Editorial - Global Insight, December/January 2022

Welcome to the December 2021/January 2022 edition of Global Insight. In 2021, we celebrated ten years of publishing the magazine. In that time, we’ve succeeded in regularly producing in-depth, agenda-setting journalistic coverage of the most pressing issues of the day.

This has been undertaken through a period when media outlets around the world have been squeezed from all sides – vanishing ad revenues, technological disruption and the rise of social media. At the same time, recognising the fundamentally important contribution to its core mission – upholding the rule of law, human rights and the values of the United Nations – the IBA has supported serious journalism that tackles serious issues.

The list of such issues – covered regularly and repeatedly over the past decade of publishing Global Insight – is too long to itemise exhaustively here, but includes in no particular order: the financial crisis; poverty; corruption; world powers threatening the rule of law – notably China, Russia, and, during the Trump presidency, the United States; the migration crisis, the Covid-19 pandemic; and, of course, the climate crisis.

The feature in this edition, The climate crisis: COP26 and the next steps, is the latest in an extensive body of work to which everyone involved in Global Insight is proud to have contributed. The breadth and depth of this coverage is remarkable. And, as we enter 2022 and assess the major issues we’ll be covering, there is no doubt that the climate crisis ranks among the most pressing. So, we’ll be publishing a Global Insight special edition pulling together the best of our coverage of the climate crisis over the past ten years (which will be made available via the Global Insight app).

As well as features and analysis of all salient aspects – the impact on human rights; law, regulation and multilateral action; the rising tide of litigation; and so on – the special edition includes regular in-depth interviews with the leading figures in the fight to address the crisis, such as Mary Robinson, who served as UN Special Envoy for Climate Change, John Cruden who took on major polluters in his role overseeing environmental enforcement at the US Department of Justice and James Thornton, whose trailblazing approach to climate justice – holding governments and companies to account through his work with environmental not-for-profit ClientEarth – serves as an inspiration to many. We hope you enjoy this edition, the upcoming special editions and our future coverage.