What went right in 2023: Some feel-good stories from around the world

Alongside a difficult year punctuated by tragedies and wars, the world has also witnessed significant positive developments that continue to provide hope for a better future.

Scientists and medical experts have made huge strides to promote better quality of life for people, while world leaders and governments made historic agreements for the environment and life it contains.

For a dose of uplifting news, here are ten stories from throughout 2023 to end the year on a high note.

Slowing down Alzheimer’s

In July, a new era for Alzheimer’s patients began after the US Food and Drug Administration fully approved a new drug to treat the life-altering disease — called lecanemab, and sold by its Japanese manufacturer Eisai under the brand name Leqembi. Japan followed the US several months later and approved the drug on September 25.

Lecanemab does not cure Alzheimer’s, but it slows the progression of the disease; though the condition of afflicted patients may still decline, cognitive function doesn’t deteriorate as quickly, buying people undergoing treatment precious months — or more — of quality time with family and loved ones.

Alzheimer’s slowly chips away at a person's personality and autonomy, which is why the move to approve the drug has garnered interest and praise, including from nonprofit voluntary health organisations like the Alzheimer’s Association.

“This treatment, while not a cure, gives people in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease more time to maintain their independence and do the things they love,” said Alzheimer’s Association president and CEO Joanne Pike, DrPH. “While we continue efforts to discover new targets and test new treatments, people living with this fatal disease deserve the opportunity to discuss and make the choice with their doctor if an FDA-approved treatment is right for them.”

Breakthrough on climate damage fund

A historic loss and damage fund, meant to support vulnerable communities and developing countries struggling to weather the impact of climate disasters, was approved at this year’s United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as COP28.

Reuters reported that Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, the president of COP28, said the decision sent a "positive signal of momentum to the world and to our work here in Dubai".

Host nation UAE pledged $100 million, matched by Germany, while Italy and France promised more than $108 million. The United Kingdom pledged at least $51 million, according to Reuters. The United States and China, despite being the world’s largest emitters, contributed relatively smaller amounts of $17.5 million and $10 million, respectively.

“The speed at which the world came together to get this fund operationalised within one year since Parties agreed to it in Sharm El Sheikh is unprecedented,” said Al Jaber.

Sperm whale ‘citizens’

The Caribbean island of Dominica announced in November that it will be creating the world’s first marine-protected area for sperm whales, an endangered species and one of the Earth’s largest animals.

Almost 800 square kilometres of the blue waters on the western side of the island nation will be designated as nursing and feeding grounds, with the government soon set to approve legislation outlining a comprehensive management plan for the area.

Dominica’s Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit said the 200 or so sperm whales in its sea “are prized citizens” of the nation. “Their ancestors likely inhabited Dominica before humans arrived. We want to ensure these majestic and highly intelligent animals are safe from harm and continue keeping our waters and our climate healthy. Dominica is honoured to establish the first Sperm Whale Reserve on our planet,” he added.

Historic Oscars win

On March 13, Michelle Yeoh made history by taking home the coveted Best Actress trophy at the 95th Academy Awards.

The Malaysian-born star became the first Asian woman to win an Oscar for lead actress — an award she won for her starring role as an overwhelmed mother navigating the multiverse in the 2022 sci-fi action film “Everything Everywhere All at Once”.

“For all the little boys and girls who look like me watching tonight, this is a beacon of hope and possibilities. This is proof that dreams do come true,” Yeoh said in her acceptance speech. “And ladies, don’t let anyone tell you that you are past your prime.”

The award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role went to Ke Huy Quan, Yeoh’s co-star in the film, making him the second Asian actor to win the award.

Better productivity and happier employees

In a piece of good news about work-life balance, almost every company that took part in the world’s largest trial of a four-day workweek decided to continue with the new working schedule.

Results for the 4 Day Week programme, which took place in the UK, were revealed in February, and included a coordinated, six-month trial of a four-day, 32-hour workweek — with no reduction in pay for employees — in partnership with researchers at Cambridge University and Boston College, as well as local researchers in each participating region.

The pilot, run by nonprofit 4 Day Week Global, was hailed as a breakthrough by campaigners for better work-life balances for employees around the world. Fifty-six out of the 61 companies that participated in the trial between June and December 2022 extended the working schedule — 18 of them permanently.

Dozens of countries, including Ireland, Spain, South Africa and Japan, have experimented with a four-day workweek with promising results.

From ‘Extinct in the Wild’ to ‘Endangered’

Collaborative conservation efforts successfully reintroduced the scimitar-horned oryx back into Chad’s grasslands of the Ouadi Rime–Ouadi Achim Faunal Reserve, with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List subsequently downlisting the indigenous antelope from “Extinct in the Wild” to “Endangered” on December 11.

The achievement followed decades of efforts by Chad’s government, the Environment Agency of Abu Dhabi, Sahara Conservation and the Zoological Society of London, among other partners.

According to the IUCN, the species was once common across the Sahel region of Africa, but had disappeared from the wild by the end of the 1990s.

Amazon deforestation drops

In Brazil, government data indicated that deforestation in the Amazon had dropped by 33.6 percent from January to June, reported The Associated Press.

The drop — which coincided with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s first six months in office — came after four years of rising deforestation and environmental devastation in the South American nation. Lula had previously made campaign pledges to rein in illegal logging and undo the trend of environmental destruction the country saw under former President Jair Bolsonaro's reign.

While 4,000 square kilometres of Brazil’s Amazon were under threat of deforestation during the same period last year, the first six months of 2023 showed that the threat had been scaled back to 2,650 square kilometres — and that June, when deforestation activity tends to increase, had seen a 41 percent plunge in alerts.

One of the largest rainforests on the planet, the Amazon is home to some of the world’s most diverse ecosystems, making efforts to protect it very important in terms of conserving biodiversity — and in preventing emissions from deforestation.

Ozone layer on track to recover

Earlier this year, scientists reported a rare win for the planet: The ozone layer is on track to recover within four decades, as long as current policies on the phasing out of harmful chemicals are adhered to, according to an assessment backed by the United Nations. The Scientific Assessment Panel to the Montreal Protocol on Ozone Depleting Substances said the phasing out of nearly 99 percent of banned ozone-depleting substances confirmed that the Montreal Protocol — a landmark multilateral environmental agreement regulating the production and consumption of nearly 100 man-made chemicals adopted on September 16, 1987 — is succeeding in safeguarding the ozone layer.

The notable recovery of the ozone layer also further protects humans from harmful ultraviolet rays from the Sun, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said on January 9.

Executive Secretary of UNEP’s Ozone Secretariat Meg Seki said, “That ozone recovery is on track, according to the latest quadrennial report, is fantastic news. The impact the Montreal Protocol has had on climate change mitigation cannot be overstressed. Over the last 35 years, the Protocol has become a true champion for the environment.”

Protection of international waters decades in the making

Ocean waters beyond exclusive economic zones — known as the “high seas” — have never been legally protected as they belong to no nation.

But on September 20, 67 countries signed the legally binding “High Seas Treaty”, or the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) Agreement, designed to protect the ocean and marine life in international waters beyond national borders. Sixteen additional countries have since signed the treaty, bringing the total number of signatories to 84.

After almost 20 years of multilateral negotiations — the text was finalised during an intergovernmental conference at the UN on March 4 and subsequently adopted on June 19 — the decision marks a historic achievement. Although no country has yet ratified the treaty, it will come into force 120 days after it has been ratified by at least 60 of the signatories.

In June, Secretary-General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres said, “By acting to counter threats to our planet that go beyond national boundaries, you are demonstrating that global threats deserve global action … and that countries can come together, in unity, for the common good.”

Freed in good health and spirits

After 17 days trapped under a collapsed mountain tunnel in India’s Uttarakhand state, 41 construction workers were at last rescued, with one rescuer reportedly telling the BBC that, "The moment we broke through the last part of the debris, there was an outburst of happiness inside the tunnel”.

"The trapped men started clapping and shouting in excitement. Then the officials asked them to keep calm, be patient. They told them, 'We will get you out one by one'."

A happy conclusion to a harrowing ordeal, the tunnel workers were seen grinning as a cheering group of officials and rescuers greeted them.

Indian rescuers dug by hand to free the workers, using ‘rat miners’ to drill through a narrow pipe in order to pull out the men trapped in the Himalayan tunnel after high-powered machines failed.