This week has brought with it a fair amount of good news, from important legal decisions to scientific breakthroughs. Researchers have discovered that conserving only 1.2% of the Earth’s land could save thousands of threatened animal and plant species from extinction. Their findings indicate that protecting 16,825 at-risk areas over the next five years could help bring an end to what many consider to be the sixth mass extinction event in the history of our planet.
Sierra Leone has taken a significant step forward in protecting the rights of its children by passing a bill prohibiting child marriage. The country has one of the highest rates of underage weddings in Africa, with an estimated 39% of girls being married off before age 18. Save the Children, which lauded the legislation, has said that it represents a commitment to safeguarding the futures of thousands of young girls denied their childhoods, education, and opportunities for a better future.
A recent study conducted by the US-based research organisation Gallup has suggested that humanity’s emotional health has bounced back from the lows caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, returning to levels last seen in 2014. The study, which involved interviews with 146,000 people in 142 countries, showed that Latin America and Southeast Asia are presently the regions with the highest positivity scores. Given the number of crises currently occurring around the globe, this comes as a surprise to some.
In the UK, an environmental legal challenge has achieved a major victory with regard to the impact of burning oil on the climate. The country’s supreme court has ruled that the council that issued planning permission for oil wells in Surrey acted unlawfully by failing to take into consideration the downstream emissions impact of the proposed development. The Weald Action Group, which opposed the drilling, argued that these emissions are frequently ignored during the impact assessment phases of such projects, a contention that environmentalists have long believed to be true when it comes to fossil fuel projects of all kinds.
Lastly, a teen with epilepsy has undergone pioneering deep brain stimulation that has dramatically reduced the frequency and severity of his seizures. After being implanted with a rechargeable DBS device – the first child in the UK to have one installed – Oran’s seizures dropped in frequency by 80%. Prior to treatment, he had been prone to severe episodes and required resuscitation on a number of occasions
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