2016 might have been gloomy but it was not entirely bad after all.
We at INKLINE are strong believers that the good always, always outshines the bad. We gathered a list of 12 good news – one for each month of the year – to jumpstart 2017 with more positivity!
January: Peru and Bolivia joined forces to preserve Lake Titicaca
Peru and Bolivia have agreed to work together through a 10-year plan to restore and protect Lake Titicaca, the largest freshwater lake of South America. The two countries invested a total of $500 million in the joint project. HNGN
February: Ontario committed a $100 million budget for indigenous women
A new funding amounting to $100 million was allotted to tackle violence against First Nations women. There had been reports of hundreds of missing and murdered indigenous women in Canada and the government willed to stop this atrocity through approving this substantial cost. A three-year, six-part plan has been on the works to further this project. Toronto Star
March: Obama attended a pivotal baseball game in Cuba
President Obama attended a baseball game in Cuba, marking a landmark moment in the efforts to normalise relations between the two countries. It was the first time since 1999 that a Major League Baseball team took the field in Cuba. Doves were even released following the singing of the national anthems. Newsweek
April: Mongolia took a step towards protecting snow leopards
Mongolia’s Parliament approved a proposal to create a new protected area for snow leopards in Tost. Being home to a stable, breeding population, the mountain will become a State Protected Area ensuring that only traditional economic activities, which aren’t harmful to nature, will take place. Snow Leopard Trust
May: Life expectancy in Africa increased
Africans are now living longer than at any point in the past 25 years according to the WHO’s World Health Statistics 2016 report. The improvement is the biggest increase recorded across all the regions and is due to the successful fight against the AIDS epidemic. Quartz
June: The Ebola outbreak reached an end in West Africa
Liberia announced in June that it was free of Ebola, following the devastating outbreak that began in Guinea in December 2013. This means that there are now no know cases of the deadly virus left in West Africa. The last known patient was discharged in May. Vanguard
July: India planted 50 million trees in one day
More than 800,000 students, government officials and volunteers helped in planting the 49.3 million trees in Uttar Pradesh to break a tree-planting Guiness world record. The previous record was set at 847,275 trees and had been done in Pakistan in 2013. The action was also meant to mitigate the effects of climate change. Popular Science
August: The most dangerous place on Earth got safer
The Honduras used to have the highest homicide rate in the world but thanks to programs funded by the United States, its violence reduced considerably. The programs helped community leaders to tackle crime and the country now dropped from the first place to third among Central American countries sending unaccompanied children to the USA illegally. The New York Times
September: App in Egypt launched to combat involuntary disappearances
The risk of being kidnapped in Egypt has never been higher. There had been 1, 250 disappearances in 2015 according to the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms (ECRF). Because of this, ECRF created I Protect, an app that aims to help track Android users being detained and it has now been used to prevent illegal detentions. The Guardian
October: Renewables energies exceeded all other forms of new power generation
Renewable energy accounted for more than half of all new forms of power generation produced worldwide, an unprecedented milestone! A report by the International Energy Agency showed that renewable electricity capacity growth reached a total of 153 gigawatt. That’s equivalent to the total current power capacity of Canada. GIZMODO
November: Colombia reached new peace deal with FARC
After 52 years of conflict, Colombia’s government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels announced a revised peace deal to end the armed conflict. After Colombians rejected a prior peace accord in a referendum, the 56 of 57 issues raised were all addressed in the revised agreement. The Independent
December: President Obama banned oil and gas drilling in most of Arctic and Atlantic oceans
Barack Obama permanently banned new oil and gas drilling in most of US-owned waters in the Arctic and Atlantic regions. Using a 1953 law allowing presidents to block the sale of new offshore drilling and mining rights, making it difficult for Donald Trump to reverse the decision. The Guardian
