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February update
Welcome to the Thomson Reuters Foundation’s February update. This edition features an insightful new video series from our digital news platform, Context, looking at the intersection of climate change and food security. We’re also inviting lawyers engaged in pro bono work to contribute to our vital analysis tracking trends in the sector. If you don’t regularly receive our newsletter, you can subscribe here.
Introducing: Rerooted
From trade flows disrupted by conflict to food waste generating vast amounts of carbon dioxide emissions, the global food system is increasingly volatile. Food isn’t just a policy issue, it’s something every one of us needs and cares about.
This month, the Foundation's digital news platform, Context, launched an ambitious new video series called Rerooted, exploring how these issues are playing out in hot spots around the world. Context Journalist Albert Han travelled across continents to speak with farmers, local communities, activists, researchers, policymakers, and scientists about the challenges on the ground and the solutions they’re looking for to help maintain food supply.
Our stories wouldn’t be possible without local collaboration. In every place, we work with a producer who knows the lay of the land and can help us during production, from chasing down an expert to identifying the best coffee shop in town. We also interview experts from local universities, whose expertise can then be complemented by scientists and academics at institutions outside the country.
~ Albert Han, Context
In the opening episode, Albert visits Brazil to investigate the impact of climate change on Arabica plant cultivation. He delves into the innovative strategies that farmers, in partnership with local researchers, are adopting to combat rising temperatures. By relocating their crops to higher altitudes, they aim to safeguard their livelihoods.
Help Shape the Future of Pro Bono
Through TrustLaw, our global pro bono network, we connect organisations on the frontlines of social change with the world’s top legal firms to strengthen their capabilities and help them shape economies that create opportunities for all. This month, TrustLaw has launched the 2024 Index of Pro Bono Survey, a global survey that measures the pro bono contributions of these firms across over 124 countries, mapping trends in the pro bono marketplace and highlighting best practice.
Since the launch of the Index in 2014, it has rapidly become a central source of information on the global pro bono sector, uncovering emerging trends and quantifying the complex ways in which the sector is evolving.
If you are working for a firm carrying out pro bono work and want to be represented, click here to take the survey. Submissions close on 15th March 2024.
February highlights from across the Foundation
Human Rights
Getting AI governance right is one of the gravest human rights challenges of our time, requiring mutual learning based on the insights emerging from different jurisdictions around the world. Earlier this month, CEO of the Thomson Reuters Foundation, Antonio Zappulla, led a panel discussion at UNESCO's Global Forum on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence.
The session featured top decision makers from Gabon, Uruguay, the Dominican Republic, Maldives, Mexico, Romania, and Lithuania, sharing insights and best practice from their experiences with AI adoption and ethical regulation.
All countries should use their voices and demand a seat at the table, because diverse perspectives are essential to driving innovation whilst keeping people, and their rights, at the front and centre.
~ Antonio Zappulla, CEO of the Thomson Reuters Foundation
Inclusive Economies
Strengthening sustainable business sits at the heart of the Thomson Reuters Foundation’s work to foster more inclusive economies.
That is why, in February, we became the new home to a world-leading disclosure platform, the Workforce Disclosure Initiative.
Through our work together, we will drive responsible business models, helping to build a more transparent and equitable corporate ecosystem.
A world where human rights are upheld, workers are empowered and our planet is safeguarded is not just possible, it is essential. With the addition of the WDI into our fold, we gain more momentum towards achieving this goal.
~ Red Godfrey-Sagoo, Director of Inclusive Economies at the Thomson Reuters Foundation
Media Freedom
The latest statistics released by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) this month underscored the growing threats to press freedom across the globe.
The CPJ's recent findings revealed an alarming increase in the imprisonment of journalists.
320 journalists were detained in connection with their work throughout 2023, with China, Myanmar, and Belarus showing the highest rates of imprisonment.
These figures reinforce the urgency and relevance of our 'Weaponising the Law: Attacks on Media Freedom' report, delivered last year in collaboration with the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University. The report not only amplifies the voices of those behind bars but also equips policymakers, legal experts, and the global journalism community with the knowledge needed to combat these injustices.
Discover more in our focus areas:
This month we recommend
READ | Ukraine conflict: How can open-source intelligence help prove war crimes | Context
READ | Will rich nations step away from fossil fuels as they promised | Context
READ |Israel-Gaza war brings 2023 journalist killings to devastating high | CPG
LISTEN |‘Weapons of mass migration’: how states exploit the failure of migration policies | Context
READ | Civil society and NGOs 'under assault' in Asia | Devex
We are the corporate foundation of Thomson Reuters, the global news and information services company. We work to advance media freedom, foster more inclusive economies, and promote human rights.
