Just go back in time a day…
Oh, how perfect!!!! Our final Love In Action for 2019 and it’s #99! Tomorrow, we begin a new DECADE and enter our first century of LIA!!!! And there are already hints that this one is going to be BEYOND what we can imagine.
You know, every year a theme “comes to me.” So, with the ending of 2019 and Love In Action #99…drum roll please… should I keep you waiting? Do you want to know now? Of course you do!
The theme for 2020 is:
It’s All Part of the Plan.
Yep. It is. There are 366 days to dive into what that means. For now, enjoy ALL of this good news!!!!
Happy NEW YEAR! YES!
Gi
Canada became the first country in the world to protect more than 10% of its ocean waters, after the government partnered with Inuit custodians to create a vast new conservation zone in the Arctic – the Tuvaijuittuq Marine Protected Area and the Tallurutiup Imanga National Marine Conservation Area. National Observer
In Kenya, poaching rates have dropped by 85% for rhinos and 78% for elephants in the last five years, in South Africa, the number of rhinos killed by poachers fell by 25%, the fifth annual decrease in a row, and in Mozambique, one of Africa’s largest wildlife reserves went an entire year without losing a single elephant.
In Nepal, satellite images revealed that forests expanded from 26% in 1992 to 45% in 2016, and Costa Rica announced it has doubled its forest cover in the last 30 years; half its land surface is now covered with trees, a huge carbon sink and a big draw for tourists.
China’s tree stock rose by 4.56 billion m³ between 2005 and 2018, deserts are shrinking by 2,400 km² a year, and forests now account for 22% of land area. SCMP
Mali announced it would begin providing free healthcare for pregnant women and children under five. Guardian
The Philippines passed a Universal Health Care Act, entitling all of its 107 million citizens to health insurance and medical treatment, and Malaysia started providing free healthcare insurance for the country’s poorest 40%, providing coverage against 36 critical illnesses.
Taiwan became the first Asian country to legalize same sex marriage. “#LoveWon,” President Tsai Ing-wen tweeted after the vote, “We took a big step towards true equality, and made Taiwan a better country.” NYT
The biggest global story you didn’t hear about this year was the successful conclusion of India’s extraordinary sanitation drive. In the last five years, 90 million toilets have been built, 93% of households now have access, and 500 million people have stopped defecating in the open. Economic Times
UNESCO said that 19 African countries reached gender parity (equal numbers of boys and girls) in primary education in the past decade. Brookings
Democracy is proving far more resilient than the headlines suggest. Since 2000, the number of democracies has risen from 90 to 97, including 11 countries that became democratic for the first time ever, and in 2019, 2 billion people in 50 countries voted, the largest number in history. Al Jazeera
A new survey across 167 countries said that tolerance towards LGBTQIA+ people has risen in almost every region of the world in the last decade. Japan Times
Indonesia lifted the minimum legal age for marriage from 16 to 19, Mozambique made child marriage punishable by 12 years in prison, Mexico banned it in 31 out of 32 states, and a new UN report said that in South Asia the practice has almost halved in the past 25 years, falling from 59% per cent to 30% today.
And, as always, Music, with love