Democratic backsliding, propelled by strong anti-gender and nationalist movements, is limiting the ability of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex (LGBTQI+) people and other marginalized populations to participate politically and exercise their basic rights and citizenship responsibilities. Around the globe, LGBTQI+ organizations and activists are facing an increase in discrimination, exclusionary political discourse and anti-LGBTQI+ legislative action.

On May 24, 2019, Taiwan made history: it was the first in the Asia-Pacific to legalize same-sex marriage. After decades of grassroots advocacy, the Constitutional Court found that the denial of registered unions to same-sex couples violated the constitutional guarantees of freedom of marriage and right to equality. This decision laid the foundation for the Legislative Yuan’s legalization of same-sex marriage. 

Fight for freedom. Future of the global order. Existential struggle. 

It’s hard to find terms that describe the crisis in Ukraine without sounding like so much cable news hyperbole. And yet, Russia’s illegal invasion of a free and sovereign Ukraine is existential for the Ukrainian people: their sovereignty, freedoms and way of life are on the line.  

The twin crises of our time – environmental degradation and democratic backsliding – are governance failures. They are the outcome of governments’ inability to deliver on urgent, complex problems.  

The inability of governments around the world to address climate change, even as technical, scientific and financial remedies have been identified, is both frustrating and alarming. In some low-income countries, like Nepal, politicians are striving to implement poorly understood sustainable development policies amidst a lack of awareness of the underlying problems. In others, like Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), leaders lack the knowledge and institutional capacity to act.

Earth Day is a timely reminder that a coordinated global effort to address climate change has never been more urgent. Climate change, a defining global crisis, is a growing threat to lives and livelihoods. Young climate activists from Colombia to Uganda have successfully urged their governments to take meaningful action: joining international agreements to limit carbon emissions; adopting climate-focused legislation, and mitigating corruption. Young climate activists have even taken their governments to court over climate inaction.