What went right this week: the good news that matters

It’s been almost two decades in the making, but this week a global treaty to protect the world’s high seas finally became a reality, bringing hope for marine ecosystems and the people who rely on them.  

Scientists, campaigners and coastal communities around the world have long lobbied for the conservation of international waters, less than 1% of which are fully protected. 

Not for much longer. This week, the Global Ocean Treaty, which was signed by 84 countries in 2023, passed the threshold to become law after more than 60 nations formally ratified it. It will now enter force early next year.

“This is the most significant victory for ocean protection and restoration I have ever witnessed,” said Ariana Densham, a senior campaigner at Greenpeace. “Campaigners, coastal communities, small-scale fishers, scientists, and ocean lovers everywhere can hold on to this moment as proof that when millions of voices demand change, we can achieve what once seemed like a distant dream.”

The Global Ocean Treaty gives governments a legal framework to protect waters that lie outside of any country’s national boundaries. If fully implemented, the treaty could establish the largest network of ocean sanctuaries in history, Greenpeace said. 

Image: David Courbit

Nearly 80 million more children are now receiving school meals through government-led programmes than they were 2020 – a 20% increase in just five years. 

That’s according to a new report by the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP). Progress, it said, is happening “where it is needed most with low-income countries increasing the number of children receiving school meals by 60% in the past two years”.

The UN said that this “rare success in the development space” is being driven by evidence showing that domestic school meal programmes not only support children’s wellbeing, but also have benefits for small-holder farmers. Global funding for school meals, it added, rose from $43bn (£32bn) in 2020 to $84bn (£63bn) in 2024. 

“School meals are so much more than just a plate of nutritious food – important as that is,” said WFP executive director Cindy McCain. “They are proven to be one of the smartest, most cost-effective investments any nation can make to improve the long-term health, education and economic prosperity of future generations.” 

She added: “Governments around the world, especially in low- and middle-income countries, are showing real leadership by choosing to prioritise school meals programmes.”

Image: Yan Krukau

In a major health breakthrough, scientists have treated Huntington’s disease for the first time, bringing hope to the tens of thousands of families affected by the “cruel” hereditary condition. 

Huntington’s affects an estimated 75,000 people in the UK alone. It rapidly kills brain cells and is usually fatal within two decades of symptoms revealing themselves.   

However, that looks set to change after scientists at University College London (UCL) reported a breakthrough. In a landmark gene therapy trial, they slowed the disease’s progress in 75% of cases, allowing patients to live potentially decades longer with a better quality of life.

The gene therapy treatment, AMT-130, was developed by Dutch-US company uniQure, which plans to submit an application to the US Food and Drug Administration early next year requesting accelerated approval. Applications in the UK and Europe are set to follow.   

“This result changes everything,” said Prof Ed Wild of UCL’s Huntington’s Disease Centre. “On the basis of these results, it seems likely AMT-130 will be the first licensed treatment to slow Huntington’s disease, which is truly world-changing.” 

Image: Mikhail Nilov

The Italian government has approved a new law governing the use of artificial intelligence, becoming the first in the European Union to do so. 

The new legislation aims to provide greater accountability, traceability and human oversight of the technology, making it illegal to disseminate AI-generated content, such as deepfakes, if it causes harm. 

Under the law, text and data mining is permitted only for non-copyrighted content, or for scientific research carried out by authorised institutions. It also limits AI access for under-14s to parental consent.

In passing the legislation, Italy becomes the first nation in the European Union to enact regulations aligned with the EU’s AI Act, an imperfect albeit world-leading piece of legislation due to be implemented across the bloc in 2027. 

Image: Ron Lach

Boundaries have been drawn for a long-awaited national park in Australia, where koalas and other threatened species will be protected. 

At 467,000 hectares, the Great Koala national park will be the largest protected area in the state of New South Wales. The site is home to an estimated 12,000 koalas, which the Australian government classified as endangered in 2022 following significant population declines due to habitat loss. It’s hoped that the new park will help the species recover. 

“The creation of the Great Koala national park is one of the most significant conservation achievements in decades, made possible through the persistence of communities and advocacy groups who refused to give up,” said the charity Friends of the Koala. 

Logging has already been banned within the limits, a move criticised by the logging industry, which said that around 300 jobs will be affected.  

“The creation of the park will generate around 100 new positions,” said Friends of the Koala, “along with additional opportunities in tourism, conservation, and Indigenous-led land management.” 

Image: Kerin Gedge

As Donald Trump decried the “green energy scam” at the United Nations General Assembly this week, a report suggested that the rest of the world is paying no attention to the US president.

According to research by the Zero Carbon Analytics thinktank, global investment in green energy was up 10% year-on-year in the first half of 2025.

“Despite Washington’s climate pullback… corporate climate investment and world leaders continue to support the net-zero transition,” the report noted.

The day after Trump’s comments, China’s President Xi told the same delegates that the green energy transition is the “trend of our time”, and pledged to cut his country’s carbon emissions by 10% over the next decade – a welcome move but a target scientists said falls short of what’s needed.  

China is both the world’s largest polluter and its biggest investor in green energy.  

Image: Los Muertos Crew

It once flowed with sewage and industrial waste, but after a decades-long cleanup, the Chicago River has been declared safe to swim in again. 

And that’s what bathers did on Sunday in the US city, as the Chicago River Swim returned for the first time in 98 years, giving locals the chance to plunge into the city’s restored waterway. 

“The return of the Chicago River Swim marks a major victory for our city – a testament to decades of hard work revitalising our river,” said mayor Brandon Johnson. “This event is a celebration of Chicago’s progress and a brighter, more inclusive future.”

Chicago is not the only city welcoming bathers back.This summer, Parisians were permitted to take a dip in the Seine again for the first time in more than a century, following a decades-long project to clean up the river.  

Read more: Six European cities that revived river bathing

Image: Linda Barrett

The return of the white-tailed eagle to the UK has been hailed as “one of the greatest comeback stories” in the country’s natural history.

In 1918, the last known white-tailed eagle in the UK was shot and killed, marking what many thought was the end for the iconic species in the country. 

However, thanks to the ongoing efforts of conservationists, the raptor has pulled off a remarkable comeback in Scotland and the south of England – one celebrated by a new film, which has been put out for free by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.  

England’s white-tailed eagle population had a record summer this year, with three chicks fledging two nests, including the first chick in Dorset for 240 years.

“This is a long-term project, and it will take some years before the population is fully restored, but the progress made over the last year has been incredibly encouraging,” said ecologist Roy Dennis. 

Image: Dan Russon

In a world of constant digital noise, reclaiming our attention can vastly improve the quality of our lives.

That’s according to Jodie Jackson, a specialist in the way our brains form habits. Positive News spoke to her this week to find out how people can counter the so-called global “attention crisis”. 

“In a world engineered for distractions, it’s not just your attention that gets hijacked, it’s your energy, your emotions and your potential,” she said. “The good news is, you can learn to guard and guide your attention. And when you do, you also have more influence over your future.”

Read more here. 

Image: iprogressman
Main image: James Teohart