2022: women, earth and war - 28th December 2022

2022 started with women's needs. Girls' schools in Afghanistan are closed. But a women's radio station helped women learn.

In Scotland, the government said sorry. In the past, people killed hundreds of women. They said the women were witches. It's a problem in some countries today.

Zoe Venditozzi: "There are still people across the world, generally vulnerable, often women or old people that are being accused of witchcraft."

The environment was a focus too. In Kenya, people took care of the land. They planted mangrove trees near rivers. And in Liberia, people saved chimpanzees. Scientists did tests on the animals. Now, they're back in the trees. Sealife came back to Phi Phi bay in Thailand. New rules stopped visitors to the bay. This saved the area's fish.

Sirithon Thamrongnawasawat: "We show the tourists what is the impact, what is the biodiversity, what is the relationship between your behaviour and the impact to the corals."

In February, Russia started a war in Ukraine. 7.8 million Ukrainians became refugees in Europe. The war in Ukraine is making food expensive in Africa too. Africa buys lots of food from Ukraine. And oil and gas are expensive too. The high prices are bad news for people everywhere in Africa.

Julius Adewale: "Cost of production, it has increased immensely. So, they have to come together and also increase the price of bread by 40 percent to what it was before. A common man, that has not even eaten, you no expect him to buy bread or a loaf of bread for 700."

People helped the environment in new ways. Some people made their own clothes. Cheap clothes break quickly. People learnt to make good quality clothes. They don't need the shops.

One London company's recycling old coffee. UpCircle takes used coffee from cafes. It makes beauty products with the coffee. UpCircle wants to reuse waste.

Gemma Curtin: "So, people are looking at the waste that's around them. And designers are thinking, what can we do with that? How can we help the environment by using these materials."

In June, news from the USA was about waste too. Rob Greenfield walked around cities in a suit full of rubbish. Greenfield wants people to think about their waste. And Americans were angry about women's freedoms too. The US Supreme Court changed the rules on abortion. This took rights away from women.

Kamala Harris: "This is the first time in the history of our nation that a constitutional right has been taken from the people of America. And what is that right some might ask. It's the right to privacy."