World Progress Watch
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Land-mine casualties show signs of global decline
Two decades after a landmark treaty, and despite an overall increase due largely to Syria’s civil war, the majority of affected countries recorded fewer deaths linked to land mines and cluster munitions.
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Progress Watch New initiatives aim to prevent poaching
New actions at the supply and demand ends of the ivory trade could help save elephants.
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Progress Watch In 2014, economies grew, emissions did not
Previous years of CO2 'flatlining' came with economic contraction, but that wasn't the case last year. That kind of carbon-stable expansion of wealth hasn’t happened in four decades, says the International Energy Agency.
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Progress Watch Gender equality in politics? Check back in 50 years, says UN official
Only 19 women currently serve as heads of state or government, but there are signs of progress. March 8 is International Women's Day.
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Progress Watch Somalia: Majority of capital residents surveyed feel safer than in 2013
In a recent study by the Heritage Institute for Policy Studies, a majority of 1,600 residents surveyed in the capital city of Mogadishu said they witness less conflict between clans and fewer attacks by rebel groups.
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Progress Watch Organic farming continues to rise across the globe
2 million of the world’s 1.5 billion farmers are now producing organically, with nearly 80 percent based in developing countries. India boasts the most certified organic producers, followed by Uganda and Mexico.
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A disrupter at UN: Can new chief shake up bureaucracy to speed progress?
Secretary-General António Guterres, the former prime minister of Portugal, says the world has made progress – on hunger, poverty, education – but he's impatient for more. His approach: We can do better.
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Millions of pigs will soon live better lives in China
A 2016 survey by the International Cooperation Committee of Animal Welfare found that two thirds of Chinese shoppers would pay more for pork that had been treated well.
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US smoking rate sees faster decline
The two percentage point one-year drop is the largest in two decades.
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Worst forms of famine see decline
Political climates no longer trigger types called ‘calamitous,’ ‘great.'
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Progress Watch Global rate of deforestation has been halved since the 1990s
Between 2010 and 2015, an average of 0.08 percent of the world’s forests was lost each year, down from 0.18 percent each year in the 1990s, according to a report from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization’s Global Forest Resources Assessment.
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Progress Watch Extreme poverty could cease to exist in 15 years
The number of people living in extreme poverty will dip below 10 percent of the global population before the year is over, according to the World Bank, and if the world continues on its fast track of economic progress, extreme poverty will be eradicated in 15 years.
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Americans are learning more about food, and eating better
Consumers’ calls for lower-impact ‘food with integrity’ have surged recently, and a set of recommendations from the US Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee took food's role in the environment into account for the first time.
Photos of the Week Photos of the week 10/09
A cowboy hat with the words 'Vegas Strong' and a rosary hang at a makeshift memorial on Oct. 6 in the middle of Las Vegas Boulevard following the mass shooting in Las Vegas.
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Progress Watch HIV/AIDS: What's behind the decline in new infections
The amount of newly infected individuals worldwide is down 38 percent since 2001 and investment in prevention and better access to care are credited.
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Progress Watch Afghanistan: Women's rights make big gains
A record amount of girls are in school in Afghanistan and the Constitution guarantees equality before the law. Can a decade-plus of success withstand Western withdrawal?
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Too young to be a bride? More countries aim to curb child marriage.
The world is making steady progress toward reducing child marriage, which is closely linked to chronic poverty and health problems.
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Progress Watch More than half a million square miles of land have come under protection since 2012
More than 15 percent of terrestrial and inland water areas around the globe are now under protection. The United Nations established a target of 17 percent by 2020.
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Progress Watch Child labor: Number of children involved is shrinking every year
Eleven percent of the world's children – about 168 million – are currently subjected to child labor, but between 2000 and 2012, the number of children involved was cut by one-third.
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Progress Watch Gender gap has narrowed in more than 100 countries
In recent years, many nations have reduced wage gaps, increased female college enrollment, and expanded the role of women in government. But there's still work to be done – a recent report estimates that complete gender equality in economic participation and opportunity remains decades away.
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Progress Watch Fish in American waters are experiencing population rebounds
Nearly two dozen species of Pacific groundfish, including snapper, Dover sole, and dogfish, and Atlantic haddock, among others, are all making a comeback. The rebounds can be attributed to the passing of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act and the US management system.
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Progress Watch US worker deaths have declined steadily for past two decades
The rate of fatal workplace injuries in the US is 25 percent lower than it was in 2006 and it's been trending downward for the past two decades, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The decline in certain dangerous occupations, as well as better regulations, have contributed.
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Report: Fewer people in the world are malnourished
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the number of chronically undernourished dropped from 18.7 percent of the total population to 11.3 between 1990 and 2014. More than 60 developing nations have halved the number of undernourished people in their populations since 1990.
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Progress Watch Land mines could be almost completely gone within a decade, experts say
The tide first began to turn against land mine use in 1997 when 122 countries signed the Mine Ban Treaty, and the number of land-mine casualties has decreased almost every year since then, reaching its lowest recorded point in 2013.
