Good news: Panama gives nature its own rights by law

The best news in the BRIGITTE Good News Ticker for March 2022

The news often shows the horrors of this world – currently, for example, the corona pandemic and the Ukraine war. But there are not only the dark sides, our world has so much beauty in store for us. We want to celebrate the little everyday things and give you something positive to take with you. It’s time for good news – if not now, then when?

March 10, 2022

Panama’s nature now has rights of its own

In order to protect nature, in Panama it has now been given its own rights to exist, to continue and to be restored. Laurentino Cortizo, the President of Panama, recently signed this law and thus represents the basis for environmental and climate protection – charges can also be brought in the event of violation or non-compliance.

Environmental activists are now hoping for a turnaround in Panama and welcome the law. The forests are characterized by massive deforestation. Around 80,000 hectares of forest are cleared every year – but only 2,000 hectares are reforested. The problem is often illegal deforestation by lumberjacks and farmers who burn and burn to use the land for other purposes.

Laws similar to those in Panama now exist in Mexico, Bolivia and New Zealand, among others. The good thing: If nature has its own rights, you can also sue for them. This, in turn, makes it much easier to take environmental pollution cases to court.

Panama still produces a large part of its energy from fossil fuels, especially oil. By 2030, 15 percent of the energy should be generated sustainably.

March 9, 2022

Federal cabinet decides to abolish advertising ban on abortion

The federal cabinet has cleared the way for the abolition of the controversial paragraph 219a. According to Wednesday’s decision, the paragraph that bans “advertising for the termination of pregnancy” is to be repealed. So far, among other things, it has meant that doctors are not allowed to publicly offer detailed information about abortions without fear of criminal prosecution.

The draft law by Federal Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann now has to be discussed by the Bundestag and Bundesrat. The FDP politician called it an “unacceptable situation” in the ZDF “Morgenmagazin” that German law forbids doctors to provide factual information and threatens the public prosecutor.

Federal Women’s Minister Anne Spiegel (Greens) called the abolition of Paragraph 219a “overdue” on Wednesday. “In the future, doctors should be able to provide information about their medical services relating to abortions without having to fear criminal prosecution or stigmatization. In this way, we are strengthening women’s right to self-determination in the long term.”

March 8, 2022

International Women’s Day: Small steps towards equality

Every year on March 8, women stand up for their rights, look back on what they have achieved in terms of equality and fight for what lies ahead. A good time to appreciate even the small steps.

Almost every woman is afraid to go home alone at night. Many already hold their key in their hand on the way from the train station to their front door so that they can defend themselves if necessary. Of course, the best option would be to take a taxi home, but this is expensive. That’s why it’s been back in Munich since 2021 Women’s night taxi subsidized by the city with 5 euro vouchers will. Every woman over the age of 16 is entitled to vouchers, this also applies to trans women, women with the gender entry “diverse” and non-binary women. Requirements: The voucher is valid from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. and the journey must end at a residential address. Incidentally, women’s night taxis are also available in other cities such as Mannheim and Heidelberg.

Since 2021, some cities in Spain have decided that women with menstrual problems can call in sick. There is no question: for employers, the absence of workers on several days a year means less productivity and less turnover. Hence the concept that prevailed in Spain for the menstrual leave was considered, a fair and nevertheless equal approach: Anyone who has to take time off during the period can also do so – on condition that the work can be made up on another day.

The US soccer association USSF wants its future Pay the same for the women’s and men’s national teams. The federation offered the two unions of women (USWNT) and men (USMNT) “identical contract proposals” to come close to the goal of “merging the men’s and women’s senior national teams into a single collective bargaining structure”.

March 7, 2022

Every fifth Dax board member is female

The personnel consultancy Russel Reynolds Associates has carried out an analysis of the board committees of the Dax 40 boards. The result is pleasing: the proportion of women in Dax companies is increasing. Dax 40 are the German stock corporations with the highest turnover in the regulated market of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. They are considered the most valuable German companies, and since 2021, instead of 30, they have now included 40 companies. The top 10 includes the IT company SAP, Volkswagen, Airbus, Allianz and Deutsche Post.

Since August of last year, the legal regulation regarding the women’s quota (FüPoG II) has stated that in listed companies with equal co-determination with more than 2,000 employees and more than three board members when filling new positions, care must be taken to ensure that at least one woman sits on the board.

In 2021, the proportion of women in the 40 largest publicly traded companies increased by around a quarter, or almost four percentage points, from 15.3 to 19.1 percent. “With the new appointments that have already been announced, the proportion of women on Dax 40 boards is expected to rise to over 20 percent for the first time on April 1, 2022,” says a statement from Russel Reynolds Associates. Overall, in 2021, 42 percent of all new board members appointed to the Dax 40 were women. The personnel consultancy predicts that at the same pace, the rate could be over 30 percent in two years.

Three companies (Continental, Fresenius MC and Siemens Healthineers) already have 40 percent women on the executive board. Four come to over 30 percent (Daimler, Deutsche Telekom, BASF and RWE). A total of 21 out of 40 Dax companies are at or above 20 percent.

However, there is also a downside: Two of the Dax 40 companies do not yet meet the statutory quota for women. Eight of the Dax 40 companies still have no women on the board. This shows the limited effect of the FüPoG II: Only two of these eight companies have to bring a woman to the next board appointment (these are the companies Sartorius and MTU). The law does not apply to the other six because they are not co-determined (these are the companies Brenntag, HelloFresh, Linde and Porsche) or the Management Board consists of only three members (Delivery Hero and Symrise).

March 3, 2022

UN decision: Global plastic pollution should be stopped

Hardly any marine life – whether in the deep sea or in the Antarctic – is free of plastic. Not only the obvious waste such as can holders, in which turtles and other animals get caught, are problematic, but especially the microplastics that the animals absorb into their organism. In order to prevent further pollution of the seas, the 193 member states at the fifth United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) in Nairobi, Kenya, launched an ambitious agreement against plastic pollution on land and sea.

A few figures: Around 400 million tons of plastic are produced worldwide every year. Only nine percent of this is recycled. About 19 to 23 million tons of plastic waste end up in rivers, lakes and seas every year – the equivalent of two truckloads per minute.

The agreement that has now been reached is legally binding and is to be finalized under an international negotiation mandate by the end of 2024. The aim is to gradually reduce the amount of new plastic entering the environment until it stops altogether. And without the restriction to lakes, rivers and seas demanded by Japan, for example, but also in the air and on land, where microplastics in particular are a problem.

Although the states could not agree on a general ban on single-use plastic, as demanded by the WWF, they want to regulate the entire life cycle of plastic products. This begins with the product design and extends to the establishment of an environmentally friendly waste management system and functioning recycling systems. Getting the existing plastic out of the oceans will only be a secondary concern. The biggest problem with such far-reaching agreements is usually control and sanctions. Instead of vague formulations, as initially introduced by the USA, there should be national reports and the progress of implementation should be checked regularly.

March 2, 2022

Airbnb wants to provide apartments for refugees from Ukraine

Travel platform Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky and his co-founders Joe Gebbia and Nathan Blecharczyk announced on February 28, 2022 that they intend to provide free accommodation for up to 100,000 refugees via their platform. This accommodation should be provided primarily in those countries where most of the refugees arrive. They have now initially offered Poland, Hungary, Germany and Romania cooperation.

The campaign is to be financed in three ways: funds from the listed company itself, donations from the Airbnb.org Refugee Fund and the hosts involved. The latter can find out how they can take part in the campaign at Airbnb.org.

March 1, 2022

First successes in research on antibiotic-resistant bacteria

Bacteria: They are barely visible but can cause significant damage. Again and again we hear about antibiotic-resistant pathogens, against which we humans can hardly do anything. The prognosis: by 2050 superbugs will be responsible for ten million deaths a year worldwide. A prime example of evolution. Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin have found a new way to combat these superbugs. They targeted a specific protein that the pathogens use to develop resistance.

The research team chose the approach of preventing the production of resistance proteins from the outset. A very specific protein is suppressed by a folding process – the so-called DsbA. This enabled the team to remove resistance to existing antibiotics. This method worked for different bacteria. These include E-coli, K. pneumoniae and P. aeruginosa. These are collectively responsible for a large proportion of all superbacterial infections.

While the chemicals the researchers used to disable the resistant protein cannot be used safely in humans, they were able to show that the mechanism works.

Sources used: trendsderzukunft.de, trendingtopics.eu, zeit.de, PM Russel Reynolds Associates, tagesspiegel.de, watson.de, nur-positive-nachrichten.de

slr
Bridget