Ethiopia this week became the 135th country to ratify the comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty (CTBT), which prohibits the explosive testing of nuclear weapons.
To enter into force, the CTBT must be ratified by 44 States listed in Annex 2 of the Treaty. So far, 34 of those States have done so.
See “Ethiopia ratifies Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty,” CTBT Organization news release, August 9.
Background, history and current status of the proposed test ban may be found in “Nuclear Weapons: Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty” (pdf), Congressional Research Service, updated June 21, 2006.
January saw us watching whether the government would fund science. February has been about how that funding will be distributed, regulated, and contested.
This rule gives agencies significantly more authority over certain career policy roles. Whether that authority improves accountability or creates new risks depends almost entirely on how agencies interrupt and apply it.
Our environmental system was built for 1970s-era pollution control, but today it needs stable, integrated, multi-level governance that can make tradeoffs, share and use evidence, and deliver infrastructure while demonstrating that improved trust and participation are essential to future progress.
Durable and legitimate climate action requires a government capable of clearly weighting, explaining, and managing cost tradeoffs to the widest away of audiences, which in turn requires strong technocratic competency.