Bangladesh becomes world’s first country to ban thin plastic bags
The South Asian nation took unprecedented action when it found that plastic bags played a key role in clogging drainage systems during disastrous flooding.
Post-modernity (1945 - 2016 C.E.)
Western Australia’s Western Rock Lobster industry becomes world’s first fishery to be certified as sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council
A fishery that obtains Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) accreditation has met the world’s leading benchmark for sustainable management and provides consumers with certainty and assurance that the products they buy are sourced, harvested, and fully traceable through the chain of custody from ocean to plate. The fishery has maintained continuous certification since that time.
Egypt commissions its first large-scale wind farm
The state-owned Zafarana wind farm is located in Suez and was built in eight phases between 2000 and 2010. The farm is 120km2 in size and boasts 700 turbines with a combined capacity of 545 MW. The €110 million wind farm was supported by soft loans from Denmark, Spain, Japan, and Germany.
Portugal cedes control of Macau to China, ending European colonization of Asia
Although offered control of Macau as early as the 1960s, the Chinese deemed the time “not yet ripe” and preferred to wait until December 1999 — the very end of the millennium, two years after the Hong Kong handover—to close this chapter of history. Upon the handover of Macau European colonization of Asia ended.
Democracy emerges in Nigeria after 16 years of military rule
On 29 May 1999, Abubakar transferred power to the winner of the 1999 presidential election, former military ruler General Olusegun Obasanjo as the second democratically elected civilian President of Nigeria heralding the beginning of the Fourth Nigerian Republic.
Austria, Finland, and Sweden join the European Union
The European Union was formally established when the Maastricht Treaty came into force on 1 November 1993. In 1995, Austria, Finland, and Sweden joined the EU.
More than 170 countries agree to extend the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty indefinitely
The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons is an international treaty to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology, to promote cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, and to further the goal of achieving nuclear disarmament.
Nelson Mandela, first black president of South Africa, is inaugurated
In his inaugural address, Mandela, who spent 27 years of his life as a political prisoner of the South African government, declared that “the time for the healing of the wounds has come.”
South Africa adopts a new constitution, abolishing apartheid
Elections that year led to a coalition government with a nonwhite majority, marking the official end of the apartheid system.
Australia, France, Japan, Jamaica, the Philippines, Sweden, U.K., and U.S. found the International Coral Reef Initiative
The ICRI is an informal partnership among nations, international organizations and non-government organizations to help protect coral reefs globally. It is now the world’s largest body dedicated to coral conservation.