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The Hague waterfront and buildings

The Hague becomes world’s first city to pass law banning fossil fuel-related ads

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New legislation in the Dutch city spells the end of publicly and privately funded advertising for petrol and diesel, aviation and cruise ships in city streets, including on billboards and bus shelters. It takes effect from the start of next year. It is the first time a city has banned high-carbon advertising through local legislation. The decision follows a call by the U.N. chief, António Guterres, earlier this year for governments and media to enact such bans, as they have done with tobacco.

Amazon River Rainforest

Malaysian court shuts down hydroelectric dam project on Indigenous land

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A Malaysian court ruled this week that hydropower companies building a dam on land belonging to the Indigenous Semai people of Malaysia’s Perak state had failed to secure proper consent and must halt operations immediately. The court also ruled that the state and federal governments, and the federal agency tasked with overseeing Indigenous affairs, had failed in their duty to protect Indigenous land from encroachment. Activists expressed relief and elation at the verdict, which marks a major milestone for land rights for Malaysia’s Indigenous peoples, known collectively as Orang Asal.
The verdict can still be appealed.

Uber driver in a car

Women and transgender people in Pakistan get a ride-sharing service for protection

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In an effort to increase protection for trans people, a Pakistani business has launched a ride-share service that will be available only to women and trans people. Called SheDrives, the service was launched last weekend and seeks to protect trans people from discrimination and harassment, says Ammaz Farooqi, the company’s chief executive. It currently operates only in the second-largest city of Lahore, but Farooqi said that expansion is possible.

Aerial view of large solar farm

Qatar and Saudi Arabia announce four mammoth new solar projects totaling 7.5GW

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Four massive new solar projects are under development in the Middle East, with a 2GW solar project proposed for Qatar, and three projects worth a cumulative 5.5GW securing financing in Saudi Arabia. State-owned petroleum company QatarEnergy will build a 2GW solar power plant, doubling the country’s total solar capacity in one fell swoop. Saudi Arabian energy giant ACWA Power has also announced that it has secured financing for three large-scale solar PV projects worth a total of $5.5 billion USD.

The beach with vegetation in foreground

In a first, the Brazilian city of Linhares grants legal rights to waves

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The city of Linhares, Brazil, has granted legal rights to the waves at the mouth of the Doce River, the first instance in which a government has conferred rights upon part of the ocean. The city is aiming to better protect its coastal waters in the wake of the 2015 collapse of the Fundão dam. The dam held back more than 10 billion gallons of waste at an iron mine upstream, and when it failed, a wave of sludge poured into the Doce River.

Aerial view of Gaza City

More than 350,000 Gazan children vaccinated against polio

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Thousands of families visited health centers to get doses from U.N. medical teams, UNRWA reported. In southern Gaza, more than 152,000 children were vaccinated in Khan Younis city, nearly 8,800 in Rafah, and another 1,000 elsewhere in the south. The promising development follows the successful completion of the first phase of the vaccination campaign in central Gaza earlier this week, which saw more than 187,000 children under 10 receive protection from polio. To date, combined coverage for central and southern Gaza now stands at 354,786 children.

Good news for Indigenous rights and climate

Record number of Indigenous land titles granted in Peru via innovative process

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In a defining moment for the rights of Indigenous peoples in Peru, 37 land titles were secured in the Amazon in record time, from June 2023 to May 2024. This is not only a remarkable land rights victory for the region, but it also marks a significant step towards addressing climate change, reclaiming Indigenous peoples’ sovereignty and rights, and defending territories against external threats. Land titles have proven to be the most effective way to protect Indigenous peoples’ land from deforestation, with titled land experiencing a 66% decrease in deforestation.

Tuna

Maldives drops plan to reopen longline tuna fishing following protests

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Longline fishing for tuna will remain closed in the Maldives, the island country’s president announced on Aug. 29. The decision came after local fishers, conservation NGOs and scientists protested against plans by the administration of President Mohamed Muizzu to reopen longline fisheries for yellowfin tuna and bigeye tuna. Longline fishing has been banned in the Maldives since 2019.

Anchorage

Nurse practitioners can provide abortions in Alaska, judge rules

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A judge has struck down an Alaska law banning qualified nurse practitioners and physician assistants from performing abortions, siding with a legal challenge by a Planned Parenthood affiliate. Alaska Superior Court Judge Josie Garton in Anchorage has ruled that the law violated Alaskans’ rights to privacy and equal protection under the state constitution. The state’s top court found that those rights include a right to abortion in a 1997 ruling, and abortion is legal in the state at all stages of pregnancy.

Trees

Norway’s forests have more than tripled in a hundred years

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Over the course of the last hundred years, Norwegian forests have tripled in size according to a new report. The survey from Statistics Norway shows that forest growth continued for the whole of the 20th and much of the 21st century, but has begun tapering off as spruce saplings planted by schoolchildren in the 1960s are now fully mature and beginning in some cases to die or be logged.