At the United Nations, more than 120 countries are poised today to adopt a first-ever treaty banning the possession, use and threat of nuclear weapons. The landmark deal was negotiated without the participation of any of the world’s nine nuclear-armed states or NATO allies—with the exception of the Netherlands. The nuclear ban is based on humanitarian law, and its authors note that just 1 percent of the world’s nuclear weapons are enough to devastate the natural world and could lead to humanity’s extinction.