The freedom ecosystem – How the power of partnership can help stop modern slavery
A report by Monitor – Deloitte/Deloitte Consulting LLP
October 23, 2015 :: 52 pages
PDF: http://dupress.com/articles/freedom-ecosystem-stop-modern-slavery/?id=us:2el:3dc:aht:awa:cons:102315

Executive Summary
…According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), more than 21 million people are globally enslaved. These individuals are victims of the world’s fastest-growing illicit industry, generating an estimated $150 billion of illegal profits each year. From the overseas supply chains of our favorite products to domestic workers in our own neighborhoods, we all directly and indirectly touch slavery, and by working together can help abolish it.

While the problem of modern slavery is a persistent and hidden crime, those working to end it are crippled by three significant challenges: prevailing gaps in collecting and sharing data, limited resources to address slavery, and a challenging policy environment.

Unfortunately, there is no simple solution to addressing such a complex and resilient problem. Rather than seeking silver bullets, organizations looking to contribute to the eradication of slavery should aim to take incremental steps to improve the status quo. In that spirit, a community of cross-sector individuals and organizations has coalesced into a “freedom ecosystem.” The freedom ecosystem comprises a dynamic and diverse network of actors, with the shared goal of removing the conditions that allow slavery to persist and empowering slavery’s victims and survivors to own their personal path to freedom. Anti-slavery allies from the private, public, and nonprofit sectors converge to advance freedom in the face of predators and accomplices who engage in the illicit networks that allow slavery to persist.

Through collective action, these allies are working to confront the individuals and institutions that perpetuate slavery, liberate victims, support survivors, and educate the public. The very persistence and even growth of modern-day slavery indicates both the problem’s complexity and its resistance to many of the initiatives currently in place. It will likely take the entire freedom ecosystem—businesses, governments, NGOs, academia, multilateral organizations, private investors, civil-society groups, and consumers—working together to abolish practices that challenge the best intentions to promote a freer world.

Through a series of interviews with experts from across the freedom ecosystem, extensive
secondary research, and analysis of successful collective-action examples, we have identified three elements that allies should apply in collaborating for increased progress:
:: Align on common goals:
Allies develop a clear understanding of the question they are trying to solve and collectively determine how the issue fits within the larger effort to end slavery. A clearly defined and scoped problem translates into clear partnership goals and objectives that can drive and measure an initiative’s progress.
:: Build mutual ownership:
Allies often identify their optimal contribution and align roles accordingly. These roles include identifying ways to absorb the costs associated with launching and sustaining partnerships, which require investments of time, energy, and money. By committing to clear functional and investment-related responsibilities, allies develop the foundation needed for a successful partnership.
:: Create scalable solutions:
Allies often use a variety of means to encourage progress, including open-sourcing initiatives,
encouraging the formation of additional partnerships, and designing platforms that help amplify adoption of effective interventions.

All of these lead to sustained growth of initiatives beyond the initial program, ultimately benefiting the entire freedom ecosystem. By incorporating these elements of collective action, allies from across sectors can establish an infrastructure to help reinforce future change: creating a professional association for joint learning, mobilizing resources through strategic alliances, and uniting around a common policy agenda. By coming together and finding a collective voice, allies can energize the freedom ecosystem…

100 key research questions for the post-2015 development agenda
Development Policy Review
January 2016 Volume 34, Issue 1 Pages i–ii, 5–174
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/dpr.2016.34.issue-1/issuetoc

Johan A. Oldekop, Lorenza B. Fontana, Jean Grugel, Nicole Roughton, Emmanuel A. Adu-Ampong, Gemma K. Bird, Alex Dorgan, Marcia A. Vera Espinoza, Sara Wallin, Daniel Hammett, Esther Agbarakwe, Arun Agrawal, Nurgul Asylbekova, Clarissa Azkoul, Craig Bardsley, Anthony J. Bebbington, Savio Carvalho, Deepta Chopra, Stamatios Christopoulos, Emma Crewe, Marie-Claude Dop, Joern Fischer, Daan Gerretsen, Jonathan Glennie, William Gois, Mtinkheni Gondwe, Lizz A. Harrison, Katja Hujo, Mark Keen, Roberto Laserna, Luca Miggiano, Sarah Mistry, Rosemary J. Morgan, Linda L. Raftree, Duncan Rhind, Thiago Rodrigues, Sonia Roschnik, Flavia Senkubuge, Ian Thornton, Simon Trace, Teresa Ore, René Mauricio Valdés, Bhaskar Vira, Nicola Yeates and William J. Sutherland

Article first published online: 13 DEC 2015 | DOI: 10.1111/dpr.12147
Open Access

Abstract
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) herald a new phase for international development. This article presents the results of a consultative exercise to collaboratively identify 100 research questions of critical importance for the post-2015 international development agenda. The final shortlist is grouped into nine thematic areas and was selected by 21 representatives of international and non-governmental organisations and consultancies, and 14 academics with diverse disciplinary expertise from an initial pool of 704 questions submitted by 110 organisations based in 34 countries. The shortlist includes questions addressing long-standing problems, new challenges and broader issues related to development policies, practices and institutions. Collectively, these questions are relevant for future development-related research priorities of governmental and non-governmental organisations worldwide and could act as focal points for transdisciplinary research collaborations.

[Excerpt from closing section]
Discussion
No shortlist can cover all possible development issues where further research is needed (nor could one expect full agreement on an exclusive list). The 100 questions presented here address a varied combination of long-standing problems that have hindered development for decades as well as newer challenges. For example, well-established concerns about the rights of women, and of vulnerable groups such as poor workers, small-scale farmers, people with disabilities, children and ethnic minorities feature alongside emerging issues, including the role of business in protecting human rights, and information and communication technologies as tools for empowerment and social integration. Similarly, traditional concerns linked to rural livelihoods, land tenure and agricultural production are presented together with environmental sustainability, natural resource extraction, urbanisation, food security and climate change adaptation and mitigation. The inclusion of longstanding questions in the shortlist highlights the intractability of certain issues and the necessity for them to remain central in future research agendas.

The shortlist also reflects a progressive shift from economic development towards a multifaceted and more complex way of understanding social change. While civil society and the empowerment of marginalised populations are recognised as key for development, questions on new actors, including the private sector and emerging economic powers, feature heavily in this shortlist: the complex and contested role of middle-income countries as donors and partners, as well as recipients of aid, is one such example (Alonso et al., 2014). Furthermore, the questions shortlisted also reflect the mainstreaming of gender perspectives into a wide range of development areas, helping to cement the view that gender should be considered central to future development initiatives.

Of particular importance is that a substantial number of the submitted questions (102) went beyond the initially prescribed themes and specifically challenged the appropriateness of current development institutions and policies, or the epistemological foundations of development itself. Collectively, these questions highlight a critical need for a deeper reflection on paradigms underpinning international development practices, the long-debated reform of global institutions and the significance of contemporary economic and political scenarios for the development agenda. In one sense, these questions constitute a key outcome of the consultation. Not only do these questions raise important issues in themselves but they also highlight a potential limitation of the many other post-2015 priority-setting exercises using pre-determined themes. Allowing participants to think outside of predetermined thematic boxes might raise issues that scrutinise broader concepts of development and their underlining assumptions…

The Anthropocene is functionally and stratigraphically distinct from the Holocene
Review
Colin N. Waters, et al
Science
8 January 2016: Vol. 351 no. 6269 DOI: 10.1126/science.aad2622

Editor’s Summary
Evidence of an Anthropocene epoch
Humans are undoubtedly altering many geological processes on Earth—and have been for some time. But what is the stratigraphic evidence for officially distinguishing this new human-dominated time period, termed the “Anthropocene,” from the preceding Holocene epoch? Waters et al. review climatic, biological, and geochemical signatures of human activity in sediments and ice cores. Combined with deposits of new materials and radionuclides, as well as human-caused modification of sedimentary processes, the Anthropocene stands alone stratigraphically as a new epoch beginning sometime in the mid–20th century

Structured Abstract
BACKGROUND
Humans are altering the planet, including long-term global geologic processes, at an increasing rate. Any formal recognition of an Anthropocene epoch in the geological time scale hinges on whether humans have changed the Earth system sufficiently to produce a stratigraphic signature in sediments and ice that is distinct from that of the Holocene epoch. Proposals for marking the start of the Anthropocene include an “early Anthropocene” beginning with the spread of agriculture and deforestation; the Columbian Exchange of Old World and New World species; the Industrial Revolution at ~1800 CE; and the mid-20th century “Great Acceleration” of population growth and industrialization.

ADVANCES
Recent anthropogenic deposits contain new minerals and rock types, reflecting rapid global dissemination of novel materials including elemental aluminum, concrete, and plastics that form abundant, rapidly evolving “technofossils.” Fossil fuel combustion has disseminated black carbon, inorganic ash spheres, and spherical carbonaceous particles worldwide, with a near-synchronous global increase around 1950. Anthropogenic sedimentary fluxes have intensified, including enhanced erosion caused by deforestation and road construction. Widespread sediment retention behind dams has amplified delta subsidence.

Geochemical signatures include elevated levels of polyaromatic hydrocarbons, polychlorinated biphenyls, and pesticide residues, as well as increased 207/206Pb ratios from leaded gasoline, starting between ~1945 and 1950. Soil nitrogen and phosphorus inventories have doubled in the past century because of increased fertilizer use, generating widespread signatures in lake strata and nitrate levels in Greenland ice that are higher than at any time during the previous 100,000 years.

Detonation of the Trinity atomic device at Alamogordo, New Mexico, on 16 July 1945 initiated local nuclear fallout from 1945 to 1951, whereas thermonuclear weapons tests generated a clear global signal from 1952 to 1980, the so-called “bomb spike” of excess 14C, 239Pu, and other artificial radionuclides that peaks in 1964.

Atmospheric CO2 and CH4 concentrations depart from Holocene and even Quaternary patterns starting at ~1850, and more markedly at ~1950, with an associated steep fall in δ13C that is captured by tree rings and calcareous fossils. An average global temperature increase of 0.6o to 0.9oC from 1900 to the present, occurring predominantly in the past 50 years, is now rising beyond the Holocene variation of the past 14,000 years, accompanied by a modest enrichment of δ18O in Greenland ice starting at ~1900. Global sea levels increased at 3.2 ± 0.4 mm/year from 1993 to 2010 and are now rising above Late Holocene rates. Depending on the trajectory of future anthropogenic forcing, these trends may reach or exceed the envelope of Quaternary interglacial conditions.

Biologic changes also have been pronounced. Extinction rates have been far above background rates since 1500 and increased further in the 19th century and later; in addition, species assemblages have been altered worldwide by geologically unprecedented transglobal species invasions and changes associated with farming and fishing, permanently reconfiguring Earth’s biological trajectory.

OUTLOOK
These novel stratigraphic signatures support the formalization of the Anthropocene at the epoch level, with a lower boundary (still to be formally identified) suitably placed in the mid-20th century. Formalization is a complex question because, unlike with prior subdivisions of geological time, the potential utility of a formal Anthropocene reaches well beyond the geological community. It also expresses the extent to which humanity is driving rapid and widespread changes to the Earth system that will variously persist and potentially intensify into the future.

United Nations – Secretary General, Security Council, General Assembly  [to 9 January 2016]
http://www.un.org/en/unpress/
Selected Press Releases/Meetings Coverage

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7 January 2016
SG/SM/17445-HR/5287
Secretary-General Condemns Government of Yemen for Expelling United Nations Human Rights Representative, Says Move Could Impede Return to Stability

6 January 2016
SC/12191-DC/3600
Security Council Press Statement on Nuclear Test Conducted by Democratic People’s Republic of Korea

6 January 2016
SG/SM/17443-DC/3599
Secretary-General ‘Unequivocally’ Condemns Nuclear Step Announced by Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Demands End to Tests

2 January 2016
SG/SM/17440-HR/5286
Deeply Dismayed by Executions in Saudi Arabia, Secretary-General Reiterates Strong Stance against Capital Punishment, Urges Government to Commute All Death Sentences

UN OHCHR Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights [to 9 January 2016]
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1/8/2016
Zeid urges Yemen to reverse decision to expel top UN human rights official

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1/4/2016
Special Rapporteur on Occupied Palestinian Territory resigns due to continued lack of access to OPT
GENEVA (4 January 2016) – The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories, Makarim Wibisono, today submitted his resignation to the President of the Human Rights Council, effective as of 31 March 2016.

The independent expert expressed deep regret that, throughout his mandate, Israel failed to grant him access to the Occupied Palestinian Territory. “Unfortunately, my efforts to help improve the lives of Palestinian victims of violations under the Israeli occupation have been frustrated every step of the way,” said Mr. Wibisono.

The Special Rapporteur stressed that upon taking up the mandate in June 2014, he was assured that he would have access to the Occupied Palestinian Territory. “I took up this mandate with the understanding that Israel would grant me access, as an impartial and objective observer,” he said.

Repeated requests for access, both written and oral, have been unsuccessful. “With no reply from Israel to my latest request, in October 2015, to have access by the end of 2015, it is with deep regret that I accept the premise upon which I took up the mandate, which is to have direct access to the victims in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, will not be fulfilled,” the Special Rapporteur said.

Mr. Wibisono said that that throughout his tenure, the Government of the State of Palestine cooperated fully with the mandate.

The Special Rapporteur voiced deep concern at the lack of effective protection of Palestinian victims of continuing human rights violations and violations of international humanitarian law…

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1/3/2016
Zeid deplores mass execution of 47 people in Saudi Arabia

Committee on the Rights of the Child [to 9 January 2016]
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CRC/Pages/CRCIndex.aspx

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7 January 2016
Committee on the Rights of the Child holds seventy-first session in Geneva from 11 to 29 January 2016
The Committee on the Rights of the Child will meet at the Palais des Nations in Geneva from 11 to 29 January 2016 to review the promotion and protection of children’s rights under the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its Optional Protocols in Senegal, Iran, Latvia, Oman, Ireland, France, Haiti, Peru, Zimbabwe, Maldives, Zambia, Benin, Brunei Darussalam and Kenya. At the opening meeting, the Committee will adopt its agenda and programme of work…

UN OCHA [to 9 January 2016]
http://www.unocha.org/media-resources/press-releases

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08 Jan 2016
Chad: The Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) releases nearly US$ 7 million for humanitarian assistance in the Lac region of Chad
Source: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Country: Chad, Nigeria (N’Djamena, 8 January 2016): The Under-Secretary-General and Emergency Relief Coordinator (USG/ERC), Mr. Stephen O’Brien, has approved the allocation of US$ 7 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to support humanitarian assistance in the Lac region of Chad. Prevailing violence and the socio-economic impact of insecurity in this area have incited over 50,000 Chadians to flee…

05 Jan 2016
occupied Palestinian territory: The Gaza Strip: The long term impact of the 2014 hostilities on women and girls
Source: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Country: occupied Palestinian territory Key Facts: 299 women, of whom at least 16 were pregnant, and 197 girls were killed over the course of the 2014 summer hostilities in the Gaza Strip, and more than 2,000 women and hundreds of girls were injured (Protection Cluster and MoH). At least 790 women were widowed as a result of the 2014 hostilities (Ministry of Women’s Affairs, 2015)…

IOM / International Organization for Migration [to 9 January 2016]
http://www.iom.int/press-room/press-releases

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01/08/16
IOM Assists in Resettlement of over 5,200 Syrians to Canada during December 2015
Jordan – During the month of December 2015, IOM assisted the Government of Canada and partners in the resettlement of 5,226 Syrian refugees.

IOM Counts 3,771 Migrant Fatalities in Mediterranean in 2015
01/05/16
Greece – With 3,771 deaths, 2015 was the deadliest year on record for migrants and refugees crossing the Mediterranean trying to reach Europe.

IOM South Sudan Appeals for USD 80 Million to Address Mounting Humanitarian Needs
01/05/16
South Sudan – More than two years into the conflict, humanitarian needs remain immense in South Sudan.

IOM Launches Manual on Migrant Women and Gender Violence in Argentina
01/05/16
Argentina – IOM Argentina has launched the English version of the “Migrant Women and Gender Violence – Strategies and Perspectives for Interventions” manual.

UNISDR UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction [to 9 January 2016]
http://www.unisdr.org/archive
Selected Press Releases

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8 Jan 2016
Dr. Robert Glasser takes the helm at UNISDR
Dr. Robert Glasser, an experienced leader and thinker on development issues, took up his new role this week as head of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR). He was appointed as Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction, succeeding Ms. Margareta Wahlström who completed two terms at the end of 2015.

6 Jan 2016
Malawi pioneers peer review for disaster risk reduction in Africa
Africa has cleared a new milestone in its drive to implement the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. The pioneer is Malawi, which has undergone a peer review of its policies and actions…

UNESCO [to 9 January 2016]
http://en.unesco.org/news
Selected Press Releases

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In 2016 we continue to ‪#‎Unite4Heritage – standing together for diversity, tolerance and respect for cultural heritage across the globe!‬
05 January 2016

Director-General condemns destruction of vestiges in the Ancient City of Bosra, a Syrian World Heritage
05 January 2016

WMO World Meteorological Organization [to 9 January 2016]
https://www.wmo.int/media/?q=news

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Connecting Meteorological Services to Farmers: Success in West Africa
6 January 2016
WMO is evaluating the success of a four-year project to improve the provision and use of meteorological information and tools for farmers in West Africa where agriculture and food security is heavily dependent on the weather.
The MetAgri Operational Project embraced National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) and farmers and agricultural extension workers in 17 West African countries. Between 2012 and 2015, there were a total of 260 roving seminars with over 10,600 farmers. Over 4,500 rain gauges were given to farmers to teach them basic weather principles and to start to develop a supplemental observation network.

WMO welcomes Petteri Taalas as new Secretary-General
4 January 2016
The World Meteorological Organization welcomes its new Secretary-General, Petteri Taalas, who will head the UN System’s authoritative voice on weather, climate and water for the next four years.
Mr Taalas, who was previously Director-General of the Finnish Meteorological Institute, succeeds Michel Jarraud, who completed three terms of office on 31 December 2015.

WHO & Regionals [to 9 January 2016]
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Life-saving health supplies blocked in Yemen
7 January 2016 — WHO calls for immediate access to Taiz City for the delivery of life-saving health supplies. The health situation continues to deteriorate as more than 250 000 people have been living in a state of virtual siege since November 2015. All of the city’s 6 hospitals have been forced to partially close services and are overwhelmed with injured patients. Humanitarian organizations are struggling to deliver medical and surgical supplies due to the insecurity..

:: WHO Regional Offices
WHO African Region AFRO
No new digest content identified.

WHO Region of the Americas PAHO
No new digest content identified.

WHO South-East Asia Region SEARO
No new digest content identified.

WHO European Region EURO
:: How can we best protect non-smokers from exposure to tobacco smoke?
05-01-2016

WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region EMRO
:: WHO calls for immediate access to Taiz City for delivery of life-saving health supplies
7 January 2015, Sana’a, Yemen – The World Health Organization is concerned about the deteriorating health situation in Taiz, where more than 250 000 people have been living in a state of virtual siege since November 2015. All of city’s 6 hospitals have been forced to partially close some services, and are overwhelmed with injured patients. Humanitarian organizations are struggling to deliver medical and surgical supplies due to the insecurity…

WHO Western Pacific Region
No new digest content identified.

UNWTO World Tourism Organization [to 9 January 2016]
http://media.unwto.org/news

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World Tourism Organization presents Global Report on Cultural Routes and Itineraries
21 December 2015
Developed in cooperation with the Tourism Agency of the Balearic Islands (ATB), the Global Report on Cultural Routes and Itineraries of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) provides key information about current trends and presents case studies in the field of the development of cultural routes, with an emphasis on the importance of protecting, preserving and conserving these itineraries.

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UNWTO’s Ulysses Prize awarded to Doctor Richard Butler
21 December 2015
The 12th UNWTO Ulysses Prize for Excellence in the Creation and Dissemination of Knowledge in Tourism has been awarded to Dr Richard Butler, Emeritus Scholar of the Strathclyde Business School, in Glasgow, United Kingdom. The Prize recognizes the invaluable work of Dr Butler in areas of capacity building and sustainability in the tourism sector.

USAID [to 9 January 2016]
http://www.usaid.gov/news-information/press-releases

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January 7, 2016
Prominent Healthcare Companies Partner with USAID to Combat Drug Resistant Tuberculosis
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) announced two new partnerships today to add resources and cutting-edge technologies to fight drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB). Janssen, the pharmaceutical arm of Johnson & Johnson, announced a $15-20 million pledge as part of a new partnership with USAID to combat Multidrug-Resistant Tuberculosis (MDR-TB). USAID will also partner with Cepheid, a maker of molecular systems and tests, to speed diagnosis of MDR-TB through increased access to rapid, accurate diagnostic tools.

European Union [to 9 January 2016]
http://europa.eu/rapid/search-result.htm?query=18&locale=en&page=1
[We generally limit coverage to regional and global level initiatives]

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Date: 08/01/2016
Joint Statement of the HR/VP Federica Mogherini and EU Commissioner for Humanitarian aid and Crisis Management Christos Stylianides on the situation in Syria
European Commission – Statement Brussels, 8 January 2016 Statement on the situation in Syria “While the talks held in Vienna and New York in recent months are expected to launch the peace process for Syria, the humanitarian situation in the country remains dramatic: civilian populations are under siege in many…

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Date: 05/01/2016
State of Play: Measures to Address the Refugee Crisis
European Commission – Press release Brussels, 5 January 2016 State of Play: Measures to Address the Refugee Crisis Updated on 5 January The European Agenda on Migration adopted by the Commission in May 2015 set out the need for a comprehensive approach to migration management.

OECD [to 9 January 2016]
http://www.oecd.org/newsroom/publicationsdocuments/bydate/
[We generally limit coverage to regional and global level initiatives, recognizing that a number of country-level announcements are added each week]

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6-January-2016
The Mexican health care system has made great progress during the last decade – but the remaining challenges are daunting
In the ten years since the introduction of Seguro Popular, some 50 million Mexicans previously at risk of unaffordable health care bills now have access to health insurance. The OECD Review of Health Systems: Mexico 2016 finds that the share of the population exposed to unaffordable or impoverishing health care costs has fallen from 3.3% to 0.8% of the population in the past decade.

Organization of American States (OAS) [to 9 January 2016]
http://www.oas.org/en/media_center/press_releases.asp

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January 7, 2016 E-357
Presidential Run-Off in Haiti: A step in the right direction
The Electoral Observation Mission of the Organization of American States (EOM/OAS) in Haiti welcomes the establishment of a date for the presidential run-off as a “step in the right direction”, and calls upon all actors to work towards improving conditions ahead of the voting announced for January 24th. Concluding the electoral process will allow for a constitutional transfer of power to a newly elected President…

IPU Inter-Parliamentary Union [to 9 January 2016]
http://www.ipu.org/english/news.htm

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4 JANUARY 2016
Parliamentary support principles get 100th endorsement
The number of parliaments and other bodies to formally endorse new guidelines on the best ways of supporting parliaments has passed the 100 mark.

The 100th endorsement for the Common Principles for Support to Parliaments came from UN Women, which works for gender equality and the empowerment of women. The nine principles include a specific call for parliamentary support to address the needs and potential of both men and women in the way parliaments are structured and run…

World Bank [to 9 January 2016]
http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/all
[We generally limit coverage to regional and global level initiatives, recognizing that a number of country-level announcements are added each week]

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Date: January 6, 2016 Type: Press Release
Anemic recovery in emerging markets to weigh heavily on global growth in 2016
Global economy to accelerate modestly to 2.9% WASHINGTON, Jan 6, 2016— Weak growth among major emerging markets will weigh on global growth in 2016, but economic activity should still pick up modestly…

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Date: January 6, 2016 Type: Feature Story
The Evolution of World Bank Group’s Role in Forced Displacement – Interview with Niels Harild, former manager of WBG’s Global Program on Forced Displacement (GPFD)
SJ: Historically, what has been the WBG approach to addressing problems of conflict, refugees, IDPs and migration? NH: First of all, conflict-induced forced displacement and migration are different. Conflict…

Asian Development Bank [to 9 January 2016]
http://www.adb.org/news

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News Release | 8 January 2016
ADB Approves Record $27 Billion in 2015 to Meet Asia’s Development Needs
MANILA, PHILIPPINES – The Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) operations—comprising approvals of loans and grants, technical assistance, and cofinancing—reached an all-time high of $27.15 billion in 2015, an increase of about 19% over the $22.89 billion in 2014, according to provisional figures released today (see Table 1 in Related links).
ADB’s approvals of loans and grants, sovereign (governments) and nonsovereign (primarily private sector), reached a record $16.58 billion—a 23% increase from 2014. Technical assistance amounted to $144 million and cofinancing increased by 13% to a record $10.43 billion in 2015….