judy: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight. the instigations, the justice department says government documents were likely concealed in an attempt to obstruct the federal probe into whether former president trump mishandled classified material. then, after roe. south carolina's state house votes to impose an almost total ban on abortions. we discuss the move with a lawmaker who decided to support the measure after initially opposing it. and, climate crisis. historic drought followed by massive flooding threatens crops in vulnerable farming communities in east africa. >> less than 2% of climate finance goes to farmers. it's just absolutely crazy that one of the most affected, one of

the most vulnerable populations in the world and they don't even exist as part of the climate dialogue. judy: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. ♪ >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- ♪ >> moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf. the engine that connects us.

>> cfo, caregiver, eclipse chaser. a raymond james financial advisor taylor's advice to help you live your life. life, well-planned. >> the walton family foundation, working r solutions to protect water during climate change so people and nature can thrive together. supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation, committed to building more just, verdant, and peaceful world. more information at cfound.org. and with the ongoing support of these institutions. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting andy contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

stephanie: i'm stephanie sy with newshour west. we will return to the full program after the latest headlines. the legal fight over the search of the trump home in florida has taken a new turn tonight. the u.s. justice department now says classified materials were removed and concealed at mar-a-lago, possibly amounting to obstruction of justice. trump's legal team responded tonight. the lawyers argue trump lawfully possessed the records and are not caused for alarm. former president trump insisted again today that he had de-classified the documents. he has called for a special master to oversee the review of the documents. we'll dig into the details after the news summary. the food and drug administration authorized two updated covid-19 boosters today, the first to target the omicron strain. fda officials said they want to head off another winter surge, and cut down on repeated shots. >> the hope here is not to have to give lots of vaccines each year. it's hopefully to have this be

the vaccine that hopefully holds us for as much of this or for the entire season. judy: pfizer's new booster will be available to anyone over 12. moderna's is for adults only. in alaska, mary potala has defeated former governor sarah palin in a special election for a vacant seat in the u.s. house of representatives. potala is the first native alaskan to be elected to congress. she will serve out the last four months of late representative don young's term. california in a scorching heat wave that could last through the weekend. temperatures in sacramento could reach 113 degrees, wild coastal temperatures could hit 100. u.s. life expectancy dropped again last year as the pandemic took its toll.

the cdc reports the average american's life span fell to just over 76 years, down nearly a year from 2020. that compares with an average of nearly 79 years in 2019, before the pandemic hit. u.s. life expectancy has not been this low since 1996. in ukraine, u.n. inspectors in zapper risha city, en route to an endangered nuclear power plant. there's been repeated shelling around the site, now under russian control. the inspectors left from kyiv today, saying they hope to avert a catastrophe. their leader said they should reach the plant tomorrow. >> my mission is a technical mission. it is a mission that seeks to prevent a nuclear accident and to preserve this important, the largest, the biggest nuclear power plant in europe, in the whole of europe, not only in ukraine. stephanie: the inspectors say

they want to establish an ongoing presence at the plant. china may have committed crimes against humanity and its treatment of uighurs and other muslim ethnic groups. the u.n. documented detention and torture. it is calling for an gent response. human rights activists have demanded the release of the long-delayed a part -- long-delayed report. in russia and around the world, mikhail gorbachev was remembered today. the last leader of the soviet union died and his passing brought different reactions. nick schifrin has the report. nick: at moscow's gorbachev foundation today, his memory hangs larger than life. mikhail gorbachev oversaw the end of the soviet union, after trying to create the change he believed it needed to survive. >> despite the fact that it was not easy, there was hope.

nick: the cold war's victors today see it the same way. >> when history is written, he will be, i think, one of the authors of fantastic change for the better in the world. and what i worry about today is the current leadership in moscow is intent on undoing the good that mikhail gorbachev did. nick: russian president vladimir putin calls the war in ukraine an attempt to restore russian influence over htoric russian territory lost by gorbachev. putin has long argued gorbachev trusted the west too much. and today, putin's spokesman dmitry peksov, suggested gorbachev had been naive. >> he sincerely wanted to believe that the cold war would end and an eternal romantic period between t new soviet union and the world would arrive. that romanticism was not justified. the bloodthirstiness of our opponents showed itself. nick: long ago, putin killed

gorbechev's democratic changes. but outside of russia, gorbechev's legacy is still alive. president biden said he had the imagination to see a different future, and the courage to risk his career to achieve it. stephanie: today marks 26 years when princess diana died in a car crash in paris. in london, tributes were placed outside the gates of kensington palace, where the princess made her home. diana was 36-years -- 36 years old at her death. coming up, hospitals receive threats for providing gender affirming care. unicef's representative for pakistan dcusses the long road to recovery from catastrophic flooding. artists find inspiration by immersing themselves in the everglades national park. and much more. >> this is the pbs newshour.

judy: a court filing from the justice department late last night offers the clearest picture yet of the steps that led to the fbi search of former president donald trump's florida home earlier this month. in his 36-page filing, the doj writes that the classified documents were at one point "likely concealed and removed. and that efforts were likely taken to obstruct the government's investigation." the fbi search was the culmination of a months-long effort that began in may of last year, when the national archives first requested missing records from the trump team. the first batch of 15 boxes was sent to washington in january and included 184 classified documents. four months later, a grand jury subpna was given to the trump team requesting all other classified materials. in june, the fbi went to mar-a-lago and was given 38

additional classified documents. trump's lawyer said there were no other documents stored on site, but would not allow fbi investigators to verify that. when the fbi executed a search warrant earlier this month, they found 76 classified documents in the storage room they were not allowed into in june and an additional three documents in trump's desk drawer. to help explain the new court filing, i'm joined by chuck rosenberg. he is a former federal prosecutor and fbi official. chuck rosenberg, welcome back to the newshour. what is the release of the fbi filing and what they are saying here -- tell us about what the former president did with these documents. >> it tells us more about the documents than what the former president necessarily did with them. search warrants are executed to recover evidence. that was done lawfully with the authorization of a federal judge, but it doesn't necessarily tell you who did what, o packed the documents,

who understood that there were classified materials within those documents, and who may have obstructed justice. it could've been the former president, it could have been people who work for him, they could've been doing it at his direction. a large portion of the fbi affidavit was redacted. a lot of answers to those questions are probably in those reactions. judy: and on the content question, what was in here? will we ever know what was here? >> maybe, and i know it's a frustrating answer, but of -- if charges are brought against the former president, likely you will see the details made public in a court filing or induced as evidence in a trial. but if the investigation closes without charges being brought, then probably not. judy: when we see the picture that the fbi released of the documents spread out on the floor, we're looking at top-secret -- clearly this is

sensitive material. chuck: highly sensitive material. cover sheets that were on the screen are easily detected. there is no mistaking you have a classified document because you have a classified coversheet marked secret or top secret, as the case may be. as you turn each page, there are markings at the top and bottom of each page. there are even paragraph markings. there would not be a mistake about the nature of the document. judy: the doj is saying efforts were likely taken, and you just referred to this, to obstruct the government's investigation. if that is proven, is that breaking the law? chuck: if it was done intentionally. let me explain. for instance, we know that mr. trump's lawyers had represented to the department of justice that they had done a thorough search and there were no more classified documents. that turned out not to be true. was it intentionally false? in other words, were they just bad lawyers?

did they fail in their due diligence. being a bad lawyer is not a crime. or were they misled by someone else, were they told, perhaps by the client, that the search was thorough, and they passed on that information? or did they know that there were documents there, but misrepresented it to the department of justice? the first two scenarios, it is not a crime. but the last one, joining in a conspiracy to hide documents and making a misrepresentation to the department of justice, that would be. judy: deciding whether to try to get answers to those questions that you just described, who makes that decision? chuck: deciding to try and get answers would be to the prosecutors and agents. that's why they do lots of interviews, for instance they wanted to see surveillance footage from mar-a-lago. why? it would tell you who is coming and going and with what in their hands.

those are people you want to talk to. by talking to people and getting their best recollection, hopefully their truthful best recollection, you can begin to understand whether these things were done intentionally or negligeny. intention is what is required to prove a crime. judy: the early reporting seems to be that doj is not expected to file charges. how should we read that? i know you are not inside the justice department right now, but what do you think we could expect here? >> to your point, there may not be charges before the midtm elections, but there is an ongoing investigation. the attorney general of the united states has told us that and he said they're going to follow the facts wherever they lead. there is a long-standing department of justice policy not to bring charges or to take over investigative steps near the time of an election.

it's not 60 or 90 days, there is no number in the policy. for the purpose of interfering in that election. so they may go quiet for a time, but that doesn't mean the investigation has stopped. you can still do things covertly, quietly, secretly, to further your investigation while you are in this pre-election quiet period. judy: do you think we can assume that the fbi has found whatever there is to be found among the former president's possessions? chuck: it sounds likely. the executed a search warrant and they had authority to look in places where they might find them. and they spent hours. that is one reason why they went in with a lot of people. if they only went in with one person, it would take a lot longer. you bring a lot of agents, you do a thorough search pursuant to a lawfully authorized warrant signed by a federal judge, and that becomes part of the investigation. but that doesn't mean the investigation is over.

it doesn't mean that they could not or would not execute another search warrant somewhere else. you follow the facts and follow the leads and go where they go. judy: what do you look for at this point next year? >> well, i am biased, judy. i come from the department of justice and i have great faith in their ability to do that work. i don't know when we will hear again from merrick garland, but typically the department of justice speaks in court through motions and written documents. i am looking for those. judy: chuck rosenberg, we are grateful to you. thank you. ? judy: in the absence of roe v. wade, a complicated and fast-changing patchwork of abortion laws has emerged state-by-state. many state lawmakers moved quickly to expand or restrict

abortion access, and both new and old laws have been tested and tied up in legal challenges. currently, 14 stes have total or near-total bans on abortions. and with a vote last night, south carolina is one step closer to joining them. lisa desjardins has more. lisa: last night in south carolina, as abortion rights protesters chanted outside, the state house of representatives passed a near-total abortion ban. that bill allows abortions in a few situations. in cases of rape or incest, in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, those require a police report soon after the abortion. other exceptions, if the woman's life or a major body function is at risk from the pregnancy. that bill now heads the state senate. the debate drew national attention this month after republican state representative neal collins openly regretted backing a law that was briefly in effect. it banned abortions when a heartbeat is detected. he then spoke of a 19-year-old

woman who was miscarrying a second trimester pregnancy, but because of that law, attorneys told doctors not to treat her. >> she's going to pass this fetus in the toilet. she's going to have to deal with that on her own. there's a 50% chance, greater than 50% chance that she's going to lose her uterus. there's a 10% chance that she will develop sepsis and herself die. that weighs on me. i voted for that bill. these are affecting people. what we do matters. lisa: representative collins did not support the near-total ban in committee, but did support a version that passed last night. and he joins me now. representative collins, thank you for joining us. you have expressed real concern for abortion restrictions perhaps becoming too extreme. why did you vote for the bill last night that was more extreme than the bill that you seem to regret? rep. collins: thank you, lisa.

that last little bit is where the national narrative is incorrect about regret. if we watch longer than that one minute, it was a two hour committee, and in that process, democrats were being cut off. my point was what we do in that committee matters, that people should have the right to speak. so what i truly was saying is this is an important matter, everybody should have their chance to represent their constituents. if i do have a regret as far as the six-week ban, what i regret is that we weren't even more specific. i believe the six-week ban that we passed should and would have protected this 19-year-old that i mentioned. as an attorney, i understand that hospitals in that first week or two wanted to be extremely careful and conservative on how they read the language, which was a good thing, because it led to how we

improved this bill. we specifically listed 12 to 14 different situations where the life of the mother would be protected. so hopefully, and this was i hope made clear, hopefully nothing like that would happen in south carolina moving forward. lisa: i just want to track back to what you said in committee, and we did watch a lot of that footage. you said you were not able to support that bill at that time. that bill is not very different from the bill that you supported last night. so what has changed? rep. collins: to me it was a significant difference. i actually voted against the bill last night, the original bill. the original bill was a complete ban with no exceptions. we had a eight or nine hour debate yesterday, and with that we booted -- voted that original bill down and we amended it to include rape and incensed

exceptions -- ralph and -- rape and incest exceptions. i represent 42,000 people in arguably the fourth most conservative district in all of the nation. i represent basically east south carolina. over eight weeks, i have been contacting hundreds of my constituents, and to probably about 3/4 of my constituents wanted further restrictions, but they also wanted the exceptions in these cases. lisa: when you talk about rape, and you have written about your thoughts in an extensive facebook post, you have expressed concern for the trauma of rape and said that you don't want to add to that trauma, but this bill requires a police report. whether or not a rape survivor feels safe doing that, why is that necessary to get an abortion if you're making a rape exception? rep. collins: i personally don't think that it is. but again -- lisa: but you did vote for this bill.

rep. collins: i did, and i have voted for hundreds of bills, and i can tell you not one bill has been completely what i want. that is the whole nature of the compromise. to me, it falls onto two more important issues within our society. i went viral nationally. none of my constituents saw that. because we are so divided, we are seeing completely different news sources, completely different intake of information. i had a grand total of three constituents of my 42,000 reach out to me and say they saw me going viral. what that tells me is my constituents did not hear that. they did not not receive the same information, and that is concerning for both my state and our nation. the second thing, obviously, if you scroll through any of our social media, our national dialogue and our ability to -- -- our ability to have civil

discourse, those situations are what we should really should be talking about. lisa: part of the conversation you been having and weighing in on wrestling with is who would be affected by the abortion ban that you hope to pass, and you have been talking about realizing that many people who have abortions became pregnant while using contraception. that is something you have expressed concern about. how do you wrestle with closing off abortions to women like that, even in the earliest pregnancy, who might have tried to avoid pregnancy but contraception failed? rep. collins: this kyl is a reflection of our viewpoint as a state, and we want to protect life, and i believe it is of -- it is a majority viewpoint that life begins at conception. so that is where this bill is coming from. lisa: i wonder if you are sure that this law that you voted for will not harm women's lives, put women in jeopardy, as you felt that woman you talked about was in jeopardy from the previous law. rep. collins: i hope we cleared as many unintended consequences as we could.

this is a process. it now goes to a whole separate chamber of our senate. hopefully they will digest the language we have, they have something to work with. hopefully they will have medical expert testimony. i know that they already have. i hope that we are able to clear as many possibilities as we can. lisa: south carolina state representative neil collins, thank you for talking with us. rep. collins: thank you. judy: in recent weeks, several children's hospitals have become targets of far right attacks and harassment over gender affirming medical care for transgender youth. stephanie sy has the story. stephanie: extremist anti-transgender activists have been using social media to spread disinformation about gender-affirming care. and now the staff at boston children's hospital is receiving

violent threats. the hospital is one of dozens of facilities that offer trans health care. they have become the target of far-right influencers and politicians who want to ban these services outright. despite what one twitter account with more than a million followers posted, boston children's says it does not perform genital surgeries as part of gender affirming care on patients under the age of 18. for more on all of this, i'm joined by jay brown. he's the senior vice president of programs, research, and training at the human rights campaign, angbtq+ advocacy organization. thank you so much for joining the newshour. what was your reaction to hearing about the threats to boston children's hospital, and what's your sense of how prevalent this hate-mongering is around this issue? jay: yeah, well, thank you so much for having me and i wish i could say we're surprised by this, but unfortunately, we've seen a real rise in this kind of extremism, and this is really

just the latest in a well-coordinated effort to divide people and turn people against their lgbtq neighbors and friends. stephanie this harassment reminds me of the targeting of abortion providers over the years which led to real violence, even murder. we haven't seen that yet here. but now you have social media influencers who are reaching millions of people with misinformation. how do we begin to combat that? jay: yeah, we're really worried about what this means for fulton' -- for folks' daily lives. i mean, we're already seeing proud boys and other extremists show up at events, pride parades and library story hours. and these providers have have real reasons for concern. we see really hardworking, well-trained medical professionals just doing the job that they are called to do, follow their ethical duties. and seeing extremists really mobilized against them as extremely, it's very concerning. stephanie: are you advocating that social media platforms take some of these posts down?

jay: yes, we've called on social media platforms to be taking aggressive action against these and to be reminded of the real life consequences of these. we may not have seen yet a provider harmed physically, but we know that they are being threatened. we know that we're also seeing, at the time that these threats are increasing, we're seeing an epidemic of violence against the trans community that continues to be historic year after year. so there is a direct tie to our daily lives, to the ability for our community to thrive. and the signal that this sen to young people, to their parents, to their to their loved ones, is extremely harmful and we have research showing that the vast majority of young people are being impacted by this this kind of vitriol online negatively. so these companies need to do more. they need to do more to enforce the policies that they have against hate actions on the platforms. stephanie: jay, boston children's hospital just sent us a statement saying their focus right now is the safety and security of their staff and patients. they've received a large volume, they say, of these threats, and they say that people behind this

harassment campaign have a specific agenda to discredit those they disagree withy spreading false information. what do you think the real agenda is behind what seems to be a very coordinated campaign? jay: yeah, i think that that's very true. and i would agree with that statement. i think, honestly, they have political ambitions and they have seen that with a small extremist base that this kind of fear mongering works. but the reality is the vast majority of the public is ainst it, and it's not what they want of their elected officials. it is not what they want of any healthcare provider, to be interfering with what is best for a patient, what is best for their ability to get medical care. so, you know, i think this is really an intent to win elections. stephanie: and yet, these violent threats -- does it make it harder for people that are

seeking needed gender affirming medical care to get that care? jay: these threats do interfere with care. when i talk to providers who are working in hospitals, who work at these clinics to do amazing work caring for young people and their families, they, you know, first of all, the vast majority of care they're providing is social, emotional, and mental health care, which everybody should be able to agree that children and young people should be able to access. it doesn't have anything to do with surgeries at the young ages. and so that's disinformation, misinformation that continues to spread onle intentionally. the reality is, instead of being able to talk to their patients about what their daily lives are, like, what their struggles are, they're actually having to talk to their patients about what they're seeing online about their lives. you know, threats from lawmakers and real actions from lawmakers like abbott in texas and desantis in florida against their healthcare, interfering with care.

so it really does impact lgbtq young people, trans young people, and non-binary young people in dramatic ways. and these hospitals should be able to provide more resources for these families, not fewer and unfortunately, i think their resources are now tied up with trying to make sure that their providers are safe. stephanie: maybe not everybody understands what it's like for somebody to go through a transition like this. could you share with us a little bit about what it was like for you personally, to face society, when you realized that you weren't living in a body that felt true to you, and how important was getting care at that time? jay: yeah, i mean, i wish that i had had the kind of care that is available now. you know, ever since i w a very young -- i was very young and i would i would go to bed at night praying that i would wake up a boy. i didn't have the language or didn't have the resources or access to the kind of care that is available now. it took years to be able to sort of recognize who i was. there was not a lot of visibility about trans people in public, and today i'm extremely happy and very proud of who i

am. the ability to sort of walk through the world authentically as yourself is something that most people take for granted. i don't, and i think these young people and their families are really just trying to get that kind of freedom and that kind of sense of authenticity that everybody really deserves. i think that's a shared value. unfortunately, you know, i think this misinformation and disinformation campaign that extremists are sort of, you know, really actioning against lgbtq young people, especially trans people, is extremely harmful. it it sort of takes away a lot of the progress that i think people have seen. stephanie: jay brown with the human rights campaign, thank you so much for joining the newshour with your important perspective. jay: thank you so much for having me and for bringing attention to this issue. ♪

judy: today the world health organization warned that millions of pakistanis affected by historic floods are now at risk of waterborne disease. areas in central and southern pakistan are still underwater from torrential rain and glacial melt. and the water keeps coming. in the last day, 70,000 more homes have been damaged, adding to the 1 millionomes already damaged or destroyed. nick schifrin is back with more on the humanitarian crisis. nick: more than 6 million pakistanis are in dire need of humanitarian aid, and unicef says some 3 million children are at risk. to discuss what they're facing, we turn to abdullah fadil, the unicef representative in pakistan. he's just back in islamabad from the flood-hit regions. thank you very much. welcome to the newshour. of the more than 1000 people

that have been killed by these floods, more than one third have been children. are pakistani children particularly vulnerable? >> absolutely. they are vulneble because they are more susceptible to diseases, diarrhea, malnutrition. this is a devastating climate for entire communities. the most hardest hit provinces are the most deprived provinces in the country. in the communities that are the most deprived are actually the ones who have the least infrastructure to withstand floods. their crops have been decimated. their animals have been decimated. millions are impacted. nick: the scale is unprecedented. many victims have described receiving no assistance from the government or from ngo's. is that what you are seeing? how difficult is it to reach people right now? >> assistance comes, but not in

the sufficient quantities needed for what the calamity requires. the government responded the first few days, but it is a big country, pakistan. the vastness of the floods just mas it impossible to reach everyone. it's a logistics nightmare. roads have been washed completely. 3000 kilometers of roads. bridges have been completely decimated. the military is sending 7000 troops to respond is the right approach. we are all trying to do all we can. we've delivered water to communities in need, we've delivered medical supplies, we've delivered hygiene kits. our warehouses are completely depleted. now the human launched to the

government $160 million of military lifesaving appeal has -- appeal to come in as quickly as possible. nick: what do people need most right now? >> they need shelter. today i saw people on the highways and the sides of the streets with makeshift camps. they are using plastic sheets, they're using their clothes, sometimes even boxes. people need shelter. they need food, they need water, medical supplies, medicines. they need almost everything you can imagine. they need clothes. children who have not had cooked food for some days need hot meals. nick: unicef says some 18,000 schools have been damaged or destroyed. it would be the beginning of the school year right now. what is the prognosis for education for so many of these children who have had to evacuate their homes? >> disasters. remember we had two years of

covid with so many closures. children were already lagging behind. pakistan has almost 23 million children out of school already. now those who return to school are trying to recover from learning gaps, all of a sudden they don't have access to learning facilities. we're trying to issue tents to make sure children can go back to school as soon as possible. this will be really critical to ensure that children are able to go back to school. nick: what about the psychological impact on children? how difficult is it on them when their parents, their caregivers are themselves so affected? >> children are moved in the middle of the night from their homes, not sure if they will survive the waters, perhaps even knowing people who died. so it is quite traumatizing.

also, not eating for five or six days. their livelihood is destroyed. it's quite traumatic for children of any age, but these children particularly who were already vulnerable are really facing a daunting task ahead of them. nick: what are the conditions in the camps that so many people have had to flee to? >> one of the camps i visited today, it was really horrendous. i saw a woman who had six children. four girls and two boys. her eldest son spoke a bit of english. he was saying, for five days we've been away from home, i want to go back to school as soon as possible, we haven't had a hot meal since this morning. this was almost 5:00. it was almost 36, 38 degrees celsius. nick: almost 100 degrees fahrenheit. >> exactly, and with the

humidity. it's really difficult for families. they want to go back to normal life as soon as possible. nick: the pakistani government says it is trying its best and argues this is an unprecedented crisis. but do you believe the pakistani government has done enough in order to prepare these communities for this kind of flooding, for example by installing early warning systems? >> they have learned from the 2010 crisis, but again, it's not enough. pakistan is facing an economic crisis. there is a global economic crisis on top of that. the inflation the country is facing. enough is not done. more could be done, of cours but we need to act and save lives. nick: thank you very much. ♪

judy: leaders from african countries are meeting this week in gabon, trying to come up with strategies to combat climate change. the toll from extreme weather has devastated vast regis of sub-saharan africa, suffering from the worst drought conditions on record and a severe food crisis. correspondent fred de sam lazaro looks at one effort to help farmers affected by changing weather patterns. this story is produced in partnership with the pulitzer center. fred: like much of east africa, south sudan has suffered scorching droughts. yet in a cruel twist, many parts of this country are actually still inundated from flooding late last year. >> what has happened in the last three years in south sudan has never been seen in living memory. fred: nhial tiitmamer is a climate scientist based in south sudan's capital, juba.

this country has been ravaged by war before independence in 2011, civil conflict since then, and erratic weather. flooding added hundreds of thousands of climate refugees to those fleeing conflict. about two million people live in squalid camps. the country faces an acute hunger crisis. >> so the fields, as you can see, are pretty water logged already, and we're told that the rains have not really arrived in earnest. fred: justutside the northern city of malakal, we visited farmers laboring on and preparing their fields, investing as much in hope as any harvest. >> we grow okra, collard greens, maize, and cassava, but because of all the water, most of these things are n going to be planted. fred: nyanakim achuiel belongs to a women's garden group organized by the christian

humanitarian group world vision. >> we've seen a lot of changes in the weather compared to the years before. and our output has been very low. fred: scientists see a much longer trend. across east africa, average temperatures have risen a full celsius, 1.8 degrees fahrenheit, over the past 50 years, making for hotter dry seasons and wetter rainy ones, the drought-baked soilnable to absorb water fast enough to prevent flooding. >> much of the water that is, you know, in east africa, here in the region, is from the indian ocean. and the indian ocean is one of the most warming oceans in the world. and because of this warming, there is a lot of evaporation that is bringing rain to east africa. >> from a global perspective, the intergovernmental panel on

climate change has noted a 1/3 reduction in yields as a result of climate change over the last 60 years. fred: andrew youn founded the kenya-based one acre fund, a nonprofit that helps farmers in several african nations produce more and adapt to the changing climate. small farmers make up the majority of the world's poor, youn says, yet little is being done to help them. >> less than 2% of climate finance goes to farmers. it's just absolutely crazy that one of the most affected, one of the most vulnerable populations in the world, and they don't even exist as part of the climate dialogue. and there's lots of really actionable, scalable, cost effective things that we can do. fred: one acre fund serves about 1.4 million farmers who've signed up for its program. that size allows it to buy good quality seeds and fertilizers at bulk discounts, which are passed on to farmers along with credit to purchase these resources. and, if a crop fails, there's limited insurance through loan forgiveness. and the group educates farmers

, providing critical expertise. hundreds of field agents, like marie claire mugeni in eastern rwanda, advise on how to space seeds, the right doses of compost and fertilizer, and the best time to plant. >> they taught us how to properly use fertilizers, and how to apply lime in the field for acidity. fred: 53-year-old immaculee mukamana says her maize crop yields doubled when she first joined one acre fund two years ago. but after this year's drought, she has very little food left in reserve. >> i was expecting more than 660 pounds of maize. i got just 88. fred: to help survive lean years, one acre funds is now pushing members to diversify, to grow more than one compatible cr in the same field, for example. or grow specialty crops like vegetables.

protais barushwanubusa had a poor crop of maize and potatoes this year. but with bumper harvests a year earlier, he had savings. he purchased a diesel pump, which now waters an abundant field of vegetables he'll sell in nearby markets, insurance against another sparse grain or potato crop. >> i'm currently growing tomatoes, green peppers, and eggplants. before, i could grow these vegetables, but not at a large scale. but since i now have this pump, i use it to irrigate even during dry season or when there is no rain. fred: another climate-driven initiative here is planting a billion trees on farmers' lands. other such campaigns have been difficult to sustain, but one acre fund says its focus is on the economic benefits as much as environmental, using trees that can provide wood or fruit. at the edge of the tree nursery

is a demonstrator model, if you will, that should clinch the deal with any reluctant farmer. this two-year-old avocado tree is already about 10 feet tall. it's already bearing fruit, and in one year will be considered grown, and at that stage is expected to bear something like 600 pounds of avocado each season. >> when farmers sell those avocados, if they're not able to find markets, they canat them. and avocados are obviously wonderful for child nutrition. and then, of course, there's a modest carbon benefit because that tree is never cut down. fred: it sounds good in theory, but -- >> the trees i got, they died. fred: the real world is where farmers like immaculee live. the drought forced her to take a job far from her field, she says, and water was scarce. milindi sibomana heads research and development for one acre in

rwanda. it's learning as you go, he says, with feedback from farmers and results from research plots like these. >> we test the product here before we scale it. fred: this maize plot was planted in late march -- too late, it turns out, because the rains came and ended earlier than usual. >> it didn't cob well, there's no grain on it. fred: a failed crop, but that's how these test plots offer data on what to plant, where, and based on weather forecasts, when. >> we try and capture as many variations in conditions, so if you're talking about poor fertility soil, this is the kind of crop you're going to get from it. fred: the average yield on one acre fund farms has increased 40, a solid buffer that can help them cope with the changing climate, says andrew youn, a minnesota native who's lived in east africa since 2006. >> the solutions are there. they're cost effective, they're scalable.

it's not like you need to invent fusion or anything like that, you know, it's ultra simple. fred: a metaphor in policy terms, though for millions of drought stricken and flooded african farmers, a prayer: just add water. not too much. not too late. for the pbs newshour, i'm fred de sam lazaro near malakal south sudan. judy: fred's reporting is in partnership with the undertold stories project at the university of st. thomas in minnesota. judy: artists have long taken to the outdoors to do their work. now, an artist-in-residence program, organized by the national park service, puts a new emphasis on that important synergy. jeffrey brown visited the

everglades national park in florida to see how artists in residence are creating and sharing their work in nature. it's part of our arts and culture series, canvas. jeffrey: the sights and sounds of florida's everglades national park, a vast wetlands preserve that first opened in 1947. home to wondrous birds, like the great egret. insects, including the lubber grasshopper. and yes, alligators, though with the waters so high during our hot summer visit, none showed themselves. it's also home to something else -- art. would you come out here every day looking for what? cornelius: yeah, really just looking for anything in the environment that really inspired me. jeffrey: not hard to find. >> not at all, you know. and i think that's the beauty of being out here, is that you're in collaboration with nature. jeffrey: cornelius tulloch spent

a month here in january as part of a program called artists in residence in everglades, or airie, that's brought more than 190 artists to the park since its creation in 2001. he grew up in miami, just about an hour, but in some ways light years away, and had been to the park only for a school field trip. now, he wanted to use his art, which includes painting, architecture, and photography, to capture what he came to see as a hidden history. >> this idea that even within this natural environment, there's people who have lived through this space, that there's history. and although we may not see it now today in this kind of state of its ecology, but that history stillies here. jeffrey: daily moments in everglades national park today. transformed through color and lighting, into scenes meant to suggest a lost presence, especially a little-known black presence, of workers and settlements in this area in the

early part of the last century. and what can't be shown from an earlier time -- the so-called saltwater railroad, a version of the underground railroad, in which enslaved blacks fled south to florida, through these marshes, to boats that would take them to freedom in the british-held bahamas. tulloch, whose father is jamaican, was himself learning of this for the first time. >> that was something that surprised me. how did i not learn about this? you know, living in florida, being in these spaces so nearby and never hearing that my entire life. jeffrey they were going to the caribbean. to places where you also have connections. cornelius: yes, yes. that trans-atlantic route backwards. i think that had a lot of power to me, especially as someone who's half jamaican. and you can only imagine, you know, we have the boardwalks to walk through and different things. what was this like for slaves or people moving through this landscape when you're in the pitch black dark? there's no, like, exact place for you to walk or go through.

so i think in my images, i also tried to evoke this, a sense of, like, what it would feel like to traverse through this environment. jeffrey the american wilderness has been a subject for artists since at least the early 19th century. thomas cole's paintings of the hudson river valley. albert bierstadt's valley of the yosemite. thomas moran's grand canyon of the yellowstone. these and other iconic images presented the natural wonder of the land and, in some cases, helped lead to efforts to preserve it through the creation of national parks. but they also often left the indigenous and other inhabitants out of the picture, erasing part of history. today, the national park service itself oversees artist residency programs in parks all over the country. and many artists are finding ways to widen the lens. the newest artist in residence at everglades is maya freelon, who refers to herself as a found object sculptor. she lives in north carolina and was making her first ever visit to this park. >> i love working in a natural environment, one, because the wind plays with you, too.

i love how it dances and plays, but i also love how people react to something seemingly so fragile, something that my granother taught me. jeffrey: the something so fragile is tissue paper, which she uses to create her own version of a quilt, made in collaboration with others. she recently held a workshop at the park's visitor center. >> ripped it in half. jeffrey: it begins with tearing up strips and wetting them, letting the different colored papers bleed into each other. >> something is happening there. jeffrey: when they dry, the group comes together to glue their individual pieces into what becomes a 20-foot quilt. >> she told me the stories about making something out of nothing, and made a way out of no way. jeffrey: freelon says she learned from her grandmother, re-working the african-american quiltmaking tradition. >> she showed me that the seam side is the one that is down so

you have one flat side. i decided as a sculptor and an artist that the seam side out was much more interesting, delicate, and beautiful. >> gently lift it up. jeffrey for her, coming here was an opportunity to help expand and diversify the residency program. >> i love that their initiative to reach out and connect with african-american artists, to diversify what's happening here, but also to help expand the knowledge of this area. jeffrey: her tissue paper quilt sculpture will, the winds allowing, hang in trees along long pine key lake. for his part, cornelius tulloch now has a new role, as the artists-in-residence program's head oculture and content. >> not only connecting the artists to the landscape, but connecting the artists to the audience, to other people, to show them, you know, all these

great, amazing things th artists are doing in the park. this story needs to be told. artists are uncovering and finding this information, but helping them to convey that through, whether it's social media or video or documentation of this experience that they are getting in the park, even like this, you know, these type of conversations to l people know that these are being had. jeffrey: new ways of bringing together nature and history through art, here and at national parks around the country. for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown in florida's everglades national park. judy: so uplifting. and online, black women in missouri are four times more likely to die in childbirth than other women in the state, so trained coaches called doulas are stepping in to address the issue and provide crucial health care for expectant and new parents. you may read about their efforts right now on pbs.org/newshour. and that's the newshour for

tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, please stay safe, and we'll see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- >> for 25 years, consumer cellular's goal has been to provide word or service that -- wireless service that helps people communicatend connect. our team can help you find one that fits you. to learn more, visit consumer cellular.tv. >> and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. and friends of the newshour. the ford foundation, working with visionaries on the front lines of social change worldwide. and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. ♪

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