The Know Daily - Tuesday 25 July 2023

_{Tuesday 25 July ∙ Read in 5m 30s ∙ Listening to Milky Chance}

Deforestation in Colombia fell by 29.1% in 2022 versus the previous year - the equivalent of saving 50,000 hectares of forest and the lowest level since 2013. “This is just the beginning,” said Colombia’s environment minister in an interview with The Guardian. “I think that Colombia can [overcome] deforestation in the Amazon and turn this all around.”

🌡️ Climate latest

A recent study has found that the powerful July heatwaves in Europe and the US would have been virtually impossible without global warming caused by human activity.

What else did the study find?
Analysis by researchers from the World Weather Attribution (WWA) also found that the recent heatwave in China was made 50 times more likely because of greenhouse gas emissions.

The study also concluded that while the growing El Niño, a natural climate phenomenon, likely added a little heat to the heatewaves, global warming from burning fossil fuels was the main reason for their severity.

How did researchers come to these conclusions?
“They used weather data up to 18 July and computer models to compare today’s climate, with 1.2C of global heating, with the cooler climate of the late 1800s,” explained The Guardian.

This method - called attribution analysis - doesn’t allow scientists to say if a particular extreme weather event was caused by climate change. “But it does allow them to quantify if climate change made a particular event more likely to occur and if it made it more severe,” said Sky News.

Scientists have now analysed more than 500 extreme weather events, finding that 93% of heatwaves and 68% of droughts had been made more severe and/or more likely by human activity.

What happens next?
The first week of July saw the hottest global temperatures in history, and numerous Greek islands - as well as Turkey and Algeria - are battling wildfires. Scientists say that if the world heats by 2C, similarly extreme heatwaves will happen every two to five years.

Dr Friederike Otto, who was part of the analysis team, said it was “absolutely critical” that governments agree to phase out fossil fuels at the UN COP28 climate summit in November. “We still have time to secure a safe and healthy future,” said Otto.

💉 Ending AIDS

Long-lasting injections to protect people against HIV are set to be rolled out across Africa - and experts say it could change the global course of the epidemic.

What’s the story?
HIV prevention medication - pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) - is already freely available to high-risk groups in the UK. But, as The Telegraph has pointed out, “its rollout in developing countries, where it is needed the most, has been hindered due to the logistics of distributing oral medicines”.

That’s why experts have hailed the development of a long-lasting, injectable version of PrEP - named cabotegravir (CAB-LA) - as a potential gamechanger. According to the paper, there are currently 31 planned or ongoing implementation trials for the drug, 19 of which will take place in Africa.

How effective is CAB-LA?
The drug, which is injected every two months, works by blocking HIV from entering a person’s cells. Studies have shown that it reduces an individual’s chance of getting infected with the virus through sex to almost zero.

According to the drug’s producer ViiV Healthcare, CAB-LA is nine times superior to oral PrEP in women, and six times in men.

How widely available will it be?
CAB-LA is expensive - but in March this year, ViiV Healthcare granted licences to three other manufacturers in a bid to drive down costs.

The Guardian has stressed that granting licences is “only the first step” in making CAB-LA more accessible. “The technology behind the manufacturing must be shared, so it could take up to five years before the product is on the market,” explained the paper.

What’s the bigger picture?
According to UNAIDS, the number of new HIV infections declined by 38% globally between 2010 and 2022. The NGO has called on political leaders around the world to invest in HIV prevention and work towards gender equality and non-discriminatory laws, in a bid to end AIDS by 2030.

📱 Social media showdown: TikTok has announced the introduction of text-only posts, as it becomes the latest social media platform seeking to capitalise on people who may be searching for a Twitter alternative.

🇮🇱 Israel protests: Doctors across Israel are set to strike today after the country’s parliament adopted a highly controversial law that will limit the Supreme Court’s powers and prevent it from overruling government actions it considers unreasonable.

🎧 Face the music: Spotify has raised the price of its premium subscription for the first time in over a decade, as it looks to boost profitability. In the UK, the cost will increase by £1 a month.

🏊 Seine swimming: Parisians will soon be able to swim in the River Seine for the first time in 100 years, following a historic clean-up operation that is set to be one of the major legacies of the Paris 2024 Olympics.

❤️ Team spirit: St Ives residents have raised £1 million to save their community hospital three years after it was closed by the NHS. The former Edward Hain Memorial hospital in the Cornish town is to be turned into a new hub for health and wellness.

Trivia answer: B) Suits, the legal drama that concluded in 2019, was watched for 2.3 billion minutes during its first full week on Netflix, according to Nielsen’s weekly streaming rankings.

We’ve partnered with HURR, Grubby and CRU Kafe to reward readers who spread the word about us. You’ve signed up 0 friends so far!

Or copy and paste your referral link to others: https://theknowmedia.beehiiv.com/subscribe?ref=PLACEHOLDER

The Know is an independent media company on a mission to help everyone start their day feeling informed and hopeful. Our daily newsletter always features the day’s top stories broken down without jargon, uplifting news to put a smile on your face and hand-picked recs we think you’ll love.

How did you find today’s email?
😍 Loved it 😕 Could be better

Daily emails too much for you? Switch to our weekly Friday edition. Support The Know here.