?
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