{"id":201281,"date":"2021-12-13T12:00:25","date_gmt":"2021-12-13T12:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=201281"},"modified":"2021-12-12T09:06:24","modified_gmt":"2021-12-12T09:06:24","slug":"what-went-right-this-week-a-historic-win-for-nature-plus-more-positive-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2021\/12\/what-went-right-this-week-a-historic-win-for-nature-plus-more-positive-news\/","title":{"rendered":"What Went Right This Week: A \u2018Historic\u2019 Win for Nature, Plus More Positive News"},"content":{"rendered":"

9 Dec 2021 – Ecuador recognised the rights of nature in a landmark ruling, encouraging data emerged about Omicron, and lab-grown meat reached another milestone, plus more positive news.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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The rights of nature prevailed in Ecuador <\/span><\/h3>\n
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Ecuador\u2019s highest court has ruled that plans to mine for metal in a protected cloud forest violate the rights of nature \u2013 a landmark decision described as a \u201chistoric victory\u201d for the planet.<\/p>\n

Los Cedros cloud forest in the north-east of the country is a hotbed of biodiversity, home to spider monkeys, rare orchids and hundreds of bird species. It also holds deposits of copper and gold, which Ecuador\u2019s national mining company \u2013 Enami EP \u2013\u00a0had been given permits to extract.<\/p>\n

Those permits are now being revoked after Ecuador\u2019s constitutional court ruled that mining in the reserve would violate the rights of nature, which were enshrined in the country\u2019s constitution in 2008 \u2013 a world first. Until this week, those rights had yet to translate into legal rulings.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a historic victory in favour of nature,\u201d said Natalia Greene of the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature<\/a>, an NGO. \u201cThis sets a great juridical precedent to continue with other threatened protected forests. [Nature] has won an unprecedented battle.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Encouraging data came out about Omicron<\/span><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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As new Covid restrictions were announced for the UK in response to Omicron, there was some potentially positive news from the World Health Organization (WHO).<\/p>\n

It said initial data suggests the new variant does not make people sicker than Delta and other strains. \u201cIf anything, the direction is towards less severity,\u201d Dr Michael Ryan, the WHO\u2019s emergencies director, told AFP news agency<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The WHO also said that existing vaccines should protect people from developing severe symptoms from Omicron. However, early data suggests the Pfizer vaccine could be less effective against it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Canada passed a bill to ban conversion therapy <\/span><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Canada\u2019s House of Commons has voted through a bill that will ban conversion therapy: a controversial \u2018treatment\u2019 that claims to be able to change a person\u2019s sexual orientation or gender identity.<\/p>\n

The law will make it a crime to subject any person, whether they consent or not, to conversion therapy. The practice that has been widely discredited by medical associations.<\/p>\n

If the bill passes through the Senate, Canada will become one of only five countries \u2013\u00a0Brazil, Ecuador, Germany and Malta being the others \u2013\u00a0that have outlawed conversion therapy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Shell pulled out of a controversial oil project <\/span><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Climate campaigners were celebrating this week after Shell announced that it was pulling out of the controversial Cambo oil field in Shetland, Scotland.<\/p>\n

The company said the economic case for drilling at the undeveloped North Sea site didn\u2019t add up. The project has faced intense criticism in recent months, with activists claiming it undermines the UK\u2019s credibility in the year that it hosts COP26<\/a>. Other companies could yet still drill at the site.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople power has made the climate-wrecking Cambo development so toxic that even oil giant Shell doesn\u2019t want to be associated with it any more,\u201d said Caroline Rance of Friends of the Earth Scotland.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoth the UK and Scottish governments must now officially reject Cambo, say\u00a0\u2018no\u2019\u00a0to any future oil and gas developments in UK waters, and get on with planning a fair and fast transition for people working in this industry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Business leaders said Shell\u2019s decision could jeopardise jobs.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Tokyo pledged equal rights for gay couples<\/span><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Japan\u2019s largest city announced this week that it will recognise same-sex partnerships from April 2022.<\/p>\n

The move puts pressure on the national government to do the same \u2013\u00a0Japan is the only G7 nation that doesn\u2019t legally recognise gay marriage.<\/p>\n

The group Marriage for All Japan said Tokyo\u2019s decision was positive news. \u201cThe government should hurry up and legalise marriage nationally,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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A dead coral reef came back to life <\/span><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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A coral reef in Indonesia that was destroyed by dynamite fishing a decade ago is now bustling with life, according to researchers at the University of Exeter.<\/p>\n

They used underwater recording gear to \u201ceavesdrop\u201d on the ecosystem after it had been seeded with corals. Their research, published this week in the Journal of Applied Ecology<\/a>, discovered that the reef is \u201cgrowling\u201d and \u201cwhooping\u201d as fish return to it.<\/p>\n

\u201cRestoration projects can be successful at growing coral, but that\u2019s only part of the ecosystem,\u201d said lead researcher Dr Tim Lamont. \u201cThis study provides exciting evidence that restoration really works for the other reef creatures too \u2013 by listening to the reefs, we\u2019ve documented the return of a diverse range of animals.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Lab-grown meat reached another milestone <\/span><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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What\u2019s believed to be the largest lab-grown steak ever produced was unveiled this week, marking a milestone for the nascent cultured meat industry.<\/p>\n

The 4oz steak was grown from tissue samples taken from a cow and then 3D printed to resemble a regular steak. The Israeli firm behind it, MeaTech, said the achievement was an important step toward scaling production of cultivated steaks.<\/p>\n

MeaTech is one of a number of upstart food companies seeking to send cultured meat mainstream. In July, another Israeli firm, Future Meat Technologies, opened the world\u2019s first lab-grown meat factory<\/a>, which it claims can produce $3.90 (\u00a32.80) chicken breasts.<\/p>\n

As well as saving millions of animals from being slaughtered, lab-grown meat produces a fraction of the emissions of conventional farming, and uses next to no land. However, there are many regulatory hurdles to navigate to bring it to market.<\/p>\n

MeaTech does not have immediate plans to mass produce its steaks. FMT has a target date of 2022 to start selling cultured meat in the US.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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New Zealand vowed to phase out smoking <\/span><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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People aged 14 and under will never be able to legally buy tobacco in New Zealand, the government said this week. It fulfils an earlier promise made by ministers to end smoking<\/a>.<\/p>\n

New legislation will see the country\u2019s legal smoking age increase every year to create a smoke-free generation. New Zealand\u2019s associate health minister, Dr Ayesha Verrall, described the announcement as \u201ca historic day for the health of our people\u201d.<\/p>\n

Critics said the legislation could send the market for cigarettes underground, and raised concerns about the level of government intervention in people\u2019s lives.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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A UK firm introduced paid leave for new grandparents<\/span><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Employees at Saga \u2013 a travel and insurance firm based in the UK \u2013 are to get a week of paid leave when they become grandparents. It is the first major UK firm to introduce such a policy.<\/p>\n

Saga, which employs around 2,500 staff, said the policy is a recognition that grandparents play a vital role in childcare, as well as an attempt to create a work culture that appeals to the over-50s.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is about helping new grandparents celebrate a special moment and play a role in their growing families from day one. And it\u2019s also a symbol of how important older workers are to their companies and to society,\u201d said Saga\u2019s Jane Storm.<\/p>\n

____________________________________________<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> Gavin Haines is the Digital Editor of<\/em> the magazine for good journalism about good things. When much of the media is full of doom and gloom, <\/em>Positive News focuses on quality, independent reporting about what\u2019s going right. We are pioneers of \u2018<\/em>Constructive Journalism\u2019 \u2013 a new approach in the media, which is about a journalism focused on progress, possibility, and solutions. We publish daily online and<\/em> Positive News magazine<\/a> is published quarterly in print. As a magazine and a movement, we are changing the news for good.<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 positive.news<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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