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But a key question is whether that commitment will translate into action. And if so, how much? “The world’s six multilateral development banks promised on Thursday to do more to help emerging nations fight climate change as part of efforts to reinvigorate flagging work on a U.N. deal to limit temperature rises. In a statement before a Sept. 23 summit on global warming to be hosted by U.N.Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in New York, the World Bank and other banks said they had delivered $75 billion in financing since they started joint tracking of funds in 2011. “We now pledge to build on our work so far and to enhance our climate finance action, in accordance with our organizations’ respective mandates, expertise, and resources,” the banks said in a statement. They did not give any target for funds. The statement was signed by the African Development Bank, Asian Development Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), European Investment Bank, Inter-American Development Bank and World Bank Group.(Reuters http://yhoo.it/1up2RCc)
September is a Big Inflection Point for the Central African Republic…A discussion about the transition to a new UN Peacekeeping mission in CAR, and what it can hope to accomplish. (Global Dispatches Podcast: http://bit.ly/X1u0y5
SPOTLIGHT—>Partners In Health announced on Thursday that it is partnering with Last Mile Health in Liberia and Wellbody Alliance in Sierra Leone to lead an effort against the current Ebola outbreak. The medical organization is actively recruiting experienced clinical and non-clinical health sector workers interested in staffing Ebola Treatment Units and supporting existing community-based work. Learn more here http://bit.ly/1uq6zLJ
Africa
The Committee to Protect Journalists called for the release of a South Sudanese reporter who allegedly has been in detention for nearly three weeks. (VOA http://bit.ly/YA7FJs)
The United Nations refugee agency is warning that a food and humanitarian crisis is looming in Cameroon – where hundreds of thousands of people have taken refuge fleeing violence in Nigeria and the Central African Republic. (VOA http://bit.ly/1uJYnnT)
Because of the Ebola outbreak, farmers are too frightened to tend their fields. Customers have stopped going to restaurants, bars and other shops. So now people in Liberia’s “breadbasket” region are depending on food donations. (NPR http://n.pr/1uJYM9S)
The humanitarian community in Mali still needs $271 million out of a total $481 million required by year-end to meet identified needs in the country, according to the mid-year review of its 2014 Strategic Response Plan. (OCHA http://bit.ly/1uJYGyU)
Kenya on Thursday swore in a new intelligence chief who it hopes will tackle the rising threat from al Shabaab militants in neighbouring Somalia bent on retaliation after U.S. missiles last week killed their leader and co-founder Ahmed Godane. (Reuters http://bit.ly/1uJZLqB)
The International Criminal Court on Thursday confirmed that Ivory Coast’s former president Laurent Gbagbo will face trial for crimes against humanity, throwing out an appeal by the defence. (AFP http://yhoo.it/YAdwyf)
Economic growth in Liberia and Sierra Leone could decline by as much as 3.5 percentage points as the worst-ever outbreak of Ebola has crippled the key mining, agriculture and services sectors in the two West African countries, the IMF said on Thursday. (Reuters http://bit.ly/1up31Jz)
MENA
In August, the ICRC and its Syrian Arab Red Crescent partner provided food aid for 530,000 people across 10 Syrian governorates, including 90,000 people living in opposition-controlled areas – the largest amount they had provided in a single month since the beginning of the armed conflict in 2011. (ICRC http://bit.ly/1uJYHTB)
The United Nations on Thursday confirmed the release of all 45 Fijian peacekeepers who had been held for two weeks by al Qaeda-linked militants in the Golan Heights on the Israeli-Syrian border. http://yhoo.it/1uK0V5t
Human Rights Watch accused Israel of committing war crimes by attacking three U.N.-run schools in the Gaza Strip in fighting in July and August, killing Palestinian civilians who had sheltered there. http://yhoo.it/YAcDFU
Asia
Two rights groups say they have collected evidence that detainees in Thailand have been tortured since the kingdom’s May 22 coup. (VOA http://bit.ly/YA7i1p)
Singapore has banned a documentary on political exiles whom have lived abroad for decades, saying the film undermines national security, highlighting the wealthy city-state’s uneasiness over public debate on politics. (VOA http://bit.ly/1uJYuQj)
More than 200 garment factories have shut down in Bangladesh since the country’s worst industrial disaster prompted a massive clean-up of the world’s second-largest textile sector, an industry group. (AFP http://yhoo.it/1up2mbk)
Late monsoon rains in northern Pakistan have washed away communities, devastated farmland, and brought the risk of a “super-flood” moving across the country, leaving millions of people potentially vulnerable. (IRIN http://bit.ly/1tCKhDZ)
The Americas
The destruction of the world’s largest rainforest accelerated last year with a 29 percent spike in deforestation, according to final figures released by the Brazilian government on Wednesday that confirmed a reversal in gains seen since 2009. (VOA http://bit.ly/1uJYgIS)
Opinion/Blogs
Ebola Crisis Reversing Development Gains in Liberia (IPS http://bit.ly/YA9aHs)
Analysis: Obama takes big risk in wider airstrikes (AP http://yhoo.it/YAceDv)
Can UN Peacekeeping Save the Central African Republic? (UN Dispatch http://bit.ly/1lYrx3a)
Interview with Justine Fleischner: A View from War-Ravaged South Sudan (Enough Project http://bit.ly/1lYry7m)
The era of democratization is not over (Dart Throwing Chimp http://bit.ly/1ADn7jk
The Economist magazine has had a “Slavery Problem” since 1843 (Africa is a Country http://bit.ly/1ADnbjf)
So Is Corruption the Problem or Not? Moses Naim’s Curious Inconsistency (Global Anticorruption Blog http://bit.ly/1wjKVeo)
Wanted: New narratives in international development communications (How Matters http://bit.ly/1wjL6Gs)