From around the world, a year’s worth of high notes
Twenty-three of the progress points we highlighted last year transcended borders, including the launch of an Interpol app for identifying stolen artwork and the establishment of the United Nations’ Permanent Forum on People of African Descent.
North America
Communities across the United States are working to create a better criminal justice system. This year Maine joined three other states in abolishing civil asset forfeiture, a bipartisan move that bars law enforcement from seizing private property before charging the owner with a crime, while Philadelphia became the largest city to ban low-level traffic stops that are disproportionately levied against Black drivers.
Why We Wrote This
Our weekly roundups covered 257 moments of progress in 2021, evidence that humanity is capable of working together to advance a common good. Many were the culmination of years of work by people in their communities.
Denver’s Support Team Assisted Response program, or STAR, completed a six-month trial and is expanding its reach. It showed that dispatching health care workers to respond to nonviolent incidents keeps people out of jail and eases police workloads. Colorado saw effective efforts to lower recidivism, such as Aurora’s Second Chance Center, which helps people transition out of incarceration, and Eagle County’s problem-solving courts.
The Christian Science Monitor
Latin America
Fifteen percent of the progress points from Latin America focused on legal gains for Indigenous communities. Early this year, the Peruvian government took steps to establish a first-of-its-kind rainforest reserve for uncontacted Indigenous peoples. The Ministry of Culture approved plans for the 2.7 million-acre Yavarí Tapiche Indigenous Reserve, and Peru allocated 371,000 acres for a Kakataibo Indigenous reserve a few months later.
Others are working to make sure Indigenous people know their rights. The Colombian Constitutional Court and the Amazon Conservation Team partnered on the Rights in the Territory project, which translates landmark decisions into 26 Indigenous languages. Meanwhile, a Brazilian court ordered the government to apologize for the dictatorship-era abuse and displacement of the Krenak Indigenous people.
The Christian Science Monitor, Mongabay
Europe
Europe saw greater diversity in space, sports, and storybooks. In its first astronaut recruitment drive in more than a decade, the European Space Agency explicitly sought out women and people with disabilities. The ESA says it’s the first space agency to accept applicants with physical disabilities. Also this year, Josephine Baker became the first Black woman to be honored in the French Panthéon, and Ireland’s Rachael Blackmore became the first female jockey to win the Grand National horse race.
A recent report from the United Kingdom’s Centre for Literacy in Primary Education found the proportion of minority ethnic characters in books for ages 3-11 had nearly quadrupled over the past few years. The 2021 study also found that characters of color had greater agency.
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Middle East
Efforts to preserve Middle Eastern history made headway in 2021. The Nahrein Network funded dozens of Iraqi-led projects to document the country’s cultural heritage and support local communities. Iraq also received its largest repatriation of looted artifacts, with the return of 17,000 antiquities this past summer from the United States. Most of the items, which date back 4,000 years and were taken from Iraq in recent decades amid ongoing conflict, came from the Museum of the Bible and Cornell University.
Long underwater, a Greek funerary area and rare Ptolemaic-era galley were found by marine archaeologists during their 2021 dive to the sunken remains of Thonis-Heracleion. Before crumbling into the sea, the Egyptian port city was a hub for international trade where Greek and Egyptian cultures merged.
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Africa
Uganda and Mozambique were among dozens of countries where small solar power projects improved lives. The installation of more than 100 solar streetlights in Jinga, Uganda, helped businesses operate after sunset and saved the city money. In the rural Mozambique town of Mangunze, more than 200 people charge their phones at the “solar giraffe” every month. The communally maintained hub lets residents stay connected to one another and the outside world.
Installing a solar panel isn’t possible for everyone. By renting out portable solar batteries from a Lagos corner store, Nigerian startup Reeddi is eliminating barriers to clean energy and helping improve electricity access in a country with frequent blackouts. Each capsule costs 50 cents a day, and reduces the need for diesel generators.
The Christian Science Monitor
Asia
Scientists in Asia made headlines for their discoveries and technological breakthroughs. In July, researchers in India identified the world’s hardest self-healing material. The organic crystal is noteworthy because most self-healing substances used today are opaque and soft, meaning this discovery could lay the groundwork for improved cellphone and TV screens. Across the continent, a team at the Institute for Basic Science in Seoul, South Korea, created the world’s highest-intensity laser, breaking a 2004 record and creating new opportunities to understand the universe.
Meanwhile, Japanese company Astroscale launched the first commercial trial of space debris cleanup technology in late March. The ELSA-d spacecraft mission successfully completed its first test on Aug. 25, proving its magnetic capture mechanism is capable of grabbing dead satellites and other space junk.
The Christian Science Monitor, New Atlas
Oceania
Countries in Oceania protected natural resources and wildlife through collaboration. Eight Pacific nations overcame a David vs. Goliath situation by banding together to prevent overfishing and exploitation by foreign fishing fleets. The group’s Vessel Day Scheme has boosted local fishing revenues by millions and stabilized tuna populations.
In Australia, University of New South Wales researchers built on the work of reptile and amphibian biologists by applying the “head-start” conservation strategy to a land mammal for the first time. The intervention, raising small animals in a protected environment until they are large enough to survive predators, has tripled Queensland’s wallaby population. Pearl producers in French Polynesia are also serving as role models for the gem industry by developing sustainable farming practices.
The Christian Science Monitor
