JOHANNESBURG: The World Bank says the threats posed by global warming on the African continent and East Africa's famine should drive the agenda when international climate change talks come to the continent later this year.

Delegates attending the conference in South Africa's east city of Durban will be able to look back and further examine the famine now sweeping East Africa. And they will be able to look forward to predictions that climate change will mean Africans will struggle to produce more food.

Andrew Steer, the World Bank's special envoy on climate change, said in an interview Tuesday that the twin crises will add urgency when delegates discuss channeling money from rich to poor countries to cope with the impact of climate change.

But Steer cautions that while agreements on helping poor countries and a focus on agriculture may emerge, the cash will come only later.