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Aid & development links: UN Climate Summit and Ebola

Aid & development links: UN Climate Summit and Ebola
Published 22 Sep 2014   Follow @StephieDunstan

  • The UN Climate Summit begins tomorrow in New York, with the 'People's Climate March' rallies around the world attracting higher than expected support.
  • The march was billed as the largest environmental protest event in history, with participants in 150 countries. In New York, numbers were estimated at 310,000, Melbourne at 30,000. See aerial drone footage of the New York march and read Naomi's Klein's op-ed. But will people power result in change?
  • US Secretary of State John Kerry was quick to issue a statement following the march, likening climate change to the fight against Ebola and ISIS, while Australia made headlines for not sending head of government representation and for rejecting a UN request to strengthen domestic climate targets.
  • Townsville residents take matters into their own hands, give it a striking, visual #headsinsandsalute 
  • Handy analysis from National Geographic on what to expect from UN Climate Summit, Follow @Climate2014Live or #climate2014 for official tweets from the Summit.
  • On the Ebola front, Sierra Leone has ordered its six million residents to stay indoors as volunteers circulate to educate households, isolate the sick and remove the dead. 
  • The World Bank president, visiting Sydney, warns of dire economic impact of Ebola if left unchecked.
  • Australia commits a further $7 million. It's still not enough, according to AMA President Brian Owler, who argues for coordinated deployment of Australian medical teams.
  • A helpful factsheet from the World Bank on global financing to address the crisis. 
  • Read Australian Jo Dunlop's (the blogger behind Freetown Fashpack) account of how health workers are responding to the crisis, as well as her personal interactions with those struck with the virus. See also Jo's pictures of how nurses are adapting their scrubs to the crisis (see image below).



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