Archive News & Announcements - 2025

The UN’s principal judicial body ruled that States have an obligation to protect the environment from greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and act with due diligence and cooperation to fulfill this obligation. This includes the obligation under the Paris Agreement on climate change to limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. The Court further ruled that if States breach these obligations, they incur legal responsibility and may be required to cease the wrongful conduct, offer guarantees of non-repetition and make full reparation depending on the circumstances.  Read the full story from UN News here   Image: Young people and students rallying and protesting against global warming - Christie Cooper/shutterstock.com  

A new report by Toda Senior Research Fellow Dr Lisa Schirch lays out actionable recommendations for governments, civil society, researchers, and industry to design digital platforms that reduce harm and increase benefit to society. The Blueprint on Prosocial Tech Design Governance responds to the crisis in the scale and impact of digital platform harms. Digital platforms are fueling a systemic crisis by amplifying misinformation, harming mental health, eroding privacy, promoting polarization, exploiting children, and concentrating unaccountable power through manipulative design. Prosocial tech design governance is a framework for regulating digital platforms based on how their design choices— such as algorithms and interfaces—impact society. It shifts focus “upstream” to address the root causes of digital harms and the structural incentives influencing platform design. This commissioned report was published by the Council on Technology and Social Cohesion, and the University of Notre Dame, in association with Toda Peace Institute. Download the report here.      

New seawalls also protect low-lying atolls in Tuvalu, and more will appear in Kiribati, Tonga, Solomon Islands, Fiji and other island nations, many with funding from the Australian government and international development organisations. They're a source of hope for countries grappling with sea level rise - which scientists say will continue even if the world limits global temperature rises to 1.5C above pre-industrial times. For the full story, go to RNZ News. Image: DFAT/wikicommons    

  Communities in Vanuatu are learning to grow climate resilient crops, 18 months after Cyclone Lola devastated the country. Save the Children Vanuatu country director Polly Banks said they have been working alongside Vanuatu's Ministry of Agriculture and local partners, supporting families through the Tropical Cyclone Lola Recovery Programme. She said the programme looked at the impact of the cyclone on backyard gardening and on people's economic reliance on what they grow in their gardens, and developed a recovery plan to respond. For the full story, go to RNZ International / Pacific. Image: Neil Rawlins/shutterstock.com    

  In this interview with The Korea Times, Moon Chung-in, the James Laney Distinguished Professor at Yonsei University discusses U.S. President Donald Trump’s foreign policy, its impacts on South Korea and East Asia, and the pivotal role of China in the new international order. The interview was held on the occasion of the publication of Prof. Moon’s new book, titled “Why Has U.S. Diplomacy Failed?” The full interview can be accessed here.   Image: Maria Ajmal/shutterstock.com