55bmw slot machine This was 2024 in Richmond: Top community stories

What does 2025 hold for interest rates, inflation and US consumer?Tweet Facebook Mail England's prestigious Oxford University has found its word of the year for 2024 - and it is, aptly enough, "brain rot". The word was chosen from a shortlist of six, which also included "demure", "dynamic pricing", "lore", "romantasy", and "slop". More than 37,000 people voted across a two-week period. READ MORE: 'Lost my eyesight': Music megastar's shock update "Brain rot" refers to the over-consumption of online content, especially on social media. (Getty Images/iStockphoto) The university defined "brain rot" as "the supposed deterioration of a person's mental or intellectual state, especially viewed as the result of overconsumption of material (now particularly online content) considered to be trivial or unchallenging. Also: something characterised as likely to lead to such deterioration". The university found that the first recorded use of "brain rot" was in 1854 in Henry David Thoreau's book Walden , in which the author discusses his experience of a stripped-back life among nature. "While England endeavours to cure the potato rot, will not any endeavour to cure the brain-rot – which prevails so much more widely and fatally?" Walden wrote. READ MORE: In the biggest UN court case ever, the stakes 'could not be higher'  Henry David Thoreau is believed to have coined the term. (Getty) The term in the digital age has come to widely signify the impact of consuming huge quantities of online content, particularly on social media. Oxford University found the use of the term increased 230 per cent between 2023 and 2024. "Looking back at the Oxford Word of the Year over the past two decades, you can see society's growing preoccupation with how our virtual lives are evolving, the way internet culture is permeating so much of who we are and what we talk about," president of Oxford languages Casper Grathwohl said. "Last year's winning word, 'rizz', was an interesting example of how language is increasingly formed, shaped, and shared within online communities." READ MORE: Joe Biden pardons his son Hunter  How this seven-year-old boy earned $34 million for one year View Gallery The increased usage of "brain rot" also began online, particularly among Generation Z and Generation Alpha users on social media such as TikTok. "'Brain rot' speaks to one of the perceived dangers of virtual life, and how we are using our free time," Grathwohl said. "It feels like a rightful next chapter in the cultural conversation about humanity and technology. "It's not surprising that so many voters embraced the term, endorsing it as our choice this year." Grathwohl also said he was "fascinated" the term had been adopted by younger internet users, given their online communities are the main creators of the content to which "brain rot" refers. "It demonstrates a somewhat cheeky self-awareness in the younger generations about the harmful impact of social media that they've inherited," he said. DOWNLOAD THE 9NEWS APP : Stay across all the latest in breaking news, sport, politics and the weather via our news app and get notifications sent straight to your smartphone. Available on the Apple App Store and Google Play .

GRAND FORKS — Ryan Adams has been named interim dean for UND's College of Engineering and Mines. Adams, a professor and associate dean of national security, has worked for the college for six years, a release says. “I’m grateful to Dr. Adams for his willingness to serve as interim dean for the College of Engineering & Mines,” said UND Provost Eric Link in a statement. “He brings experience, vision and a desire to serve the students, staff and faculty of the College during this time of transition. ADVERTISEMENT “The College of Engineering & Mines has seen tremendous growth in the past few years. Dr. Adams will provide great leadership as the College conducts a national search for its next dean.” Adams will assume his new role on Jan. 2, and will continue until a permanent dean is in place. The position was left vacant in November, when former Dean Brian Tande was selected as the new president of South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. The College of Engineering and Mines search committee is being chaired by Brad Rundquist, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, and will be assisted by Academic Search, an executive search firm. The next permanent dean is expected to be named by or around July 1, the release says. In the meantime, “I am so excited to step into this role at such a dynamic time,” Adams said in a statement. “The college is expanding its collaborations with more of our stakeholders on a variety of initiatives such as the new STEM building, the National Security Initiative, and statewide use of artificial intelligence. “The college’s new research centers continue to expand their activities with increasing numbers of students and partners, and our academic programs are showing strong growth with increased impact. This is a great time for the College of Engineering and Mines.” Adams as served as the associate dean for national security since 2022. In coordination with UND's Division of Research and Economic Development, Adams has helped bolster funding and research in areas related to national security, including funding from the Department of Defense and the Test Resource Management Center, according to the release. He received his Ph.D in electrical engineering at the University of Idaho, and held academic appointments at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte prior to coming to UND as a professor of electrical engineering in 2019. He also served as a program manager and development engineer for the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center. As an active-duty member of the Air Force, he was a program manager with the Space and Missile Systems Center and an aircraft maintenance technician. ADVERTISEMENTYour child’s ski boots can impact their overall skiing experience and may even undermine their love for the sport if they find the boots awkward fitting and uncomfortable. 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WASHINGTON: Brian Blank is a finance scholar and Fed watcher who researches how companies navigate downturns and make financial decisions, as well as how markets process information. Brandy Hadley is a finance professor who leads a student-managed investment fund and studies corporate decision-making and incentives. Together, they’re also the resident economic oracles at The Conversation US, and their forecast for 2024 held up notably well. Here, they explain what to expect from 2025. Heading into 2024, we said the US economy would likely continue growing, in spite of pundits’ forecast that a recession would strike. The past year showcased strong economic growth, moderating inflation, and efficiency gains, leading most economists and the financial press to stop expecting a downturn. But what economists call “soft landings” – when an economy slows just enough to curb inflation, but not enough to cause a recession – are only soft until they aren’t. As we turn to 2025, we’re optimistic the economy will keep growing. But that’s not without some caveats. Here are the key questions and risks we’re watching as the US rings in the new year. Some people expected a downturn in 2022 – and again in 2023 and 2024 – due to the Federal Reserve’s hawkish interest-rate decisions. The Fed raised rates rapidly in 2022 and held them high throughout 2023 and much of 2024. But in the last four months of 2024, the Fed slashed rates three times – most recently on Dec. 18. While the recent rate cuts mark a strategic shift, the pace of future cuts is expected to slow in 2024, as Fed Chair Jerome Powell suggested at the December meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee. Markets have expected this change of pace for some time, but some economists remain concerned about heightened risks of an economic slowdown. When Fed policymakers set short-term interest rates, they consider whether inflation and unemployment are too high or low, which affects whether they should stimulate the economy or pump the brakes. The interest rate that neither stimulates nor restricts economic activity, often referred to as R* or the neutral rate, is unknown, which makes the Fed’s job challenging. However, the terminal rate – which is where Fed policymakers expect rates will settle in for the long run – is now at 3 percent, which is the highest since 2016. This has led futures markets to wonder if a hiking cycle may be coming into focus, while others ask if the era of low rates is over. This shift in the Federal Reserve’s approach underscores a key uncertainty for 2025: While some economists are concerned the recent uptick in unemployment may continue, others worry about sticky inflation. The Fed’s challenge will be striking the right balance — continuing to support economic activity while ensuring inflation, currently hovering around 2.4 percent, doesn’t reignite. We do anticipate that interest rates will stay elevated amid slowing inflation, which remains above the Fed’s 2 percent target rate. Still, we’re optimistic this high-rate environment won’t weigh too heavily on consumers and the economy. While gross domestic product growth for the third quarter was revised up to 3.1 percent and the fourth quarter is projected to grow similarly quickly, in 2025 it could finally show signs of slowing from its recent pace. However, we expect it to continue to exceed consensus forecasts of 2.2 percent and longer-run expectations of 2 percent. While inflation has declined from 9.1 percent in June 2022 to less than 3 percent, the Federal Reserve’s 2 percent target remains elusive. Amid this backdrop, several new risks loom on the horizon. Key among them are potential tariff increases, which could disrupt trade, push up the prices of goods and even strengthen the US dollar. The average effective US tariff rate is 2 percent, but even a fivefold increase to 10 percent could escalate trade tensions, create economic challenges and complicate inflation forecasts. Consider that, historically, every 1 percent increase in tariff rates has resulted in a 0.1 percent higher annual inflation rate, on average. Still, we hope tariffs serve as more of a negotiating tactic for the incoming administration than an actual policy proposal. Tariffs are just one of several proposals from the incoming Trump administration that present further uncertainty. Stricter immigration policies could create labor shortages and increase prices, while government spending cuts could weigh down economic growth. Tax cuts – a likely policy focus – may offset some risk and spur growth, especially if coupled with productivity-enhancing investments. However, tax cuts may also result in a growing budget deficit, which is another risk to the longer-term economic outlook. Count us as two financial economists hoping only certain inflation measures fall slower than expected, and everyone’s expectations for future inflation remain low. If so, the Federal Reserve should be able to look beyond short-term changes in inflation and focus on metrics that are more useful for predicting long-term inflation. Labor markets have softened but remain resilient. Hiring rates are normalizing, while layoffs and unemployment – 4.2 percent, up from 3.7 percent at the start of 2024 – remain low despite edging up. The US economy could remain resilient into 2025, with continued growth in real incomes bolstering purchasing power. This income growth has supported consumer sentiment and reduced inequality, since low-income households have seen the greatest benefits. However, elevated debt balances, given increased consumer spending, suggest some Americans are under financial stress even though income growth has outpaced increases in consumer debt. While a higher unemployment rate is a concern, this risk to date appears limited, potentially due to labor hoarding – which is when employers are afraid to let go of employees they no longer require due to the difficulty in hiring new workers. Higher unemployment is also an issue the Fed has the tools to address – if it must. This leaves us cautiously optimistic that resilient consumers will continue to retain jobs, supporting their growing purchasing power. The outlook for 2025 remains promising, with continued economic growth driven by resilient consumer spending, steadying labor markets, and less restrictive monetary policy. Yet current price targets for stocks are at historic highs for a post-rally period, which is surprising and may offer reasons for caution. Higher-for-longer interest rates could put pressure on corporate debt levels and rate-sensitive sectors, such as housing and utilities. Corporate earnings, however, remain strong, buoyed by cost savings and productivity gains. Stock performance may be subdued, but underperforming or discounted stocks could rebound, presenting opportunities for gains in 2025. Artificial intelligence provides a bright spot, leading to recent outperformance in the tech-heavy NASDAQ and related investments. And onshoring continues to provide growth opportunities for companies reshaping supply chains to meet domestic demand. To be fair, uncertainty persists, and economists know forecasting is for the weather. That’s why investors should always remain well-diversified. But with inflation closer to the Fed’s target and wages rising faster than inflation, we’re optimistic that continued economic growth will pave the way for a financially positive year ahead. Here’s hoping we get even more right about 2025 than we did this past year.EASTON, Pa. (AP) — Louie Semona scored 15 points off of the bench to lead Stonehill over Lafayette 70-65 on Sunday. Semona had six rebounds for the Skyhawks (8-7). Hermann Koffi scored 13 points, shooting 4 for 8 (2 for 5 from 3-point range) and 3 of 4 from the free-throw line. Josh Morgan had 13 points and shot 4 of 9 from the field, including 1 for 3 from 3-point range, and went 4 for 4 from the line. The Leopards (5-8) were led by Caleb Williams, who recorded 15 points. Lafayette also got 14 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks from Justin Vander Baan. Alex Chaikin also recorded 12 points, two steals and two blocks. Stonehill went into the half leading Lafayette 28-27. Semona put up seven points in the half. Stonehill used a 7-0 second-half run erase a five-point deficit and take the lead at 47-45 with 11:20 remaining in the half before finishing off the victory. Todd Brogna scored nine second-half points. The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar .PLAINS, Ga. (AP) — Newly married and sworn as a Naval officer, Jimmy Carter left his tiny hometown in 1946 hoping to climb the ranks and see the world. Less than a decade later, the death of his father and namesake, a merchant farmer and local politician who went by “Mr. Earl,” prompted the submariner and his wife, Rosalynn, to return to the rural life of Plains, Georgia, they thought they’d escaped. The lieutenant never would be an admiral. Instead, he became commander in chief. Years after his presidency ended in humbling defeat, he would add a Nobel Peace Prize, awarded not for his White House accomplishments but “for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.” The life of James Earl Carter Jr., the 39th and longest-lived U.S. president, ended Sunday at the age of 100 where it began: Plains, the town of 600 that fueled his political rise, welcomed him after his fall and sustained him during 40 years of service that redefined what it means to be a former president. With the stubborn confidence of an engineer and an optimism rooted in his Baptist faith, Carter described his motivations in politics and beyond in the same way: an almost missionary zeal to solve problems and improve lives. Carter was raised amid racism, abject poverty and hard rural living — realities that shaped both his deliberate politics and emphasis on human rights. “He always felt a responsibility to help people,” said Jill Stuckey, a longtime friend of Carter's in Plains. “And when he couldn’t make change wherever he was, he decided he had to go higher.” Carter's path, a mix of happenstance and calculation , pitted moral imperatives against political pragmatism; and it defied typical labels of American politics, especially caricatures of one-term presidents as failures. “We shouldn’t judge presidents by how popular they are in their day. That's a very narrow way of assessing them," Carter biographer Jonathan Alter told the Associated Press. “We should judge them by how they changed the country and the world for the better. On that score, Jimmy Carter is not in the first rank of American presidents, but he stands up quite well.” Later in life, Carter conceded that many Americans, even those too young to remember his tenure, judged him ineffective for failing to contain inflation or interest rates, end the energy crisis or quickly bring home American hostages in Iran. He gained admirers instead for his work at The Carter Center — advocating globally for public health, human rights and democracy since 1982 — and the decades he and Rosalynn wore hardhats and swung hammers with Habitat for Humanity. Yet the common view that he was better after the Oval Office than in it annoyed Carter, and his allies relished him living long enough to see historians reassess his presidency. “He doesn’t quite fit in today’s terms” of a left-right, red-blue scoreboard, said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who visited the former president multiple times during his own White House bid. At various points in his political career, Carter labeled himself “progressive” or “conservative” — sometimes both at once. His most ambitious health care bill failed — perhaps one of his biggest legislative disappointments — because it didn’t go far enough to suit liberals. Republicans, especially after his 1980 defeat, cast him as a left-wing cartoon. It would be easiest to classify Carter as a centrist, Buttigieg said, “but there’s also something radical about the depth of his commitment to looking after those who are left out of society and out of the economy.” Indeed, Carter’s legacy is stitched with complexities, contradictions and evolutions — personal and political. The self-styled peacemaker was a war-trained Naval Academy graduate who promised Democratic challenger Ted Kennedy that he’d “kick his ass.” But he campaigned with a call to treat everyone with “respect and compassion and with love.” Carter vowed to restore America’s virtue after the shame of Vietnam and Watergate, and his technocratic, good-government approach didn't suit Republicans who tagged government itself as the problem. It also sometimes put Carter at odds with fellow Democrats. The result still was a notable legislative record, with wins on the environment, education, and mental health care. He dramatically expanded federally protected lands, began deregulating air travel, railroads and trucking, and he put human rights at the center of U.S. foreign policy. As a fiscal hawk, Carter added a relative pittance to the national debt, unlike successors from both parties. Carter nonetheless struggled to make his achievements resonate with the electorate he charmed in 1976. Quoting Bob Dylan and grinning enthusiastically, he had promised voters he would “never tell a lie.” Once in Washington, though, he led like a joyless engineer, insisting his ideas would become reality and he'd be rewarded politically if only he could convince enough people with facts and logic. This served him well at Camp David, where he brokered peace between Israel’s Menachem Begin and Epypt’s Anwar Sadat, an experience that later sparked the idea of The Carter Center in Atlanta. Carter's tenacity helped the center grow to a global force that monitored elections across five continents, enabled his freelance diplomacy and sent public health experts across the developing world. The center’s wins were personal for Carter, who hoped to outlive the last Guinea worm parasite, and nearly did. As president, though, the approach fell short when he urged consumers beleaguered by energy costs to turn down their thermostats. Or when he tried to be the nation’s cheerleader, beseeching Americans to overcome a collective “crisis of confidence.” Republican Ronald Reagan exploited Carter's lecturing tone with a belittling quip in their lone 1980 debate. “There you go again,” the former Hollywood actor said in response to a wonky answer from the sitting president. “The Great Communicator” outpaced Carter in all but six states. Carter later suggested he “tried to do too much, too soon” and mused that he was incompatible with Washington culture: media figures, lobbyists and Georgetown social elites who looked down on the Georgians and their inner circle as “country come to town.” Carter carefully navigated divides on race and class on his way to the Oval Office. Born Oct. 1, 1924 , Carter was raised in the mostly Black community of Archery, just outside Plains, by a progressive mother and white supremacist father. Their home had no running water or electricity but the future president still grew up with the relative advantages of a locally prominent, land-owning family in a system of Jim Crow segregation. He wrote of President Franklin Roosevelt’s towering presence and his family’s Democratic Party roots, but his father soured on FDR, and Jimmy Carter never campaigned or governed as a New Deal liberal. He offered himself as a small-town peanut farmer with an understated style, carrying his own luggage, bunking with supporters during his first presidential campaign and always using his nickname. And he began his political career in a whites-only Democratic Party. As private citizens, he and Rosalynn supported integration as early as the 1950s and believed it inevitable. Carter refused to join the White Citizens Council in Plains and spoke out in his Baptist church against denying Black people access to worship services. “This is not my house; this is not your house,” he said in a churchwide meeting, reminding fellow parishioners their sanctuary belonged to God. Yet as the appointed chairman of Sumter County schools he never pushed to desegregate, thinking it impractical after the Supreme Court’s 1954 Brown v. Board decision. And while presidential candidate Carter would hail the 1965 Voting Rights Act, signed by fellow Democrat Lyndon Johnson when Carter was a state senator, there is no record of Carter publicly supporting it at the time. Carter overcame a ballot-stuffing opponent to win his legislative seat, then lost the 1966 governor's race to an arch-segregationist. He won four years later by avoiding explicit mentions of race and campaigning to the right of his rival, who he mocked as “Cufflinks Carl” — the insult of an ascendant politician who never saw himself as part the establishment. Carter’s rural and small-town coalition in 1970 would match any victorious Republican electoral map in 2024. Once elected, though, Carter shocked his white conservative supporters — and landed on the cover of Time magazine — by declaring that “the time for racial discrimination is over.” Before making the jump to Washington, Carter befriended the family of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., whom he’d never sought out as he eyed the governor’s office. Carter lamented his foot-dragging on school integration as a “mistake.” But he also met, conspicuously, with Alabama's segregationist Gov. George Wallace to accept his primary rival's endorsement ahead of the 1976 Democratic convention. “He very shrewdly took advantage of his own Southerness,” said Amber Roessner, a University of Tennessee professor and expert on Carter’s campaigns. A coalition of Black voters and white moderate Democrats ultimately made Carter the last Democratic presidential nominee to sweep the Deep South. Then, just as he did in Georgia, he used his power in office to appoint more non-whites than all his predecessors had, combined. He once acknowledged “the secret shame” of white Americans who didn’t fight segregation. But he also told Alter that doing more would have sacrificed his political viability – and thus everything he accomplished in office and after. King's daughter, Bernice King, described Carter as wisely “strategic” in winning higher offices to enact change. “He was a leader of conscience,” she said in an interview. Rosalynn Carter, who died on Nov. 19 at the age of 96, was identified by both husband and wife as the “more political” of the pair; she sat in on Cabinet meetings and urged him to postpone certain priorities, like pressing the Senate to relinquish control of the Panama Canal. “Let that go until the second term,” she would sometimes say. The president, recalled her former aide Kathy Cade, retorted that he was “going to do what’s right” even if “it might cut short the time I have.” Rosalynn held firm, Cade said: “She’d remind him you have to win to govern.” Carter also was the first president to appoint multiple women as Cabinet officers. Yet by his own telling, his career sprouted from chauvinism in the Carters' early marriage: He did not consult Rosalynn when deciding to move back to Plains in 1953 or before launching his state Senate bid a decade later. Many years later, he called it “inconceivable” that he didn’t confer with the woman he described as his “full partner,” at home, in government and at The Carter Center. “We developed a partnership when we were working in the farm supply business, and it continued when Jimmy got involved in politics,” Rosalynn Carter told AP in 2021. So deep was their trust that when Carter remained tethered to the White House in 1980 as 52 Americans were held hostage in Tehran, it was Rosalynn who campaigned on her husband’s behalf. “I just loved it,” she said, despite the bitterness of defeat. Fair or not, the label of a disastrous presidency had leading Democrats keep their distance, at least publicly, for many years, but Carter managed to remain relevant, writing books and weighing in on societal challenges. He lamented widening wealth gaps and the influence of money in politics. He voted for democratic socialist Bernie Sanders over Hillary Clinton in 2016, and later declared that America had devolved from fully functioning democracy to “oligarchy.” Yet looking ahead to 2020, with Sanders running again, Carter warned Democrats not to “move to a very liberal program,” lest they help re-elect President Donald Trump. Carter scolded the Republican for his serial lies and threats to democracy, and chided the U.S. establishment for misunderstanding Trump’s populist appeal. He delighted in yearly convocations with Emory University freshmen, often asking them to guess how much he’d raised in his two general election campaigns. “Zero,” he’d gesture with a smile, explaining the public financing system candidates now avoid so they can raise billions. Carter still remained quite practical in partnering with wealthy corporations and foundations to advance Carter Center programs. Carter recognized that economic woes and the Iran crisis doomed his presidency, but offered no apologies for appointing Paul Volcker as the Federal Reserve chairman whose interest rate hikes would not curb inflation until Reagan's presidency. He was proud of getting all the hostages home without starting a shooting war, even though Tehran would not free them until Reagan's Inauguration Day. “Carter didn’t look at it” as a failure, Alter emphasized. “He said, ‘They came home safely.’ And that’s what he wanted.” Well into their 90s, the Carters greeted visitors at Plains’ Maranatha Baptist Church, where he taught Sunday School and where he will have his last funeral before being buried on family property alongside Rosalynn . Carter, who made the congregation’s collection plates in his woodworking shop, still garnered headlines there, calling for women’s rights within religious institutions, many of which, he said, “subjugate” women in church and society. Carter was not one to dwell on regrets. “I am at peace with the accomplishments, regret the unrealized goals and utilize my former political position to enhance everything we do,” he wrote around his 90th birthday. The politician who had supposedly hated Washington politics also enjoyed hosting Democratic presidential contenders as public pilgrimages to Plains became advantageous again. Carter sat with Buttigieg for the final time March 1, 2020, hours before the Indiana mayor ended his campaign and endorsed eventual winner Joe Biden. “He asked me how I thought the campaign was going,” Buttigieg said, recalling that Carter flashed his signature grin and nodded along as the young candidate, born a year after Carter left office, “put the best face” on the walloping he endured the day before in South Carolina. Never breaking his smile, the 95-year-old host fired back, “I think you ought to drop out.” “So matter of fact,” Buttigieg said with a laugh. “It was somehow encouraging.” Carter had lived enough, won plenty and lost enough to take the long view. “He talked a lot about coming from nowhere,” Buttigieg said, not just to attain the presidency but to leverage “all of the instruments you have in life” and “make the world more peaceful.” In his farewell address as president, Carter said as much to the country that had embraced and rejected him. “The struggle for human rights overrides all differences of color, nation or language,” he declared. “Those who hunger for freedom, who thirst for human dignity and who suffer for the sake of justice — they are the patriots of this cause.” Carter pledged to remain engaged with and for them as he returned “home to the South where I was born and raised,” home to Plains, where that young lieutenant had indeed become “a fellow citizen of the world.” —- Bill Barrow, based in Atlanta, has covered national politics including multiple presidential campaigns for the AP since 2012.

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Agricultural land in Central Asia and the Caucasus is degrading at an alarming rate. Officials did a lot of handwringing about the issue during a roundtable at the recently completed COP29 environmental conclave. But in highlighting urgent needs, participants didn’t proffer many ideas about how to mitigate the myriad challenges. Globally, about 40 percent of agricultural land is vulnerable to degradation, Azerbaijan’s agriculture minister, Majnun Mammadov, stated in his opening remarks at the roundtable, adding as much as 12 million acres of arable land around the world becomes unproductive every year. Conditions are particularly acute in Tajikistan, where almost one-third of the country’s agricultural land is in “critical condition,” according to a published by the Asia-Plus news agency. But such challenges as deforestation, soil salinization and over-grazing are threatening other Central Asian states too, especially Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. Citing UN data, the Asia-Plus report stated that 39 percent of Central Asia’s landmass is experiencing drought. In presenting a plan to introduce water-conserving and soil-monitoring technologies in Uzbekistan, the country’s ecology minister, Aziz Abdukhakimov, exuded a sense of urgency. “We must act quickly and decisively, otherwise we will leave only deserts for future generations,” he stated. Participants agreed that a multilateral approach was needed to address soil degradation, but no specific initiatives to promote joint action were discussed. Even if plans had been worked out to address problems, Central Asian states lack the funds to fully implement them on their own. And that situation doesn’t look like it will change anytime soon. Developing nations say substantive climate action will take over $1 trillion per year in funding from wealthy nations. Yet, after prolonged and, at times, bitter negotiations at COP29 in Baku, wealthy nations agreed to commit $300 billion annually to address global-warming related issues, including soil degradation. That figure marks a substantial increase over the $100 billion that wealthy nations had previously pledged to commit to help developing countries adapt to global warming conditions. But somehow everyone departed Baku full of hard feelings. Developing nations accused the globally rich of being cheap. At the same time, many wealthy nations, especially the United States and European Union members, were angry that economically advanced states, such as China and Saudi Arabia, claimed to still be developing countries not obligated to make any contribution to the COP climate action fund. The causes of soil degradation are not new, with many linked to global warming. A published by the UN Convention to Combat Desertification in 2022 also identified several man-made factors contributing to the loss of farmland and pasture across Central Asia, including an overreliance on cotton cultivation and inefficient irrigation practices. The cumulative effects of soil degradation are heightening social challenges across the region, acting as a “significant trigger” for migration from the countryside to cities, resulting in increases in air pollution, according to the UN report. It also cautioned that a vicious cycle of social harm, fueling a decline in living standards in Central Asia, is taking hold. “Land degradation, combined with increasing anthropogenic pressure caused by population growth and density, leads to a decrease in the availability of productive land and water resources, a drop in crop yields and livestock productivity,” UN study states. By