Terrific news! A COVID-19 vaccine is on the way.

The challenge will be getting the new vaccine (or vaccines) to everyone on the planet - particularly those in hot places beyond the reach of electrical grids, with manufacturers saying they will need storage at very cold temperatures.

Could solar mini-grids and fridges chill vaccines where energy access is limited? That's one idea renewable energy advocates and medical officials are exploring.

That's not the only good news this week. Climate experts say Democrat Joe Biden's election in the United States could put the crucial goal of limiting planetary warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius within striking distance.

With other big emitters, including China, also stepping up emissions-cutting promises, Bill Hare of Climate Analytics noted Biden's win could mark "an historic tipping point".

Indigenous activists in the Amazon hope the U.S. president-elect might be able to apply pressure too on Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, whose desire to develop the Amazon has helped spur a surge in fires and deforestation.

And environmentalists in Southeast Asia are urging Biden to ban imports and financing of commodities linked to deforestation.

But getting policy right to protect vanishing natural forests is far from easy.

In Kenya, a coronavirus-related economic downturn has forced many families who had started cooking with natural gas back to cheaper firewood, driving an uptick in forest losses, reports correspondent Kagondu Njagi.

In Thailand, meanwhile, authorities have reached a deal with landless villagers to allow them to live in a mangrove forest if they help protect the area, an effort that could become a model for land and forest policy - if it works, rights groups say.

Confused by the myths circulating about climate change? Our primer might help.

See you next week!

Laurie

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