"NAIROBI, Kenya and GAO, Mali—  The Sahel is an environmentally fragile zone that stretches across Africa just south of the Sahara desert."

"To get a better idea of how climate change can worsen conflict there, GlobalPost spoke with three experts on the topic: Drew Sloan of energy efficiency company Opower, Marshall Burke of the University of California, Berkeley and Josh Busby of the University of Texas at Austin.

Their short answer? It's complicated, but climate change is making things harder for those who live in a politically unstable and economically challenged region."

Tristan McConnell and Nick Loomis report for the Global Post December 2, 2013. [2]