Category: Climate Change

MIL-OSI USA: FACT SHEET: Biden-⁠ Harris Administration Continues Recovery Efforts in North Carolina Following Hurricane Helene

US Senate News:

Source: The White House
Following Hurricane Helene’s devastating impacts across the Southeast and Appalachia, the Biden-Harris Administration continues its robust Federal efforts to help communities recover and rebuild. The storm heavily impacted North Carolina, where the Administration continues to surge resources and assist families, business owners, farmers, and other impacted communities receive the support and assistance they need and deserve.
Federal disaster assistance for Hurricane Helene survivors has surpassed $474 million – including more than $86 million in housing and other types of assistance for survivors in North Carolina. Survivors can register for assistance at one of three Disaster Recovery Centers in Caldwell, McDowell, and Buncombe Counties, or on disasterassistance.gov, by calling 1-800-621-3362, or via the FEMA app.
The Department of Defense continues to support search-and-rescue operations, route clearance, and commodities distribution across western North Carolina with 1,500 active-duty troops. The Department of Defense is also employing additional capabilities to assist with increasing situational awareness across the remote terrain of Western North Carolina. The Army Corps of Engineers continues missions supporting debris removal, temporary emergency power installation, infrastructure and water and wastewater assessments, and technical assistance. Over 2,000 North Carolina National Guard personnel along with over 200 Guardsmen from 15 States are conducting response operations in western North Carolina.
As response efforts continue in North Carolina, more than 1,250 FEMA staff remain on the ground, with more arriving daily. Nearly 400 Urban Search and Rescue personnel remain in the field helping people. These teams have rescued or supported over 3,200 survivors to date.
Power has been restored to more than approximately 96 percent of customers, as a result of 10,000 utility personnel working around the clock. Cellular restoration also continues to improve, with more than 93 percent of cellular sites in service. FEMA is boosting response coordination by providing 40 Starlink units to ensure first responders can communicate with each other.
Commodity distribution, mass feeding, and hydration operations continue in areas of western North Carolina. FEMA continues to send commodity shipments and voluntary organizations are supporting feeding operations with bulk food and water deliveries coming via truck and aircraft. Mobile feeding operations are reaching survivors in heavily impacted areas, including three mass feeding sites in Buncombe, McDowell and Watauga counties. The Salvation Army has 20 mobile feeding units supporting this massive operation and has provided emotional and spiritual care to survivors. To date, the American Red Cross is engaging in targeted distribution of emergency supplies in low-income communities with high levels of minor or affected residential damage.
Additional recovery efforts in North Carolina include:
Supporting Infrastructure Recovery
As part of the robust, whole-of-government response to Hurricane Helene, the U.S. Department of Transportation is supporting response and recovery efforts in impacted communities in North Carolina. DOT personnel are on the ground in multiple locations of the state.
On October 5, the Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) announced $100 million in Quick Release Emergency Relief funding to support North Carolina. The funding helps pay for the costs of immediate emergency work resulting from Hurricane Helene flood damage. Additional funding will flow to affected communities from the Emergency Relief program.
FHWA worked closely with North Carolina and other federal agencies to assess infrastructure damage, including supporting hundreds of bridge inspections and other critical infrastructure assessments across the Southeast. On October 8, FHWA Acting Administrator Kristin White visited the region with Governor Roy Cooper, North Carolina Department of Transportation Secretary Joey Hopkins and other federal, state and local officials and got a first-hand look at impacts from the storm and recovery efforts.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) continues to work with partners in affected parts of North Carolina and Tennessee, as the national airspace steadily returned to normal operations.
The FAA Air Traffic Organization Technical Operations Team is on-site and leading communications restoration efforts at air traffic facilities. FAA also supported the North Carolina Air National Guard by providing advisory services at Rutherford County Airport and Avery County Airport.
The FAA worked with state and local governments, critical infrastructure owners and operators, and first responders to enable drones to support response and recovery. The FAA granted permission to allow Wing to temporarily conduct beyond visual line of sight drone package deliveries for Walmart’s pharmacy in western North Carolina, delivering essential items including prescription medicine, medical supplies, and medical equipment to hard-to-reach locations.
Additionally, President Biden’s approval of a Presidential Emergency Declaration for North Carolina affords the state a period of emergency regulatory relief from Federal Motor Carrier Safety regulations, including flexibility around driving time for property- and passenger-carrying vehicles. This allows truck drivers to get essential supplies to affected areas in North Carolina. It may also provide opportunities for motorcoach buses to deliver relief teams to response locations and allow for the transport and evacuation of residents.
On October 10, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael Regan joined Governor Cooper, Senator Tillis, Congressman Edwards and local officials to assess federal and state recovery efforts in response to Hurricane Helene. EPA and its state partners have made significant progress bringing drinking water and wastewater systems back online, including restoring service to more than 75 drinking water systems that serve approximately 260,000 people in the Asheville area. EPA is also providing technical assistance and drinking water testing to systems and private drinking water well owners across the Asheville area through their Mobile Drinking Water lab – giving residents clear data and confidence that their water is safe to drink. The lab is capable of testing 100 samples per day. Water utilities and private well owners must request sampling services through their local health departments. EPA will remain on the ground in North Carolina helping area residents as long as their assistance is needed.
The Department of Energy’s Energy Response Organization remains activated to respond to storm impacts, and responders remain deployed to FEMA regional response coordination centers. Via the Electricity Sub-Sector Coordinating Council and Oil and Natural Gas Sub-Sector Coordinating Council, the Department of Energy has been coordinating continuously with energy sector partners on the ongoing Hurricane Helene response. As noted above, there are 10,000 line workers supporting power restoration efforts.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration continues to support post-disaster imagery flights following Hurricane Helene, already totaling over 68 flight hours during 20 flights, including over western North Carolina. This imagery not only supports FEMA and the broader response community, but the public at large.
Providing Financial Flexibilities to Homeowners and Taxpayers
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is providing a 90-day moratorium on foreclosures of mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) as well as foreclosures of mortgages to Native American borrowers guaranteed under the Section 184 Indian Home Loan Guarantee program. Additionally, affected homeowners that have mortgages through Government-Sponsored Enterprises – including Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – and the FHA are eligible to suspend their mortgage payments through a forbearance plan for up to 12 months.
HUD announced $3 million for the State of North Carolina to support people experiencing homelessness in communities impacted by Hurricane Helene. Funding from the Rapid Unsheltered Survivor Housing program will help residents and families who are experiencing or at risk of homelessness and have needs that are not otherwise served or fully met by existing Federal disaster relief programs.
This summer, HUD launched a new streamlined process for requesting additional flexibility on existing grants after a disaster is declared. Recipients of annual HUD funding – including in North Carolina – may request waivers to unlock and accelerate the use of their funding for disaster response and recovery. With the updated waiver process, HUD is proactively issuing maximum flexibility to communities impacted by disasters. These flexibilities will expedite the recovery process, reduce administrative burden, and allow impacted jurisdictions to quickly tailor programs and activities to address the post disaster needs of their communities. The Disaster Assistance and Recovery Team within HUD’s Office of Housing Counseling continues to conduct focused meetings with housing counseling agencies in each state impacted by these disasters to discuss their unique response and recovery challenges and identify resources available to assist.
The Internal Revenue Service announced disaster tax relief for all individuals and businesses affected by Hurricane Helene in North Carolina. North Carolina taxpayers now have until May 1, 2025, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.
Protecting Public Health
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) declared a Public Health Emergency for North Carolina to address the health impacts of Hurricane Helene. HHS’s Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR) continues to provide medical support for Hurricane Helene, predominantly onsite in North Carolina. These ASPR personnel are deployed to support Hurricane Helene response operations, which include four Disaster Medical Assistance Teams and personnel from a Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team (DMORT) in North Carolina. ASPR Health and Medical Task Forces and ASPR Disaster Medical Assistance Teams from the National Disaster Medical System are providing 24-hour surge support to three hospitals: Mission Hospital in Asheville, Blue Ridge Regional Hospital in Spruce Pine, and Caldwell Memorial in Lenoir. To date, ASPR teams have seen nearly 1000 patients. ASPR will continue to work with federal, state, and local partners to prioritize medical assistance to other areas affected by Hurricane Helene as required and requested.
Supporting Workers and Worker Safety
Working alongside the Department of Labor, the States of North Carolina has announced that eligible workers can receive federal Disaster Unemployment Assistance to compensate for income lost directly resulting from Hurricane Helene. And, through the Department of Labor’s innovative partnership with the U.S. Postal Service, displaced workers in North Carolina can now go to the post office in any other state and verify their ID for purposes of getting their benefits quickly.
Supporting Farmers and Agriculture
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has put contingency plans and program flexibilities into place to ensure farmers, foresters and communities are able to get the support they need, such as by extending program signup opportunities, expediting crop insurance payments, and using waivers and emergency procedures to expedite recovery efforts on working lands. USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service has issued flexibilities and waivers for North Carolina to ensure that food and nutritional assistance reaches those in need as soon as possible. In North Carolina, waivers have been issued to increase access to WIC products, replace benefits through Summer EBT, allow the purchase of hot foods through SNAP, and more.
Additionally, USDA is currently coordinating over 200 staff on the ground in North Carolina, including saw support teams and emergency road clearance teams, to help clear trees and debris, including in Waterville, Marion, Newton, and Weaverville.
Supporting Students and Student Loan Borrowers
The Department of Education has offered technical assistance to states and local educational agencies to support recovery efforts and shared critical resources, including those developed by other federal agencies and organizations, to support restoring the teaching and learning environment.
The Department’s office of Federal Student Aid (FSA) has flexibilities that are automatically available to affected institutions of higher education to help their continued management of the federal student aid programs. These flexibilities help schools if they need to adjust their academic calendars, such as due to unexpected closures, and also help students who may need to take a leave of absence. The flexibilities also help students avoid reductions in their federal aid due to any state or federal disaster assistance provided. FSA will also work with affected institutions that need help on other areas, such as paying credit balances. FSA has communicated with schools located in the areas impacted by Hurricane Helene. Those communications included existing Department guidance about how natural disasters impact schools and their administration of financial aid, resources, and links to FEMA disaster aid information. FSA’s communications also included a way for schools to share more information about the disaster impact on their campus and submit questions about administrative relief and flexibilities.
The Department is ensuring affected borrowers in areas impacted by the hurricanes can focus on their critical needs without needing to worry about missing their student loan payments. Direct Loan borrowers and federally-serviced FFEL borrowers in the affected area who miss their payments will be automatically placed into a natural disaster forbearance. During forbearance, payments are temporarily postponed or reduced, and interest is still charged. Thanks to regulations issued by the Biden-Harris Administration, months in this forbearance will count toward PSLF and IDR forgiveness. Direct Loan and federally serviced FEEL borrowers are not required to take an action but have the option to call their servicer if they wish to enroll in the forbearance proactively. Perkins loan borrowers should contact their loan holder to request natural disaster forbearance. 
Continuing to Survey Data
The Department of the Interior’s U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) continues working to measure river levels and flow, and repair streamgages that transmit critical data. USGS crews continue working to determine the extent of flooding by surveying for high-water marks. These flood-peak data and high-water marks are used to determine flood frequency and are critical in the design of infrastructure and in determining flood plain boundaries. USGS stood up a landslide response team that now includes 32 USGS scientists, 19 of which ware mapping landslides, to provide technical assistance to the North Carolina Geological Survey and Tennessee Geological Survey. Their work includes reconnaissance using satellite imagery, flights, and on-the-ground assessments to map landslides.

MIL OSI USA News –

January 23, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Remarks by President Biden on the Response to Hurricane Milton | St. Pete Beach, FL

US Senate News:

Source: The White House
Residential AreaSt. Pete Beach, Florida
11:34 A.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Hello, folks.
I just met a number of the homeowners, been wiped out, and the — everything from the Coast Guard to the fire department. It’s a hell of a deal.
I’m here in Florida for the second time in two weeks and — to survey the damage from another catastrophic storm: Hurricane Milton. Thankfully, the storm’s impact was not as cataclysmic as had — we had predicted. But on top of two [one] before it, it just keeps s- — seem we got to get — getting worse.
And bu- — you know, but for some individuals, it was cataclysmic — all those folks who not only lost their homes but, more importantly, those folks who lost their lives, lost family members, lost all their personal belongings. Entire neighborhoods were flooded, and millions — millions were without power.
Earlier this morning, I did an aerial tour of Saint Petersburg and the battered coastline. I flew over Tropicana Field and — where the Tampa Bays play — Rays play, and the roof was almost completely off. But thank God not many people were injured.
I spoke with first responders who’ve been working around the clock. I also met with small-business owners here and homeowners who’ve taken a real beating — these back-to-back storms. And they’re heartbroken and exhausted, and their expenses are piling up.
And I know from experience how devastating it is to lose your home. Several years ago, my home was struck by lightning. It didn’t all burn down, but we were out of the home for seven months while it was being repaired. The thing I was most concerned about was not just the home; it was all those things, all those — all those pictures I saved, my — and my daughter had drawn when she was little, all the — all the family photographs, all the albums, all the things that really matter.
Folks, the — the fact is that when you lose your wedding ring and the old photos of your children, family keepsakes, things that can’t be replaced — but sometimes, from my own experience, that’s the part that hurts the most.
And I’m standing next to the mayor of Pete’s Beach and the Chairwoman Peters. Both their homes were damaged in Hurricane Milton. The mayor’s home flooded, family vehicles washed away. The county chair’s home had experienced significant damage in the past two storms previous. They just finished rebuilding and settling back in, and now they have to do it all over again.
Both their families lost precious personal belongings, but they’ve stepped up not only to look out for themselves but to help other families, help their neighbors. You know, that’s the resilience of the people of West Florida.
And I want to thank them and all the public officials who suffered consequential losses because of the storm but who are out there doing things to help other people who had serious losses. It matters. The American people should know the sacrifices they’re making.
You know, they’ve been steadfast partners as well. We’ve been in frequent contact.
And it’s in moments like this we come together to take care of each other, not as Democrats or Republicans but as Americans — Americans who need help and Americans who would help you if you were in the same situation. We are one United States — one Unites States.
I also came here to talk about all the progress we have made together. This is a whole-of-government effort, from state and local to FEMA to U.S. Coast Guard, Army Corps of Engineers, the Energy Department, Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Defense, just to name a few.
FEMA has delivered 1.2 million meals, over 300,000 liters of water, 2 million gallons of fuel. And so far, we’ve installed 100 satellite terminals to restore communications in impacted areas so families can ton- — contact their loved ones to be sure everything is okay and be able to reach out for help as well.
Speaking of help, so far, we’ve opened 10 disaster recovery centers in Florida, with more to come, so people can have one stop to meet with officials, get the federal help they’re entitled to that’s available to them, such as direct, immediate financial aid and no [low-]interest payment loans, mortgage relief, and so much more.
You can also go online to DisasterAssistance.gov — DisasterAssistance.gov — or call 1-800-621-FEMA — F-E-M-A.
Yesterday, after I signed the major disaster declaration, more than 250,000 Floridians registered for help — 250,000 — the most in sin- — any — a single day ever in the history of this country — 250,000.
I know you’re concerned about the debris removal, and it’s obvious why. We’re prioritizing debris removal and working with the state and local partners to clear roads, to get wreckage into — of the two hurricanes off properties, and so more folks can return home and businesses can receive much-needed deliveries of food, fuel, medicine, and other essentials. That’s a priority for me.
Power has also been restored to over 2 million people in a matter of days. And thanks to tens of thousands of power workers from 43 states and Canada working nonstop, even more people will have more power restored soon.
Today, I’m proud to announce $612 million to six new cutting-edge projects to support communities impacted by Hurricane Helene and Milton. That includes $47 million for Gainesville Regional Utilities and another $47 million for Florida Power & Light.
This funding will not only restore power, but it’ll make the region’s power system stronger and more capable and reduce the frequency and duration of power outages while extreme weather events become more frequent.
In fact, we’ve been able to restore power quicker because of critical infrastructure investments were made both when I was vice president and president to harden the grid. For folks at home, “the grid” means the electrical power system that transmits energy from the — where it’s produced in a power plant to where it’s used in homes and businesses.
We’ve been hardening the grid, like b- — like burying transmission lines underground, replacing wood power poles with concrete or composite poles so they don’t snap in the wind.
Energy Secretary Granholm is here with me today leading this effort, and she’ll tell you more about it and other cutting-edge technologies on the grid in a moment.
Let me close with this. I’m here to porsonally — personally say thank you to the brave first responders — and I don’t want to underestimate that — brave first responders, men and women in uniform, utility workers. (Inaudible) look at the number that showed up from around the country — from Canada — California, Nebraska, all over the country — to come here to help.
Men and women in uniform, as I said; health care personnel; neighbors helping neighbors; and so many more people. This is all a team effort, folks. You made a big difference. And it’s saved lives.
But there’s much more to do, and we’re going to do everything we can to get power back into your homes, not only helping you recover but to help you build back stronger.
God bless you all. And may God protect our first responders and protect our troops.
Now I’m going to turn this over to Secretary Granholm. Madam Secretary.
11:42 A.M. EDT

MIL OSI USA News –

January 23, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: We’ve bred corals to better tolerate lethal heatwaves, but rapid climate action is still needed to save reefs

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Liam Lachs, Postdoctoral Research Associate in Climate Change Ecology and Evolution, Newcastle University

The authors working in their ‘coral nursery’ in the Pacific. Liam Lachs

Our research group has bred corals able to better survive marine heatwaves. Our work, now published in Nature Communications, shows that it is possible to improve coral heat tolerance even within a single generation.

We did this using selective breeding: a technique used by humans for thousands of years to produce animals and plants with desirable characteristics. Selective breeding is how humans turned wolf-like dogs into St Bernards, chihuahuas and everything in between.

Now, selective breeding is being considered as a tool for nature conservation, particularly for coral reefs. The Coralassist Lab (of which we are part) and the Palau International Coral Reef Center have been working on coral heatwave survival specifically. Our latest results are the culmination of seven years’ work.

Marine heatwaves trigger mass coral bleaching and mortality, with 2023-2024 declared as the fourth global mass bleaching event. Assisted evolution methods — like selective breeding — aim to boost natural adaptation to buy time for corals under climate change.

Yet the improvement in heat tolerance in our selectively bred corals was modest compared to the intensity of marine heatwaves expected in the future. While selective breeding is feasible, it is likely not a panacea. We’ll still need to tackle the cause of mass coral bleaching by reducing greenhouse gas emissions in order to mitigate warming and give assisted evolution programmes time to take effect.

How to breed corals for heat tolerance

The first step was to determine the heat tolerance of many potential parent corals on the reef. Then, we chose specific individuals to breed two separate families of offspring, selected for either high or low heat tolerance. We reared these offspring for three to four years until they reached reproductive maturity, and then tested their heat tolerance.

Some of the selectively-bred coral at the nursery in the Pacific island nation Palau.
Jesse Alpert

We conducted selective breeding trials for two different traits, either the tolerance to a short, intense heat exposure (temperatures 3.5°C above normal for ten days) or a less intense but long-term exposure more typical of natural marine heatwaves (2.5°C above average for a month). This enabled us to estimate the heritability of each trait, the response to selective breeding, and whether both traits have a shared genetic basis.

Selecting parents for high- rather than low-heat tolerance enhanced the tolerance of their adult offspring for both traits tested.

a) Overview of the experimental design and examples of (b) Acropora digitifera parents and (c) their offspring at the nursery in Palau.
Coralassist lab

Heritability was roughly 0.2 to 0.3 on a scale of 0 to 1, which means about a quarter of the variability in offspring heat tolerance was due to genes passed from their parents. In other words, these traits have a substantial genetic basis on which natural and artificial selection can act.

We measure cumulative heat stress and tolerance in terms of degree-heating weeks (°C-weeks), which reflects both how hot it gets and for how long. Given the trait variability identified in these particular corals, heat tolerance could in theory be enhanced by about 1°C-week within one generation.

However, even this level of enhancement may not be enough to keep pace with ever more intense heatwaves. Depending on climate action, the intensity of heatwaves is expected to rise in the coming decades by around 3°C-weeks per decade, faster than the enhancement achieved in our study.

Interestingly, corals selectively bred for high- rather than low, short-stress tolerance were no better at surviving the long heat stress exposure. With no genetic correlation detected, it is plausible that these traits are driven by independent sets of genes, and corals that are good at surviving the short sharp heat stress aren’t necessarily the best at surviving longer term marine heatwaves.

This would have important implications, as work like this would benefit from cheap and rapid tests that can effectively identify heat tolerant colonies for breeding. However, if these tests can’t predict which coral colonies will survive month-long heatwaves, it presents a serious challenge.

Coral fragments during a long-term simulated marine heatwave, with some remaining relatively healthy throughout (upper) and others bleaching (lower) or dying (not shown).
Liam Lachs

Scaling up selective breeding

Since it is possible to selectively breed corals for increased heat tolerance, the next step is to conduct large-scale trials in the wild. This will likely require considerable numbers of selectively bred corals to be deployed, perhaps by directly seeding coral larvae on reefs, or planting corals reared in an aquaculture facility.

For this to work, outplanted corals must become reproductive themselves and contribute to the wild population gene pool. Doing this at very large scales will be challenging, but it may not be necessary to replenish the coral coverage of large areas.

Instead, it may be sufficient to create a network of fewer strategically located larval production hubs, containing selectively bred corals at high densities to maximise fertilisation success. These hubs would serve to seed other reefs and could provide further broodstock for targeted actions.

A lot more research and development is still needed, with many critical questions remaining unanswered. How many corals need to be outplanted to have the desired effect? Can we ensure there are no trade-offs that could compromise populations (evidence so far suggests this is not a large risk)? How can we avoid dilution of selected traits once added to the wild? How can we maximise responses to selection?

Given the pace of ocean warming, optimisation and implementation of assisted evolution will need to happen soon for them to have a chance at success, even if only on small scales. Above all, the survival of coral reefs still depends on urgent climate action.

Liam Lachs received funding from the Natural Environment Research Council ONE Planet Doctoral Training Partnership (NE/S007512/1).

James Guest received funding from European Research Council Horizon 2020 project CORALASSIST (725848). He is affiliated with SECORE International as a science advisory board member.

Adriana Humanes does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. We’ve bred corals to better tolerate lethal heatwaves, but rapid climate action is still needed to save reefs – https://theconversation.com/weve-bred-corals-to-better-tolerate-lethal-heatwaves-but-rapid-climate-action-is-still-needed-to-save-reefs-241298

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

January 23, 2025
MIL-OSI Economics: DG Okonjo-Iweala at World Food Forum: Trade is vital for ensuring food security

Source: World Trade Organization

The Director-General recalled the strengthened partnership between the WTO and the FAO in the areas of food and agriculture. She highlighted the WTO’s ongoing efforts to update trade rules, stressing that the multilateral trading system must be complemented by domestic policies that reduce distortions and enhance competition. She pointed to the importance of “policies that provide essential public goods to farmers such as research, pest and disease control, efficient water management, and extension services that are needed to improve productivity and sustainability.”

Her full remarks are below:

Director-General QU Dongyu,
Your royal highnesses,
Excellencies,
Distinguished delegates,
Ladies and gentlemen,

I’m delighted to join you in opening this year’s World Food Forum.

My main message to you is that trade — and the World Trade Organization — are vital parts of an agrifood system that can deliver good food for people now and in the years ahead.

My remarks today will look at three areas: the challenges ahead for farming and food security; how trade can help; and the role of the WTO.

First, the challenges.

The FAO’s latest figures show around 733 million people are facing hunger — most of them in Africa and South Asia [1]. At our current pace, we won’t meet Sustainable Development Goal to end hunger and malnutrition by 2030.

Climate change is a growing threat to food security, affecting every aspect of our food systems, and exacerbating the sector’s problems with water and land management, biodiversity loss, and deforestation. 55% of the world’s food production occurs in areas experiencing drying or unstable trends in total water storage.

Agricultural production and consumption continues to be distorted by trade restrictions and subsidies

In 54 countries analysed by the OECD, support provided to individual producers averaged USD 630 billion per year [2] from 2020 to 2022.* This support often has environmentally harmful effects, encouraging the overuse of fossil fuels, energy and water.

The distance between business as usual and truly sustainable food systems is considerable. The FAO has estimated that our current agri-food systems impose “hidden” health, environmental, and social costs equivalent to at least USD 10 trillion per year. [3]

Turning now to trade, the case for how it can help is straightforward: about one in four calories consumed is traded.

Between 2000 and 2022, agricultural trade grew five-fold, rising across all world regions. [4] The average applied tariff on agricultural goods has fallen [5] from 13 percent in 2005 to just 5.8 percent in 2022, helping make food more affordable and available, while incentivizing exporters to ramp up production in response to international demand.

Trade has contributed to food security and resilience: For example, when the war in Ukraine cut off Ethiopia from its traditional source of wheat imports, the existence of deep and diversified global markets meant it could source from Argentina and the United States instead.

The Global Commission on the Economics of Water, which I co-chair, will issue a report later this week that highlights the role of ‘virtual water trade’ in agriculture, through the water used to grow or make a traded product. It notes that trade can help mitigate water-related pressures, provided water’s price reflects its value and scarcity with targeted subsidies to those who cannot afford to pay, by allowing countries with abundant hydrological resources to specialize in producing water-intensive goods for export to water-scarce nations.

For example, there are export opportunities here for several African countries who have been found to have abundant and shallow under-utilized ground water resources as well as land resources, provided of course these resources are well and innovatively managed. In fact, based on these land and water resources, Africa not only can and should feed itself, using intra Africa food trade to manage supply and demand gaps but can also respond to external world demand.

Beyond trade’s contribution to ensuring that food is available, trade-led growth and income gains have contributed mightily to bringing down hunger in countries including China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam, to name a few. [6]

Now we need to help others replicate this success, sustainably — including elsewhere in Asia and Africa.

This brings me to the role of the WTO.

The WTO provides a negotiating forum where members could lower trade barriers and reduce trade-distorting support, helping agricultural markets function better and freeing up billions of dollars’ worth of resources that could be put to better use. But the fact is that at a time when a comprehensive update to the global agricultural trade rulebook is long overdue, we have not been so successful in moving forward agricultural trade negotiations at the WTO. But we will never give up trying. Agriculture and a well- functioning agricultural trading system is too important to the world.

This past Thursday, I chaired a meeting of all WTO members, where we looked at how to revitalize the negotiations and set the stage for delivering at least some concrete results by our next Ministerial Conference in Cameroon in early 2026. We have hard work ahead of us and we also need political will. I implore all the Food Security and Agriculture Ministers here to back your Trade ministers and their Geneva based WTO ambassadors to exhibit appropriate flexibility in their negotiating positions so we can move past 2.5 decades of stagnation to a new era of modern agricultural trade rules fit to help feed the 21st century world.

In this regard, cotton, both a food and non food commodity, is of paramount importance to several countries worldwide.

Last week, I was in the Republic of Benin to mark World Cotton Day. And while we are supporting exciting efforts there and in the Cotton Four plus countries in West and Central Africa to add value to their products and tap into global markets for textiles and clothing, particularly in the sports apparel sector, I want to note for all concerned that this does not mean we are paying attention to the issue of trade distorting domestic support that lowers cotton prices and weighs on the livelihoods of millions of farmers in cotton producing countries around the world.

On the bright side, in pursuing agriculture reforms at the WTO, we have some recent accomplishments to build on.

At our 12th Ministerial Conference in 2022, members committed to refrain from imposing export controls on humanitarian purchases by the World Food Programme — a step that the agency has said is helping to source food more quickly, and from more countries.

Our landmark Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies will help ease pressure on the marine fish stocks that millions of people rely on for food and livelihood security. I urge you to help fast-track ratification of this agreement in your countries, and support the rapid conclusion of negotiations on Phase 2 of the Fisheries Subsidies Agreement on some outstanding issues so that the USD 22 billion being spent annually on harmful fisheries subsidies that can be repurposed to more beneficial uses.

I want to take a moment here to highlight the WTO’s appreciation for the work we do with the FAO. In this regard, let me thank DG Qu Dongyu and Chief Economist Maximo Torero Cullen and their team for the excellent collaboration with the WTO. Our joint MoU signed last December ranges from work on fisheries and the associated trust fund, to supporting cotton, the Standards and Trade Development Facility and — last but not least — the Agriculture Market Information System. We look forward to continuing this collaboration whose aim is to assist FAO and WTO members. Collaboration between multilateral organizations brings coherence and congruence to helping members and the people they represent.

In conclusion, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen. A free, fair, open and predictable MTS and modernized agricultural trade rules are critical to an agrifood system that can deliver good food to the world’s people today and tomorrow. But such a trading system must be complemented by domestic policies that reduce distortions and improve competition. It must be complemented by policies that provide essential public goods to farmers such as research, pest and disease control, efficient water management, and extension services that are needed to improve productivity and sustainability.

I am convinced that we can all work together, Multilateral organizations, Governments, Farmers, Civil Society, Private sector, to enable people around the world to access the food and nutrition they need in a changing climate and a changing and uncertain world.

Thank you.

*(NOTE: “support” is not the same here as “subsidies”, as it includes transfers from consumers to producers that result from border measures such as tariffs, in addition to budgetary outlays.).

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MIL OSI Economics –

January 23, 2025
MIL-OSI Europe: Answer to a written question – Diminishing water resources in the EU – E-001602/2024(ASW)
Source: European Parliament
The political guidelines[1] of the President of the Commission announced the development of a water resilience strategy to ensure water resources are properly managed, water scarcity addressed and the competitive innovative edge of the water industry enhanced by a circular economy approach.

The aim, inter alia, is to better support Member States in strengthening their water security, as water is increasingly under stress from uses and climate change.

It will build on ongoing efforts to tackle water scarcity and droughts and enhance drought management, taking into account the impacts of climate change[2], including through a working group on water scarcity and droughts[3], as well as the EU Climate Adaptation Strategy[4].

The Commission has been assessing the severity of droughts[5], drought impacts[6] and future drought risks[7] and offered support to Member States to either establish or improve national and regional drought observatories by leveraging the European Drought Observatory of the Copernicus Emergency Management Service.

The EU is also providing significant support to water resilience investments. Between 2021 and 2027, some EUR 13 billion of Cohesion Policy funds[8] will be invested in water management. Moreover, the Common Agricultural Policy[9] supports more efficient irrigation and measures to render farming more sustainable for ground and surface water.

Horizon Europe[10] also supports research and innovation on water resilience[11], through partnerships, Missions and the Work Programme .

[1] https://commission.europa.eu/about-european-commission/president-elect-ursula-von-der-leyen_en

[2] In the context of the implementation of the Water Framework Directive, 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2000 establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy, OJ L 327, 22.12.2000, p. 1-73, as amended by Commission Directive 2014/101/EU of 30 October 2014, OJ L 311, 31.10.2014, p. 32-35.

[3] https://environment.ec.europa.eu/topics/water/water-scarcity-and-droughts_en

[4] https://climate.ec.europa.eu/eu-action/adaptation-climate-change/eu-adaptation-strategy_en

[5] https://drought.emergency.copernicus.eu/tumbo/edo/map/?id=1000

[6] https://environment.ec.europa.eu/news/commission-publishes-new-tools-help-predict-and-adapt-sectoral-drought-impacts-2023-10-11_en

[7] https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/21a1984a-7478-11ee-99ba-01aa75ed71a1/language-en

[8] https://cohesiondata.ec.europa.eu/stories/s/21-27-Sustainable-water-management/ehce-gj6d

[9] https://agriculture.ec.europa.eu/common-agricultural-policy_en

[10] https://research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/funding/funding-opportunities/funding-programmes-and-open-calls/horizon-europe_en

[11] Of particular relevance are the partnerships ‘Water Security for the Planet (https://www.water4all-partnership.eu/), the Partnership on Research and Innovation in the Mediterranean Area (PRIMA, https://prima-med.org/) together with the Missions “Restore our Ocean and Waters by 2030” (https://research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/funding/funding-opportunities/funding-programmes-and-open-calls/horizon-europe/eu-missions-horizon-europe/restore-our-ocean-and-waters_en), Adaptation to Climate Change’ (https://research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/funding/funding-opportunities/funding-programmes-and-open-calls/horizon-europe/eu-missions-horizon-europe/adaptation-climate-change_en) and ‘A Soil Deal for Europe’ (https://research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/funding/funding-opportunities/funding-programmes-and-open-calls/horizon-europe/eu-missions-horizon-europe/soil-deal-europe_en#what-are-eu-missions).
Last updated: 14 October 2024
MIL OSI Europe News –
January 23, 2025
MIL-OSI Video: Nobel Peace Prize, Lebanon & other topics – Daily Press Briefing | United Nations

Source: United Nations (Video News)

Noon briefing by Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.

Highlights:
– Nobel Peace Prize
– Noon Briefing Guest
– Secretary-General
– Lebanon
– Security Council
– Lebanon/Humanitarian
– Occupied Palestinian Territory
– Ukraine
– South Sudan
– West and Central Africa Floods
– UNHCR
– International Days

Nobel Peace Prize
The Secretary-General warmly congratulated the grassroots Japanese organization Nihon Hidankyo on being awarded the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize. 
The atomic bomb survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki, also known as the hibakusha, are selfless, soul-bearing witnesses of the horrific human cost of nuclear weapons. While their numbers grow smaller each year, the relentless work and resilience of the hibakusha are the backbone of the global nuclear disarmament movement.  
In a statement, the Secretary-General said that he will never forget his many meetings with them over the years. Their haunting living testimony reminds the world that the nuclear threat is not confined to history books.  Nuclear weapons remain a clear and present danger to humanity, once again appearing in the daily rhetoric of international relations. 
It is time for world leaders to be as clear-eyed as the hibakusha and see nuclear weapons for what they are: devices of death that offer no safety, protection, or security. The only way to eliminate the threat of nuclear weapons is to eliminate them altogether. 
The United Nations proudly stands with the hibakusha.  They are an inspiration to our shared efforts to build a world free of nuclear weapons.  

Noon Briefing Guest
Izumi Nakamitsu, the High Representative for Disarmament Affairs briefed reporters on the Nobel Peace Prize being awarded to Nihon Hidankyo for its work advocating for a world free of nuclear weapons.

Secretary-General
The Secretary-General this morning addressed the ASEAN-UN Summit in Vientiane. He underscored the importance of the relationship between the two organizations which, he said, is a strategic partnership. In a world with growing geopolitical divides, with dramatic impacts on peace and security and sustainable development, the Association of South-East Asian Nations [ASEAN] is a bridge-builder and a messenger for peace, he said.
He also underscored how much the United Nations is grateful for ASEAN’s important contribution to UN peacekeeping operations. The Secretary-General took the opportunity to express his solidarity with Indonesia, as two of its peacekeepers serving with UNIFIL were wounded yesterday by Israeli fire in south Lebanon. 
The Secretary-General outlined the key areas of the recently adopted Pact for the Future, which offers a strong vision for the time ahead. 
In a press conference, the Secretary-General was asked about the wounding of the two peacekeepers in Lebanon, and he condemned the shooting against the UN premises in which the two peacekeepers were wounded, adding that it was a violation of international humanitarian law. Peacekeepers must be protected by all parties of the conflict, he said.
Prior to the meeting, the Secretary-General also held bilateral meetings with the President of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Thongloun Sisoulith, and with the Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam, Pham Minh Chinh. We have issued readouts of those meetings.

Office of the Spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General Website
https://www.un.org/sg/en/spokesperson/

Full Highlights
https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/noon-briefing-highlight

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5X_cjKpmog

MIL OSI Video –

January 23, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Governor Cooper Proclaims October as Cybersecurity Awareness Month and Reminds North Carolinians to Beware of Hurricane-Related Scams
Source: US State of North Carolina

Headline: Governor Cooper Proclaims October as Cybersecurity Awareness Month and Reminds North Carolinians to Beware of Hurricane-Related Scams

Governor Cooper Proclaims October as Cybersecurity Awareness Month and Reminds North Carolinians to Beware of Hurricane-Related Scams
mseets
Mon, 10/14/2024 – 15:54
Governor Roy Cooper has proclaimed October as Cybersecurity Awareness Month in North Carolina to recognize the ongoing importance of online safety, especially in the wake of Hurricane Helene, which brought historic devastation to the state.

“Storms like Helene offer prime opportunities for cybercriminals looking to take advantage of others during a crisis situation when they may have their guard down,” Governor Cooper said. “Every North Carolinian must remain vigilant about staying safe online and protecting their personal information.”

Scammers can pose as official representatives of disaster aid organizations or charities and use phishing emails, social media messages, texts and phone calls to obtain personal and financial information and access devices and networks that hold sensitive data. Be careful with any messages that include hurricane-related subject lines, attachments or hyperlinks.

“Our department continues to emphasize the importance of cybersecurity education and awareness,” said N.C. Department of Information Technology Secretary and State Chief Information Officer Jim Weaver. “We are committed to ensuring that everyone can access the internet safely and guard against cyberthreats, which can happen to anyone at any time.”

Here are some ways you can protect yourself, your family and your workplace from online threats:
- Recognize, resist and delete phishing attempts. Do not click links or open attachments in suspicious messages. Always double check web and email addresses to make sure they are legitimate. If you think the message could be real, look up another way to contact the company or person directly to verify.
- Avoid sharing personal information. Don’t send sensitive information such as passwords, account numbers and Social Security Numbers over email, text or chat.
- Make passwords long, random and unique. Strong passwords should be at least 16 characters and include a random string of mixed-case letters, numbers and symbols. Use a different strong password for each account. Password managers can generate strong passwords and remember them for you.
- Enable multifactor authentication for every account or app that offers it. Multifactor authentication requires you to enter more information than just a password, such as a text code or fingerprint.
- Update software. Make sure your devices are running the latest version of operating systems, software and web browsers. When notified about updates, be sure to install them as soon as possible or turn on automatic updates to install updates without any input as soon as they are available.
The N.C. Department of Information Technology, along with other state, local and federal partners, works to protect North Carolina’s government IT systems, data and assets against cyberthreats.

In addition, NCDIT’s Division of Broadband and Digital Equity has launched a series of grant programs that have awarded $44 million to date to ensure North Carolinians can access and afford high-speed internet, obtain digital devices and safely and effectively navigate today’s digital world.

NCDIT will share tips and information on social media using hashtags #SecureOurWorld and #CyberSecureNC throughout the month. More information about online safety is available at it.nc.gov/CyberSecureNC.

Read the proclamation.

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Oct 14, 2024

MIL OSI USA News –
January 23, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: FEMA Individual Assistance Now Available for Virginians in Scott County
Source: US Federal Emergency Management Agency 2

strong>BRISTOL, Va. — Residents of Scott County, Virginia are now eligible to apply for assistance from FEMA under the Individual Assistance Program. FEMA assistance can help with costs from damage and losses due to Tropical Storm Helene.

Residents of the cities of Galax and Radford, as well as Bedford, Bland, Carroll, Giles, Grayson, Montgomery, Pittsylvania, Pulaski, Russell, Smyth, Tazewell, Washington, Wise and Wythe counties, remain eligible for assistance.
FEMA may be able to help you pay for essential items, temporary housing, home repairs and other needs due to the disaster, including:
- Essential items such as water, food, first aid, prescriptions, infant formula, breastfeeding supplies, diapers, medical supplies and equipment, personal hygiene items and fuel for transportation;
- Financial assistance to help pay for hotel stays, stays with family and friends, or other options while you look for a rental unit as well as rental assistance if you are displaced because of the disaster;
- Repair or replacement of a vehicle, appliances, room furnishings, personal or family computer;
- Books, uniforms, tools, computers and other items required for school or work, including self-employment; and
- Moving and storage fees, medical expenses, childcare and funeral expenses.
For more information about the types of FEMA assistance available under the Individual Assistance Program, visit: fema.gov/ia.

You can apply for disaster assistance today:

To watch an accessible video about how to apply, visit FEMA Accessible: Registering for Individual Assistance – YouTube.

FEMA has set up a rumor response webpage to clarify our role in the Helene response. Visit Hurricane Helene: Rumor Response | FEMA.gov.

For more information on Virginia’s disaster recovery, visit vaemergency.gov, the Virginia Department of Emergency Management Facebook page , fema.gov/disaster/4831 and facebook.com/FEMA.

###

FEMA’s mission is helping people before, during, and after disasters. FEMA Region 3’s jurisdiction includes Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia. Follow us on X at x.com/FEMAregion3 and on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/company/femaregion3.

To apply for FEMA assistance, please call the FEMA Helpline at 1-800-621-3362, visit https://www.disasterassistance.gov/, or download and apply on the FEMA App. If you use a relay service, such as video relay service (VRS), captioned telephone service or others, give FEMA the number for that service. Multilingual operators are available (press 2 for Spanish and 3 for other languages). Disaster recovery assistance is available without regard to race, color, religion, nationality, sex, age, disability, English proficiency, or economic status.

MIL OSI USA News –
January 23, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Disaster Recovery Center Opens in Watauga County

Source: US Federal Emergency Management Agency

Headline: Disaster Recovery Center Opens in Watauga County

Disaster Recovery Center Opens in Watauga County

RALEIGH, N.C. –  A Disaster Recovery Center is opening Tuesday, Oct. 15 in Boone (Watauga County) to assist North Carolina survivors who experienced loss from Helene.

The Watauga County DRC is located at:

Appalachian Enterprise Center
130 Poplar Grove Connector
Boone, N.C. 28607
Open: 8 a.m. – 7 p.m., Monday through Sunday

A Disaster Recovery Center (DRC) is a one-stop shop where survivors can meet face-to-face with FEMA representatives, apply for FEMA assistance, receive referrals to local assistance in their area, apply with the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) for low-interest disaster loans and much more.

FEMA financial assistance may include money for basic home repairs, personal property losses or other uninsured, disaster-related needs, such as childcare, transportation, medical needs, funeral or dental expenses.

Centers are already open in Asheville, Lenoir, Marion and Sylva. To find those center locations go to fema.gov/drc or text “DRC” and a Zip Code to 43362. Additional recovery centers will be opening soon. All centers are accessible to people with disabilities or access and functional needs and are equipped with assistive technology.  

Homeowners and renters in 27 North Carolina counties and tribal members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians can visit any open center, including locations in other states. No appointment is needed. 

It is not necessary to go to a center to apply for FEMA assistance. The fastest way to apply is online at DisasterAssistance.gov or via the FEMA app. You may also call 800-621-3362. If you use a relay service, such as video relay, captioned telephone or other service, give FEMA your number for that service.

For the latest information about North Carolina recovery, visit Hurricane Helene | NC DPS or fema.gov/disaster/4827. Follow FEMA on X at x.com/femaregion4 or on Facebook at facebook.com/fema.

barbara.murien…
Mon, 10/14/2024 – 20:28

MIL OSI USA News –

January 23, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Governor Ron DeSantis Awards $9.5 Million and Other State Assistance to SeaPort Manatee for Repairs After Hurricane Damage
Source: US State of Florida

PALMETTO, Fla.—Today, Governor Ron DeSantis announced the award of $9.5 million to SeaPort Manatee to jumpstart its recovery and help repair impacted infrastructure following significant damage caused by Hurricane Milton. SeaPort Manatee is the primary deep-water seaport in Southwest Florida. It receives fuel, fruits and vegetables, appliances, construction materials, and wood for distribution across Southwest Florida and the Southeast.

Following Hurricane Milton, initial damage assessments indicated potential losses of $225 million at SeaPort Manatee. While many of the port’s losses are insured, some components are not. Damage to the port includes the loss of 10 out of 13 on-site warehouses, 3 of the ten port-owned docking facilities, and widespread damage to port offices.

“This action to get SeaPort Manatee back to full operations will benefit the people of Florida, ensure the hardening of our infrastructure for future disasters, and ensure normal life is resumed for Floridians as soon as possible,” said Governor Ron DeSantis. “Taking action to address these impacts now is imperative to keep Florida on the road to recovery.”

This investment will include:
- $5.5 million for emergency berth repairs and dredging in state waters;
- $3.5 million for immediate security needs and access control; and,
- $500,000 to support planning activities for fortifying port infrastructure.
In addition to this funding, Governor DeSantis directed several state agencies to step in and assist the port to expedite recovery efforts. The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) will provide subject matter experts and skilled workers, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) will expedite all permits for the immediate rebuild of port infrastructure, and the Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM) will provide support in navigating the FEMA award process. The Florida National Guard will also provide personnel to reestablish perimeter security and assist in repairing the port fence.

“With the major impact that seaports have on our state’s economy and the quality of life for our residents, it’s critical that we ensure our seaports are open and fully operational, particularly SeaPort Manatee given the significant damage they sustained following Hurricane Milton,” said FDOT Secretary Jared W. Perdue, P.E. “Thank you to Governor Ron DeSantis, our state agency partners, and all our seaport partners as we work together to ensure Florida’s seaports stay open for business.”

For every state dollar invested in seaport infrastructure, the expected return on investment for the state is seven dollars in state and local taxes. In 2023, SeaPort Manatee supported 42,094 U.S. jobs, generated $275 million in state and local taxes, and contributed $7.3 billion in economic value to the U.S. economy.

###

MIL OSI USA News –
January 23, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: Why FEMA’s disaster relief gets political − especially when hurricane season and election season collide

Source: The Conversation – USA – By Jennifer Selin, Associate Professor of Law, Arizona State University

President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the effects of Hurricane Milton on Oct. 10, 2024, in Washington, D.C. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Rumors and lies about government responses to natural disasters are not new. Politics, misinformation and blame-shifting have long surrounded government response efforts.

When Hurricane Harvey hit Houston in 2017, for example, rumors and misinformation both originated from and were spread by government, news and individual user accounts on social media. And after Hurricane Sandy in 2012, rumors about the storm were so widespread that even CNN’s live coverage of the event was inaccurate.

Those rumors don’t usually come from former presidents. Yet in the wake of hurricanes Helene and Milton, former President Donald Trump spread falsehoods about the federal government’s response to the disaster. Misinformation on the topic became so widespread that the Federal Emergency Management Agency, known as FEMA, set up a webpage to debunk the rumors spawned by Trump.

President Joe Biden responded angrily, calling the falsehoods that Trump and his followers spread “reckless, irresponsible” and “disturbing.” He also suggested Trump’s claims undermined the rescue and recovery work being done by local, state and federal authorities.

Disaster relief often becomes political because so many people are affected – and because there is a lot of media coverage surrounding hurricanes, floods and other major weather events. Additionally, relief requires a lot of money and coordination by high-profile elected officials.

The rhetoric around federal emergency management is made only more complicated because most people do not know that much about the federal law that governs disaster relief. Indeed, even state and local officials find navigating the details of the law and accompanying regulations difficult.

And finally, the law’s design and the timing of hurricane season can lead to politicization. Elected officials – politicians – are always involved in coordinating government response efforts, adding a layer of politics to disaster relief. The fact that hurricane and election seasons coincide only heightens the politics of such relief.

Former President Donald Trump saying falsely that the Biden administration “stole a billion dollars” meant for disaster relief and used it to help immigrants.

Explaining government responses to natural disasters

The Disaster Relief Act of 1974, as amended and now known as the Stafford Act, is the law that governs how the federal government responds to natural disasters and other emergencies.

But the act does not guarantee federal assistance to the communities affected by hurricanes or other natural disasters.

Instead, the governor of an affected state or the chief executive of an affected tribal government must ask the president for a disaster declaration. The request can be made before or after a storm hits but must show that the disaster is of such a severity and magnitude that the state, local or tribal governments cannot respond on their own.

Responding to such requests, Biden issued declarations covering eight states before and after Helene. He also issued a declaration for the Seminole Tribe and the state of Florida in response to Milton.

After the president issues a declaration, the federal government can begin to assist state, local and tribal governments. This includes coordinating all disaster relief assistance – from evacuations to recovery – provided by federal agencies, private organizations such as the Red Cross, and state and local governments.

Federal assistance can be financial or logistical. It covers everything from help repairing roads and restoring utility services to providing assistance and services, such as temporary housing, legal services and crisis counseling, to the people who have been affected by the disaster.

The number of federal agencies and employees involved in disaster relief is astounding. For example, thousands of federal personnel from FEMA, the Coast Guard, Army Corps of Engineers, Environmental Protection Agency and the departments of Defense, Energy, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, and Transportation are helping respond to Helene and Milton.

Several state and local officials also play key roles after a disaster declaration. Each state’s governor or tribe’s chief executive serves as the leading official for coordination of state and federal efforts. That person also designates an officer to serve as a liaison between the federal government and the state or tribe. And in each affected community, a local elected official leads the response on the ground. This is usually a city or town’s mayor.

Federalism in action

Implementation of the Stafford Act requires cooperative, healthy relationships between the president, federal agencies and state, local and tribal governments.

When done well, government disaster response is a prime example of what’s called “federalism” in action. Federalism involves the sharing of power between the national and state governments. The framers of the United States Constitution created this system of shared power so that the national government could solve coordination and capacity problems among the states, and the state governments could respond to the nuances of local circumstances.

In response to state government requests in the wake of Hurricane Helene, for example, Biden directed federal efforts to help those most affected. The federal government’s response has so far included working with over 450 state and local officials to ensure that those affected by the hurricane have everything from housing assistance to financial support for medical and funeral expenses.

Politics in the mix

The very things that the framers designed the federalist constitutional system to do, however, can create opportunities for political manipulation. The Stafford Act creates a system of emergency management that is highly decentralized and responsive to local needs.

But that decentralization also means that, because of their different perspectives, the officials involved in disaster response prioritize different things, which can lead to conflict.

For example, various officials involved in the response to Hurricane Helene have advocated for federal resources such as money and personnel to go toward restoring utilities, law enforcement, fire, health, communications and transportation services. How can the national government possibly choose between all of these necessary services?

Everything is made more complicated because, as studies have shown, on average, the officials in charge of making such decisions – elected officials and their appointees – have less experience in government than the career civil servants who work on a daily basis with the people affected by natural disasters.

As a result, the Stafford Act’s decision to place elected officials and their appointees in charge of emergency management could reduce the quality of government response.

Members of the FEMA Urban Search and Rescue task force search a flood-damaged area in Asheville, N.C., in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on Oct. 4, 2024.
Mario Tama/Getty Images

Debating size and role of government

Elected officials’ different political leanings add another wrinkle. Debates over disaster response often reflect larger political debates such as those over the size and role of government.

The history of the Stafford Act provides an illustrative example. Traditionally, disaster relief was the responsibility of state and local government. But a series of natural disasters, including the Alaska earthquake in 1964 and hurricanes Betsy in 1965 and Camille in 1969, were so large in scale that the federal government had to step in and help.

In the aftermath of Camille, accusations of racial discrimination in the relief process and partisan squabbling over who was to blame for the ineffectiveness of the government’s response to the disaster mounted. Media and congressional attention on government mismanagement of the relief effort created a window for the expansion of the federal government’s role in the process and ultimately led to the passage of the first version of the Stafford Act.

Fast-forward 35 years and many of the same issues – racial discrimination, government mismanagement and politicization of relief – arose in 2005 in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. Media and congressional attention led to legislation that amended the Stafford Act and restructured FEMA and how the federal government responds to state and tribal requests for assistance.

Trump’s lies are from the same playbook – false claims about money being diverted to migrants and that relief efforts are being used only to help areas where Democrats live.

Yet the devastation left by Helene and Milton do raise questions about local and federal coordination in preparation for and response to natural disasters and has led to calls for Congress to pass reforms to improve equity, efficiency and effectiveness in government responses to natural disasters. Whether this reform is possible in such a contentious political climate remains an open question.

Jennifer L. Selin has received funding and/or support for her research on the executive branch from the Administrative Conference of the United States. The views in this piece are those of the author and do not represent the position of the Administrative Conference or the federal government.

– ref. Why FEMA’s disaster relief gets political − especially when hurricane season and election season collide – https://theconversation.com/why-femas-disaster-relief-gets-political-especially-when-hurricane-season-and-election-season-collide-241092

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

January 23, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Unprecedented Storm Response by Local, Federal and State Resources Continues in Western North Carolina
Source: US State of North Carolina

Headline: Unprecedented Storm Response by Local, Federal and State Resources Continues in Western North Carolina

Unprecedented Storm Response by Local, Federal and State Resources Continues in Western North Carolina
mseets
Mon, 10/14/2024 – 17:15
An unprecedented response to damage caused by Hurricane Helene continues in Western North Carolina. State, federal and local response workers are working around the clock to surge assistance into the region.

Law enforcement is working to ensure the safety of responders amid reports of threats and misinformation. FEMA officials remain in communities and will resume door-to-door operations to help people impacted by these storms recover as quickly as possible following reports of threats on the ground. Governor Roy Cooper has directed the Department of Public Safety to work with local law enforcement to identify specific threats and rumors and coordinate with FEMA and other partners to ensure the safety and security of all involved as this recovery effort continues.

“State, federal and local response workers, including FEMA, are working around the clock to bring assistance to western North Carolina,” said Governor Roy Cooper. “We know that significant misinformation online contributes to threats against response workers on the ground, and the safety of responders must be a priority. At my direction, the North Carolina Department of Public Safety is helping partners like FEMA to coordinate with law enforcement to ensure their safety and security as they continue their important work.”

North Carolina National Guard and Military Response

Approximately 3,500 Soldiers and Airmen are working in Western North Carolina. Joint Task Force- North Carolina, the task force led by the North Carolina National Guard is made up of Soldiers and Airmen from 12 different states, two different XVIII Airborne Corps units from Ft. Liberty, a unit from Ft. Campbell’s 101^st Airborne Division, and numerous civilian entities are working side-by-side to get the much-needed help to people in Western North Carolina.

National Guard and military personnel are operating 11 aviation assets and more than 1,200 specialized vehicles in Western North Carolina to facilitate these missions. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is helping to assess water and wastewater plants and dams. Residents can track the status of the public water supply in their area through this website.

FEMA Assistance

More than $96 million in FEMA Individual Assistance funds have been paid so far to Western North Carolina disaster survivors and more than 160,000 people have registered for Individual Assistance. Approximately 4,600 households are now housed in hotels through FEMA’s Transitional Sheltering Assistance.

1,000+ FEMA staff are in the state to help with the Western North Carolina relief effort. In addition to search and rescue and providing commodities, they are meeting with disaster survivors in shelters and neighborhoods to provide rapid access to relief resources. They can be identified by their FEMA logo apparel and federal government identification.

The Major Disaster Declaration requested by Governor Cooper and granted by President Biden now includes 27 North Carolina counties (Alexander, Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, Burke, Caldwell, Catawba, Clay, Cleveland, Gaston, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Lincoln, Macon, Madison, McDowell, Mecklenburg, Mitchell, Polk, Rutherford, Swain, Transylvania, Watauga, Wilkes and Yancey) and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.

North Carolinians can apply for Individual Assistance by calling 1-800-621-3362 from 7am to 11pm daily or by visiting www.disasterassistance.gov, or by downloading the FEMA app. FEMA may be able to help with serious needs, displacement, temporary lodging, basic home repair costs, personal property loss or other disaster-caused needs.

Help from Other States

More than 1,500 responders from 38 state and local agencies have performed 135 missions supporting the response and recovery efforts through the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC). This includes public health nurses, emergency management teams supporting local governments, veterinarians, teams with search dogs and more.

Beware of Misinformation

North Carolina Emergency Management and local officials are cautioning the public about false Helene reports and misinformation being shared on social media. NCEM has launched a fact versus rumor response webpage to provide factual information in the wake of this storm. FEMA also has a rumor response webpage.

Food, Water and Commodity Points of Distribution

Efforts continue to provide food, water and basic necessities to residents in affected communities, using both ground resources and air drops from the NC National Guard. Food, water and commodity points of distribution are open throughout Western North Carolina. For information on these sites in your community, visit your local emergency management and local government social media and websites or visit ncdps.gov/Helene.

Shelters

A total of 13 shelters are open in Western North Carolina supporting over 560 people.

Storm Damage Cleanup

If your home has damages and you need assistance with clean up, please call Crisis Cleanup for access to volunteer organizations that can assist you at 844-965-1386.

Power Outages

Across Western North Carolina, approximately 19,000 customers remain without power, down from a peak of more than 1 million. Overall power outage numbers will fluctuate up and down as power crews temporarily take circuits or substations offline to make repairs and restore additional customers.

Road Closures

Travel remains dangerous, with hundreds of roads closed. Many of these roads are primary routes connecting the region.

NCDOT has posted at ncdot.gov an interstate detour map for those traveling in the region. North Carolinians can visit DriveNC.Gov for the latest roadway conditions. NCDOT currently has approximately 2,100 employees and 1,100 pieces of equipment working on approximately 6,700 damaged road sites.

Fatalities

Ninety-five storm-related deaths have been confirmed in North Carolina by the Office of Chief Medical Examiner. We expect that this number will continue to rise over the coming days. The North Carolina Office of the Chief Medical Examiner will continue to confirm numbers twice daily. If you have an emergency or believe that someone is in danger, please call 911.

Volunteers and Donations

Due to dangerous road conditions and the need to maintain open routes for emergency operations, travel to Western North Carolina is difficult. Consider the following options for donations and volunteer opportunities:
- If you would like to donate to the North Carolina Disaster Relief Fund, visit nc.gov/donate. Donations will help to support local nonprofits working on the ground.
- For information on volunteer opportunities, please visit nc.gov/volunteernc
Additional Assistance

There is no right or wrong way to feel in response to the trauma of a hurricane. If you have been impacted by the storm and need someone to talk to, call or text the Disaster Distress Helpline at 1-800-985-5990. Help is also available to anyone, anytime in English or Spanish through a call, text or chat to 988. Learn more at 988Lifeline.org.

If you are seeking a representative from the North Carolina Joint Information Center, please email ncempio@ncdps.gov or call 919-825-2599.

For general information, access to resources, or answers to frequently asked questions, please visit ncdps.gov/helene.

If you are seeking information on resources for recovery help for a resident impacted from the storm, please email IArecovery@ncdps.gov.

###
Oct 14, 2024

MIL OSI USA News –
January 23, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Residents in Western North Carolina Can Apply for Help Buying Food Following Hurricane Helene
Source: US State of North Carolina

Headline: Residents in Western North Carolina Can Apply for Help Buying Food Following Hurricane Helene

Residents in Western North Carolina Can Apply for Help Buying Food Following Hurricane Helene
hejones1
Mon, 10/14/2024 – 16:08
Residents in 25 western counties and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians impacted by Hurricane Helene can apply for help buying food through the Disaster Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (D-SNAP) which will begin on Oct. 18, 2024, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services announced today. D-SNAP is open to individuals and households not currently receiving Food and Nutrition Services benefits who were impacted by Hurricane Helene. NCDHHS estimates more than 150,000 people will apply for up to $120 million in D-SNAP benefits.

“We are making up to $120 million available to more than 150,000 individuals to buy food for their families — an essential step on the road to recovery from the devastation of Hurricane Helene,” said N.C. Health and Human Services Secretary Kody H. Kinsley. “We are committed to using every tool to support the recovery of our friends, families, and fellow North Carolinians in western NC — now and for the long haul.”

NCDHHS received federal approval to begin phase one of the program from the U.S. Department of Agriculture beginning on Oct. 18, 2024. People can start applying for assistance three days before the program starts during online pre-registration beginning Oct. 15 and will have seven days from the start of the program to apply. The application period will close on Oct. 24, 2024.

Eligible households will be notified within three days of completing the application and receive a one-time benefit on a special debit card (called an Electronic Benefits Transfer, or EBT card) to help buy food. The exact amount will depend on household size, income and disaster losses. While there are income eligibility standards, a number of considerations are taken into account. Individuals above these limits may still be eligible dependent on disaster expenses, so we encourage everyone who needs support to purchase food to begin their application by calling the DSNAP Virtual Call Center at 1-844-453-1117.

The benefits are good for up to nine months. Benefit cards will be available for pick up at the D-SNAP locations in each county or you can get the EBT card mailed to you overnight at the address you specify on your application.

To be eligible, a person must:
- Live in Alexander, Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, Burke, Caldwell, Catawba, Clay, Cleveland, Gaston, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Lincoln, Macon, Madison, McDowell, Mitchell, Polk, Rutherford, Transylvania, Watauga, Wilkes and Yancey Counties.
- Be a member of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians living in zip code 28719
- Have suffered losses/damages related to Hurricane Helene, such as damage to property or loss of income.
- Have proof of identity and proof of residency (if available).
- Have income and resources below certain levels.
- Not currently be receiving benefits through the Food and Nutrition Services (FNS) program. People receiving FNS can also get extra help buying food, but do not need to fill out a D-SNAP application. They can get more information about how to get the extra help on the FNS webpage.
Residents are encouraged to apply for D-SNAP by phone, when possible, by calling the D-SNAP call center at 1-844-453-1117. The D-SNAP call center will be open at the following hours:
- Weekdays (Friday, Oct. 18; Monday, Oct. 21; Tuesday, Oct. 22; Wednesday, Oct. 23; and Thursday, Oct. 24) from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- Saturday, Oct. 19, and Sunday, Oct. 20 from 9 a.m. to noon.
Residents are encouraged to apply for D-SNAP by phone on their assigned day by last name but will not be turned away if they apply any time during the application period.
- Oct. 18 – A-G
- Oct. 19 – H-M
- Oct. 20 – N-S
- Oct. 21 – T-Z
- Oct. 22 – Open to all
- Oct. 23 – Open to all
- Oct. 24 – Open to all
Residents can also use the online ePASS Pre-Registration Tool, which will open on Tuesday, Oct. 15 and close on Thursday, Oct. 24. Once the pre-registration is completed, applicants will be issued a confirmation number and will need to call 1-844-453-1117 between Oct. 18 and Oct. 24 to complete the interview part of the application.

Residents can also apply for D-SNAP in-person at any of the following locations listed below. The D-SNAP sites listed below will be open at the following hours:
- Weekdays (Friday, Oct. 18; Monday, Oct. 21; Tuesday, Oct. 22; Wednesday, Oct. 23; and Thursday, Oct. 24) from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- Saturday, Oct. 19, and Sunday, Oct. 20 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Alexander County Department of Social Services
Alexander County DSS Office
604 7th St. SW
Taylorsville, NC 28681

Alleghany County
Emerson Black Building
1375 US Hwy 21 N
Sparta, NC 28675

Ashe County Department of Social Services
Main Ashe DSS Office
150 Government Circle, Suite 1400
Jefferson, NC 28640

Avery County
Avery County Library (Basement)
150 Library Road
Newland, NC 28657

Buncombe County Department of Social Services
Main Buncombe County DSS Office
40 Coxe Ave.
Asheville, NC, 28801

Burke County Department of Social Services
Burke County DSS Office
700 E Parker Road
Morganton, NC 28655

Caldwell County
Former Walgreens Building
621 Harper Ave.
Lenoir, NC 28645

Catawba County Department of Social Services
Catawba County DSS Office
3030 11th Ave Drive
Hickory, NC 28602

Clay County Department of Social Services
Clay County DSS Office
119 Courthouse Drive
Hayesville, NC 28904

Cleveland County
Cleveland County Schools Bus Garage
300 Kemper Road
Shelby, NC 28152

Gaston County Department of Social Services
Main Gaston County DSS Office
330 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Way
Gastonia, NC 28052

Haywood County
Haywood County DSS Office
157 Paragon Pkwy #300
Clyde, NC 28721

Henderson County
Living Waters Baptist Church
1284 Sugarloaf Road
Hendersonville, NC 28792

Jackson County
Jackson County DSS Office
15 Griffin St.
Sylva, NC 28779

Lincoln County Department of Social Services
Lincoln County DSS Office
1136 East Main St.
Lincolnton, NC 28092

Macon County Department of Social Services
183 Holly Springs Plaza
Franklin, NC 28734

Madison County Department of Social Services
Madison DSS Office
5707 US Hwy 25-70, Suite 1
Marshall, NC 28753

McDowell County
McDowell County YMCA Gym: Bottom Level
348 Grace Corpening Drive
Marion, North Carolina 28752

Mitchell County Department of Social Services
Mitchel County DSS Office
347 Longview Drive
Bakersville, NC 28705

Polk County Department of Social Services
231 Wolverine Trail
Mill Spring, NC 28756

Rutherford County Department of Social Services
Isothermal Community College (ICC) Foundation Performing Arts Center
286 ICC Loop Road
Spindale, NC 288160

Transylvania County Library
212 South Gaston St., “Rogow Room”
Brevard, NC 28712

Watauga County Department of Social Services
Watauga County DSS Office
132 Poplar Grove Connector, Suite C
Boone, NC 28607

Wilkes County Department of Social Services
Wilkes County DSS Office
304 College St.
Wilkesboro, NC 28697

Yancey County
Burnsville Town Center
6 South Main St.
Burnsville, NC 28714

Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Residing in 28719:

Qualla Boundary
Qualla Boundary
1526 Acquoni Road
Cherokee, NC

Jackson
Jackson County DSS Office
15 Griffin St.
Sylva, NC 28779

While people in Alexander, Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, Burke, Caldwell, Catawba, Clay, Cleveland, Gaston, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Lincoln, Macon, Madison, McDowell, Mitchell, Polk, Rutherford, Transylvania, Watauga, Wilkes and Yancey Counties and members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians living in 28719 are encouraged to apply in their county of residence, they can also apply in person at any of the counties approved to implement D-SNAP. NCDHHS will post information on locations and hours of the sites in each county at www.ncdhhs.gov/dsnap.

Please know there may be long wait times. County officials will do everything they can to process applications as quickly as possible.

People who may have a disability or are physically unable to go in-person appling for help can complete this form in English or Spanish and send an authorized representative in their place.

NCDHHS is working with USDA on adding two additional counties through phase two of the D-SNAP implementation at a later date. Once approved, NCDHHS will share additional information.

For information regarding Hurricane Helene and additional resources and flexibilities in place, please go to www.ncdps.gov/Helene and www.ncdhhs.gov/helene.

###

In accordance with federal civil rights law and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) civil rights regulations and policies, this institution is prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex (including gender identity and sexual orientation), religious creed, disability, age, political beliefs, or reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity.

Program information may be made available in languages other than English. Persons with disabilities who require alternative means of communication to obtain program information (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, American Sign Language), should contact the agency (state or local) where they applied for benefits. Individuals who are deaf, hard of hearing or have speech disabilities may contact USDA through the Federal Relay Service at (800) 877-8339.

To file a program discrimination complaint, a Complainant should complete a Form AD-3027, USDA Program Discrimination Complaint Form which can be obtained online at: https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/ad-3027.pdf, from any USDA office, by calling (866) 632-9992, or by writing a letter addressed to USDA. The letter must contain the complainant’s name, address, telephone number, and a written description of the alleged discriminatory action in sufficient detail to inform the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights (ASCR) about the nature and date of an alleged civil rights violation. The completed AD-3027 form or letter must be submitted to:
1. mail:
  Food and Nutrition Service, USDA
  1320 Braddock Place, Room 334
  Alexandria, VA 22314; or
2. fax:
  (833) 256-1665 or (202) 690-7442; or
3. email:
  FNSCIVILRIGHTSCOMPLAINTS@usda.gov
This institution is an equal opportunity provider.

Los habitantes de 25 condados del oeste y la Banda Oriental de Indios Cherokee afectados por el huracán Helene pueden solicitar ayuda para comprar alimentos a través del Programa de Asistencia Nutricional Suplementaria para Desastres (D-SNAP, por sus siglas en inglés) que comenzará el 18 de octubre de 2024, anunció hoy el Departamento de Salud y Servicios Humanos de Carolina del Norte (NCDHHS, por sus siglas en inglés). D-SNAP está abierto a personas y hogares que actualmente no reciben beneficios de Servicios de Alimentación y Nutrición y que se vieron afectados por el huracán Helene. El NCDHHS estima que más de 150,000 personas solicitarán hasta $120 millones de dólares en beneficios de D-SNAP.

“Haremos $120 millones de dólares disponibles a más de 150,000 individuos para comprar comida para sus familias — un paso esencial en el camino a la recuperación de la devastación del huracán Helene”, dijo el secretario de Salud y Servicios Humanos de Carolina del Norte, Kody H. Kinsley. “Estamos comprometidos a apoyar la salud y el bienestar de las personas afectadas en todos los rincones del oeste de Carolina del Norte, ahora y a largo plazo”.

El NCDHHS recibió la aprobación federal para comenzar la fase uno del programa del Departamento de Agricultura de los Estados Unidos a partir del 18 de octubre de 2024. Las personas pueden comenzar a solicitar asistencia tres días antes del inicio del programa durante la preinscripción en línea a partir del 15 de octubre y tendrán siete días desde el inicio del programa para aplicar. El plazo de la aplicación se cerrará el 24 de octubre de 2024.

Los hogares elegibles serán notificados dentro de los tres días posteriores a completar la solicitud y recibirán un beneficio único en una tarjeta de débito especial (llamada transferencia electrónica de beneficios, o tarjeta EBT, por sus siglas en inglés) para ayudar a comprar alimentos. La cantidad exacta dependerá del tamaño del hogar, los ingresos y las pérdidas por desastres. Aunque existen requisitos de ingresos, se tomarán en cuenta varias consideraciones. Los individuos con límites de ingreso superiores podrían calificar dependiendo de sus gastos debido al desastre, así que animamos a todos los que necesiten ayuda para comprar alimentos a comenzar la aplicación por medio de llamar al centro de llamadas virtuales de D-SNAP al 1-844-453-1117.

Los beneficios son válidos hasta por nueve meses. Las tarjetas de beneficios estarán disponibles para recogerse en las ubicaciones de D-SNAP en cada condado o puede recibir la tarjeta EBT por correo durante la noche en la dirección que especifique en su aplicación.

Para ser elegible, una persona debe:
- Vivir en los condados de Alexander, Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, Burke, Caldwell, Catawba, Clay, Cleveland, Gaston, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Lincoln, Macon, Madison, McDowell, Mitchell, Polk, Rutherford, Transilvania, Watauga, Wilkes y Yancey.
- Ser miembro de la Banda del Este de los indios Cherokee que viven en el código postal 28719.
- Haber sufrido pérdidas o daños relacionados con el huracán Helene, como daños a la propiedad o pérdida de ingresos.
- Tener prueba de identidad y prueba de domicilio (si está disponible).
- Tener ingresos y recursos por debajo de ciertos niveles.
- Actualmente no está recibiendo beneficios a través del programa de Servicios de Alimentos y Nutrición (FNS, por sus siglas en inglés). Las personas que reciben FNS también pueden obtener ayuda adicional para comprar alimentos, pero no necesitan completar una aplicación para D-SNAP. Puede obtener más información sobre cómo obtener ayuda adicional en la página web de FNS.
Se alienta a los habitantes a solicitar D-SNAP por teléfono, cuando sea posible, llamando al centro de llamadas de D-SNAP al 1-844-453-1117. El centro de llamadas de D-SNAP estará abierto las siguientes horas:
- Días laborables (viernes 18 de octubre , lunes 21 de octubre, martes 22 de octubre , miércoles 23 de octubre y jueves 24 de octubre ), a partir de las 8 de la mañana hasta las 4 de la tarde.
- Sábado 19 de octubre y domingo 20 de octubre, a partir de las 9 de la mañana hasta el mediodía.
Se alienta a los habitantes a solicitar D-SNAP por teléfono en su día asignado según la primera letra de su apellido, pero no serán rechazados si solicitan en cualquier momento durante el período de solicitud.
- Octubre 18: A-G
- Octubre 19: H-M
- Octubre 20: N-S
- Octubre 21: T-Z
- Octubre 22: Abierto para todos
- Octubre 23: Abierto para todos
- Octubre 24: Abierto para todos
Los habitantes también pueden utilizar la herramienta de preinscripción en línea ePASS, que se abrirá el martes 15 de octubre cerrará el martes 22 de octubre . Una vez que se complete la preinscripción, a los aplicantes se les emitirá un número de confirmación y deberán llamar entre el 18 y el 24 de octubre al 1-844-453-1117 para completar la entrevista que es parte de la solicitud.

Los habitantes también pueden aplicar para D-SNAP en persona en cualquiera de los siguientes lugares que se enumeran a continuación. Los sitios D-SNAP que se enumeran a continuación estarán abiertos a las siguientes horas:
- Días laborables (viernes 18 de octubre , lunes 21 de octubre, , martes 22 de octubre , miércoles 23 de octubre y jueves 24 de octubre ), a partir de las 8 de la mañana hasta las 4 de la tarde.
- Sábado 19 de octubre y domingo 20 de octubre, a partir de las 9 de la mañana a las 2 p.m.
Departamento de Servicios Sociales del condado Alexander
Oficina del DSS del condado Alexander
604 7th St. SW
Taylorsville, NC 28681

Condado Alleghany
Edificio Emerson Black
1375 US Hwy 21 N
Sparta, NC 28675

Departamento de Servicios Sociales del condado Ashe
Oficina principal del DSS de Ashe
150 Government Circle, Suite 1400
Jefferson, NC 28640

Condado Avery
Biblioteca del condado Avery (sótano)
150 Library Road
Newland, NC 28657

Departamento de Servicios Sociales del condado Buncombe
Oficina principal del DSS del condado Buncombe
40 Coxe Ave.
Asheville, NC 28801

Departamento de Servicios Sociales del condado Burke
Oficina del DSS del condado Burke
700 E Parker Road
Morganton, NC 28655

Condado Caldwell
El edificio que anteriormente era un Walgreens
621 Harper Ave.
Lenoir, NC 28645

Departamento de Servicios Sociales del condado Catawba
Oficina del DSS del condado Catawba
3030 11th Ave Drive
Hickory, NC 28602

Departamento de Servicios Sociales del condado Clay
Oficina del DSS del condado Clay
119 Courthouse Drive
Hayesville, NC 28904

Condado Cleveland
Estacionamiento de autobuses de las escuelas del condado Cleveland
300 Kemper Road
Shelby, NC 28152

Departamento de Servicios Sociales del condado Gaston
Oficina principal del DSS del condado Gaston
330 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Way
Gastonia, NC 28052

Condado Haywood
Oficina del DSS del condado Haywood
157 Paragon Pkwy #300
Clyde, NC 28721

Condado Henderson
Iglesia Bautista Living Waters
1284 Sugarloaf Road
Hendersonville, NC 28792

Condado Jackson
Oficina del DSS del condado Jackson
15 Griffin St.
Sylva, NC 28779

Departamento de Servicios Sociales del condado Lincoln
Oficina del DSS del condado Lincoln
1136 East Main St.
Lincolnton, NC 28092

Departamento de Servicios Sociales del condado Macon
183 Holly Springs Plaza
Franklin, NC 28734

Departamento de Servicios Sociales del condado Madison
Oficina del DSS de Madison
5707 US Hwy 25-70, Suite 1
Marshall, NC 28753

Condado McDowell
Gimnasio de la YMCA del condado McDowell (Planta baja)
348 Grace Corpening Drive
Marion, North Carolina 28752

Departamento de Servicios Sociales del condado Mitchell
Oficina del DSS del condado Mitchel
347 Longview Drive
Bakersville, NC 28705

Departamento de Servicios Sociales del condado Polk
231 Wolverine Trail
Mill Spring, NC 28756

Departamento de Servicios Sociales del condado Rutherford
Centro de Artes Escénicas de la Fundación del Colegio Comunitario Isothermal
(ICC – Foundation Performing Arts Center)
286 ICC Loop Road
Spindale, NC 288160

Biblioteca del condado Transilvania
212 South Gaston St., “Cuarto Rogow”
Brevard, NC 28712

Departamento de Servicios Sociales del condado Watauga
Oficina del DSS del Condado Watauga
132 Poplar Grove Connector, Suite C
Boone, NC 28607

Departamento de Servicios Sociales del condado Wilkes
Oficina del DSS del condado Wilkes
304 College St.
Wilkesboro, NC 28697

Departamento de Servicios Sociales del condado Yancey
Centro de Burnsville (Burnsville Town Center)
6 South Main Street
Burnsville, NC 28714

Banda Oriental de Indios Cherokee habitantes del código postal 28719:

Límite de Qualla
Límite de Qualla
1526 Acquoni Road
Cherokee, NC

Condado Jackson
Oficina del DSS del condado Jackson
15 Griffin St.
Sylva, NC 28779

Si bien se alienta a las personas en los condados de Alexander, Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, Burke, Caldwell, Catawba, Clay, Cleveland, Gaston, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Lincoln, Macon, Madison, McDowell, Mitchell, Polk, Rutherford, Transilvania, Watauga, Wilkes y Yancey y a los miembros de la Banda Oriental de Indios Cherokee que viven en el código postal 28719 a aplicar en el condado de su domicilio, también pueden aplicar en persona en cualquiera de los condados aprobados para implementar D-SNAP. El NCDHHS publicará información sobre las ubicaciones y horarios de los sitios en cada condado en http://www.ncdhhs.gov/fns.

Tenga en cuenta que puede haber largos tiempos de espera. Los funcionarios del condado harán todo lo posible para procesar las solicitudes lo más rápido posible.

Las personas que puedan tener una discapacidad o no puedan ir físicamente a solicitar ayuda en persona pueden completar este formulario en inglés o español y enviar un representante autorizado en su lugar.

El NCDHHS está trabajando con el Departamento de Agricultura de los Estados Unidos (USDA, por sus siglas en inglés) para agregar dos condados adicionales a través de la fase dos de la implementación de D-SNAP en una fecha posterior. Una vez aprobado, NCDHHS compartirá información adicional.

Para obtener información sobre el huracán Helene y los recursos y flexibilidades adicionales existentes, visite http://www.ncdps.gov/Helene y http://www.ncdhhs.gov/helene.

###

De acuerdo con la ley federal de derechos civiles y las regulaciones y políticas de derechos civiles del Departamento de Agricultura de los Estados Unidos (USDA, por sus siglas en inglés), esta institución tiene prohibido discriminar por motivos de raza, color, origen nacional, sexo (incluyendo la identidad de género y la orientación sexual), credo religioso, discapacidad, edad, creencias políticas o represalias o repercusiones por actividades anteriores en defensa de los derechos civiles.

La información del programa puede estar disponible en otros idiomas además del inglés. Las personas con discapacidades que necesiten medios alternativos de comunicación para obtener información sobre el programa (braille, letra grande, cinta de audio, lenguaje de señas estadounidense, etc.) deben contactar a la agencia estatal o local en la que solicitaron los beneficios. Las personas sordas o con problemas de audición o discapacidades del habla pueden comunicarse con el USDA a través del Servicio de Retransmisión/Relé Federal al (800) 877-8339.

Para presentar una queja por discriminación, el demandante debe completar un Formulario AD-3027, Formulario de queja de discriminación de programa del USDA, que se puede obtener en línea en: https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/ad-3027.pdf, desde cualquier oficina del USDA, llamando al (866) 632-9992 o escribiendo una carta dirigida al USDA. La carta debe contener el nombre, dirección y número de teléfono del demandante, así como una descripción escrita de la supuesta acción discriminatoria con el suficiente detalle para informar al subsecretario de Derechos Civiles (ASCR, por sus siglas en inglés) sobre la naturaleza y la fecha de una supuesta violación de los derechos civiles. El formulario AD-3027 completo o la carta debe enviarse a:
1. Correo:
  Food and Nutrition Service, USDA
  1320 Braddock Place, Room 334
  Alexandria, VA 22314
2. Fax:
  (833) 256-1665 o (202) 690-7442; o
3. Correo electrónico:
  FNSCIVILRIGHTSCOMPLAINTS@usda.gov
Esta institución ofrece igualdad de oportunidades.
Oct 14, 2024

MIL OSI USA News –
January 23, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: FEMA Staff in North Carolina Will Resume Normal Operations and Outreach, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper and FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell Address Operational Updates

Source: US Federal Emergency Management Agency

Headline: FEMA Staff in North Carolina Will Resume Normal Operations and Outreach, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper and FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell Address Operational Updates

FEMA Staff in North Carolina Will Resume Normal Operations and Outreach, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper and FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell Address Operational Updates

NORTH CAROLINA — The State of North Carolina and FEMA continue to work together to help communities recover from Hurricane Helene and provide assistance to survivors.

Over the past weekend, out of abundance of caution, FEMA made operational changes based on threat information. The changes did not impact ongoing search and rescue and life-safety operations, and Disaster Recovery Centers remained open. The threat was more limited than initially reported and mitigated by law enforcement.

Today, FEMA officials remain in communities and survivors are encouraged to continue to register for assistance. Disaster Survivor Assistance teams will resume normal operations in the field and housing inspectors will resume scheduling inspections to ensure survivors get the assistance they need and deserve.

“State, federal and local response workers, including FEMA, are working around the clock to bring assistance to western North Carolina,” said Governor Roy Cooper. “We know that significant misinformation online contributes to threats against response workers on the ground, and the safety of responders must be a priority. At my direction, the North Carolina Department of Public Safety is helping partners like FEMA to coordinate with law enforcement to ensure their safety and security as they continue their important work.”

“Keeping FEMA staff safe while they are helping people in disaster impacted communities is always my top priority. I wanted to make sure we protected our staff on the ground while we worked diligently with local law enforcement to understand the full situation,” said FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell. “Thanks to our close partnership with Governor Roy Cooper and his team, as well as local law enforcement, FEMA teams will soon be back doing what they do best – meeting people where they are and going door to door to register survivors for assistance. FEMA and the entire federal family will be in North Carolina for as long as it takes to help these communities recover. Together, we will continue to reach as many North Carolinians as possible and get them the help they need, while ensuring the safety of our FEMA employees and state partners.”

As of today, FEMA has provided more than $96 million in housing and other types of assistance for over 75,000 households and the agency continues to work closely with the State of North Carolina to reach as make people as possible where they are. Additionally, FEMA and the State continue to operate four Disaster Recovery Centers in Asheville, Lenoir, Marion and Sylva where survivors can speak directly with FEMA and state personnel for assistance with their recovery. To find the nearest center, visit FEMA.gov/DRC.

amy.ashbridge
Mon, 10/14/2024 – 22:42

MIL OSI USA News –

January 23, 2025
MIL-OSI Economics: Verizon Foundation donates $2 Million towards Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton relief efforts
Source: Verizon

Headline: Verizon Foundation donates $2 Million towards Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton relief efforts

NEW YORK – The Verizon Foundation is stepping up to support communities devastated by Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton with a total of $2 million in donations to aid relief and recovery efforts. The contributions will provide essential support and rebuilding efforts to those who have been devastated by the storms.

The donations include $1 million to the American Red Cross to assist with emergency relief and recovery efforts for both Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton.

The remaining $1 million is directed to various regional organizations providing crucial services on the ground in the hardest-hit areas, including $400,000 allocated to organizations in Florida for Hurricane Milton relief and $600,000 to support communities in Georgia and North Carolina affected by Hurricane Helene:
- $400,000 to Volunteer Florida: Supporting Hurricane relief efforts, these funds will assist organizations providing food, shelter, and recovery resources to those affected by the storm.
- $600,000 to Georgia and North Carolina: Focused on aiding communities devastated by Hurricane Helene, these contributions will help address immediate needs like food and shelter while also supporting longer-term recovery and rebuilding initiatives. Specifically, these contributions include:
  ○ $300,000 to NC Hurricane Helene Fund–United Way of North Carolina
  ○ $50,000 to Second Harvest of South Georgia, Inc., Valdosta, Georgia
  ○ $50,000 to United Way of Greater Valdosta, Georgia
  ○ $100,000 to Community Foundation for the CSRA, Augusta, Georgia
  ○ $100,000 to Weathered But Strong Fund–Georgia Foundation for Agriculture
“We are committed to supporting communities when they need it most, and we are working closely with local organizations to ensure resources reach those who need them urgently,” said Donna Epps, Verizon’s Chief Responsible Business Officer. “In the aftermath of Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton, the Verizon Foundation is here to support the American Red Cross and other trusted partners as they provide relief for communities to recover and rebuild.”

“The American Red Cross is working around the clock to provide help and hope to people across the country impacted by disasters big and small, including storms and countless other crises,” said Cliff Holtz, president and CEO of the American Red Cross. “We cannot thank Verizon Foundation enough for their generosity as we work together to offer relief and comfort to those in need.”

“On behalf of Volunteer Florida, we are deeply grateful for the Verizon Foundation’s generous $400,000 donation in response to Hurricanes Helene and Milton. This contribution will have an immediate and lasting impact on our communities as they recover and rebuild,” said Volunteer Florida CEO Josie Tamayo. “The generosity of our donors allows us to provide essential resources and support to those in need during these challenging times.”

“We want to express our gratitude to Verizon for the additional contribution of $300,000 to the NC Disaster Relief Fund. Your commitment to supporting our community in times of need makes a profound difference in the lives of those affected by Hurricane Helene,” said President and CEO of United Way of North Carolina, Brittany Pruitt Fletcher. “This generous donation will help provide essential resources and aid to individuals and families working to rebuild their lives. Your dedication to making a positive impact showcases the true spirit of corporate responsibility and compassion. Thank you for standing with us during this challenging time. Together, we are stronger, and your support brings hope and healing to our community.”

“The Greater Valdosta United Way is honored to receive these funds so recovery and healing can happen. It will take communication and connections which Verizon understands for communities to recover. Thank you for stepping up and supporting South Georgia,” said CEO of Greater Valdosta United Way, Michael Smith.

“Second Harvest of South Georgia is grateful for this gift from Verizon. It will help the impacted families of South Georgia following the devastating destruction caused by hurricane Helene,” said President and CEO of Second Harvest of South Georgia Franklin J. Richards II. Gifts like this truly make a difference in these difficult times and help Second Harvest of South Georgia provide much needed food and resources to all the citizens that were affected by the storm.”

“I’m incredibly thankful to the team at Verizon, not only for their generous donation of $100,000 to the Weathered But Strong Hurricane Relief Fund but also for all their work to get Georgians back online in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene,” said Commissioner of Georgia Department of Agriculture, Tyler Harper. “When disaster hits our state, we need all hands on deck to help our fellow Georgians recover, and this donation will go a long way to help Georgia farm families bounce back stronger than before.”
MIL OSI Economics –
January 23, 2025
MIL-OSI Europe: Publication of 2020 official development assistance figures by the OECD Development Assistance Committee (13 Apr. 2021)e publique au développement 2020 par le Comité d’aide au développement de l’OCDE (13.04.21)

Source: Republic of France in English
The Republic of France has issued the following statement:

The Development Assistance Committee of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) today published preliminary data on global official development assistance (ODA) for 2020. With ODA at €12.4 billion, i.e. 0.53% of gross national income (GNI) – up by 10.9% in real terms compared to the previous year –, France remains in fifth place among international aid donors.

In line with the French President’s commitment to increase France’s resources for protecting global public goods, French ODA rose for the sixth consecutive year (up €2.3 billion since the beginning of the five-year term).

The increase in French ODA is mainly driven by bilateral assistance (up 20.8% in current euros compared to 2019). Bilateral funding in donations increased by 2%, in accordance with the targets set by the Interministerial Committee for International Cooperation and Development (CICID) in February 2018. Assistance for projects, enabling practical projects to be funded on the ground, tripled by comparison with 2019, particularly thanks to increased activity in non-C2D donations directly implemented by the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs and activity entrusted to the French Development Agency (AFD). Sub-Saharan Africa, which is central to France’s development policy, received a third of our bilateral ODA (€2.9 billion), up 40% compared to 2019. The bilateral ODA allocated by France to Least Developed Countries (LDCs) stands at €1.7 billion.

France allocated €1.9 billion to the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic in developing countries in 2020 – more than the other European donors. In particular, through the AFD, it established a Health in Common Initiative worth €1.2 billion – €150 million of it in donations – which, among other things, improved care for patients and strengthened the capabilities of the Pasteur Institute’s reference laboratories in several sub-Saharan African countries.

French ODA to international organizations and multilateral funds amounted to €4.4 billion (up 2.8%). Over half corresponded to France’s contribution to the ODA implemented by the European Union. This money also financed the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM), Unitaid, Gavi The Vaccine Alliance’s Finance Facility and the Green Climate Fund. France stepped up its support to the least developed countries through its contribution to the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) and the African Development Fund (ADF).

The programming bill on inclusive development and combating global inequalities, presented by the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs and adopted by the National Assembly on 2 March 2021, realizes France’s new ambition for development policy. Through increased resources and overhauled methods, it reflects the desire to ensure our action is effective on the ground, helping the most vulnerable people, and to mobilize our partners to take more robust action to protect global public goods (climate, health, education). The Senate is currently discussing the bill.

MIL OSI Europe News –

January 23, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: OpenET: Balancing Water Supply and Demand in the West

Source: NASA

At the end of 2022, 65 percent of the Western United States was in severe drought, the result of a two decades long mega drought in the Colorado River Basin that had captured headlines around the world.
However, it was flooding, not drought, that was making headlines when we began our research for this story about OpenET, a revolutionary new online platform geared towards helping farmers and water managers monitor and reduce water use in watersheds where supplies were not keeping up with demand.
The start of 2023 brought flooding to many counties in California, leaving 68 percent of the state with suddenly little to no drought. And caused Forrest Melton, the NASA Project Scientist for OpenET and Associate Program Manager for agriculture and water resources with the NASA Earth Action program, to pause our video interview after a tree fell down outside his Bay Area home on a rainy day in March, 2023.
Coming online again after calling the fire department, Melton didn’t seem all too optimistic that the wet conditions would last. “California tends to swing between the two extremes of drought and flood,” Melton said. He referenced the 2016/17 winter which had particularly high precipitation but was followed by dry conditions during the following years, before the relief brought by the heavy rains, and flooding, in early 2023.
According to NOAA’s National Integrated Drought Information System it will take more than one wet winter to replenish groundwater in many parts of the western United States. Groundwater levels across the California Central Valley and many parts of the Ogallala Aquifer continue to decline. The need for better water management remains essential, and yet the data necessary to support new approaches has not been broadly available.
Enter the OpenET project, a multi-disciplinary, collaborative effort to make satellite-based evapotranspiration (ET) data available to the public. Melton describes the project as providing invaluable and scientifically robust data at all scales, “that can be used to support day to day decision making and long range planning to try to solve some really long standing and important water management challenges in the West.”

Evapotranspiration is the combined process of evaporation and transpiration, both of which transfer water from the land surface to the atmosphere as water vapor. Evaporation transforms water from the surface of the ground or bodies of water into water vapor, while transpiration is water vapor that is evaporated from plant tissues and escapes through the stomata, the tiny pores in plant leaves and stems. It is a process that is happening all around us almost all the time, but because water vapor is invisible to the human eye, it is very hard to measure on the ground.

To understand the effect evapotranspiration has on a local water cycle, picture a large decorative fountain. Typically, these fountains recycle the same water over and over. As a fountain runs, water is pumped out of the fountain heads, falls back into the fountain’s basin, and then flows back through the pipe system before starting the process all over again. We can think of the water remaining within this fountain’s local water system as non-consumptive water use. Some water, however, will be lost from the fountain’s local water system by evaporating from the pool’s surface or mist from the fountain’s spray.
Imagine the fountain also has lily pads growing in its basin. The lily pads will use the fountain’s water to survive and grow, losing some of that water to transpiration. The total water lost is evapotranspiration, and is considered consumptive water use, because it cannot be reused by the fountain. Tracking evapotranspiration can tell you how much water is removed or “depleted” from a local water system, and how much water needs to be added back in to support plant growth and maintain a healthy balance between water supply and water use. If too much water leaves the fountain, it will stop running. If too much water is added, it will overflow.
These concepts can be applied more broadly to the hydrologic cycle as a whole, and evapotranspiration data can play an important part in designing and implementing sustainable water management practices to combat larger issues like drought, as well as both short and long-term reductions in water availability. Historically, ET data have been obtained from ground-based instruments and methods, such as weighing lysimeters, which weigh soil and plants to track the water volume lost by evaporation or transpiration. Another common method is called eddy covariance, which calculates the amount of water vapor transported away from the land surface by wind eddies as they move across the land surface. But both are expensive and difficult to install and maintain, and measurements are only representative of a small portion of an individual agricultural field. It is cost prohibitive to collect these measurements over larger areas.

The OpenET team saw the important niche left open by traditional evapotranspiration measurement methods and filled it. They built upon decades of research funded by NASA, USDA and USGS and developed a new platform that can take easily accessible and already available data from satellite programs, like Landsat, and combine it with weather data to calculate the ET for every quarter acre of land. Satellites can record information like the Earth’s surface temperature and how much of the incoming light from the sun is being reflected back out to space. OpenET is able to use physically-based mathematical models to combine the satellite and weather data and output accurate data on evapotranspiration rates and volumes.
This information is then made easily accessible through OpenET’s Data Explorer, a free web-based tool that allows anyone with an internet connection to access the data OpenET provides. Users begin by selecting an area of interest from a map of the western United States that provides data at the satellite resolution of a quarter-acre, and also broken down into known areas of interest and individual agricultural fields, each color coded with a heat map of evapotranspiration. Cooler colors indicate higher rates of evapotranspiration while warmer colors indicate lower rates. Users can zoom into specific areas on the map, and with just a click, a chart pops up showing the evapotranspiration trends for a given area, for the current year and the past five years.
The chart can show monthly ET trends, useful for understanding seasonal fluctuations, and also cumulative trends, useful for understanding year-to-year changes in evapotranspiration. “The OpenET team took a user-driven design approach from the beginning, and each element of the Data Explorer and the open data services is there because a water manager or farmer asked for it,” Melton explained. As we played around with the map, it became apparent how much work was put into developing this project. Scientists needed to improve models and assess the accuracy of data, programmers had to develop the user interface and data services, designers needed to make the interface intuitive enough to be impactful, agriculture and environmental groups needed to help validate the model’s accuracy, and users of all types needed to provide requirements and then test the product to make sure their needs were actually met.
The OpenET consortium includes NASA, USGS, USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS), Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), Google Earth Engine, California State University Monterey Bay (CSUMB), Desert Research Institute (DRI), Habitat Seven, Chapman University, Cornell University, University of Nebraska-Lincoln and close to a dozen other universities and experts across the U.S. NASA Ames Research Center and CSUMB have played key roles in the scientific and technical leadership of the effort from the outset, working closely with DRI, EDF and the recently formed non-profit OpenET, Inc. In addition, over 100 partners from the water management, agriculture and conservation community provided user requirements and assisted with the design and testing of the OpenET platform and tools.
“OpenET would not be possible without the contributions of each one of those partners,” Melton said. “Both on the implementation side and those who are translating the data from OpenET into solutions to long standing challenges.”

Models like those built into OpenET can be extremely useful tools for understanding patterns in ET and water use, but are only helpful if their accuracy is known. The OpenET science team recently completed the largest accuracy assessment to date for field-scale satellite-based ET data, comparing the satellite data to ground-based measurements at more than 150 sites across the U.S. Led by John Volk of the Desert Research Institute, the study was published in Nature Water earlier this year. A key finding was that across all sites, an ensemble value computed from six different ET models performed the best overall, leveraging the strengths of each individual satellite-driven model.
However, the study also found that some models performed best for particular crop types or regions, which is important information for water managers and farmers who need the most accurate data possible. Publishing the results as an open access study with all data and analysis made publicly available was also important to build trust in the data. While the study highlighted some limitations of the models and priorities for future research, the rigorous and reproducible accuracy assessment helps to build user confidence that they can use the data, while being aware of the expected accuracy for different applications of the data.

OpenET has already contributed to one significant win for farmers that affects how water use will be monitored and reported in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
This inland river delta covers 750,000 acres and is an important water resource in California, but one where accelerated demand combined with habitat loss and water quality issues has led to major concerns. In the Delta, large portions of the agricultural land are below sea level. Levees protect the fields and contain the river channels that supply water for irrigation. In 2023, the state began requiring farmers to maintain a water meter or measuring device on each diversion, where water is diverted from a river for irrigation. However, this measurement proved challenging and costly as there are thousands of diversions in the Delta, and the measuring equipment was inaccurate and difficult to maintain in this environment. In addition, water users also had to pay for meters at the locations where water that drained from the fields was pumped back over the levees and into the river channels.

“Mostly, what the state was interested in was the consumptive use: how much (water) was actually removed from the supply in that region,” Melton said. “So, it’s the perfect place for using OpenET because evapotranspiration really is the majority of the consumptive use in the Delta, if not all of it.”
After the launch of OpenET, farmers in the Delta worked with the Delta Watermaster, the California State Water Resources Control Board, the OpenET team and the Delta Measurement Consortium to develop an alternative compliance plan that used OpenET data to help streamline the water use required reporting for this complex region. Once the alternative compliance plan was approved, Forrest Melton and Will Carrara of NASA worked with the state Water Resources Control Board, the Delta Watermaster and water management agencies, and Jordan Harding of HabitatSeven to implement this solution. The Delta Alternative Compliance Plan, also known as the Delta ACP, allows farmers to use OpenET data to estimate their water usage; enabling farmers to complete their use reports in a matter of minutes.
“It’s the first time that satellite-based evapotranspiration data has been automatically integrated with a state-managed water reporting system,” Melton said.
Last year, more than 70% of farmers in the Bay-Delta region chose to use OpenET and to report their water use through the Delta ACP website, and they expect this percentage to continue to increase over time.
“The best part is that it is saving farmers hundreds of hours on preparing and submitting reports, avoiding millions of dollars in costs for farmers to deploy and maintain meters, and giving the state consistent and reproducible data on water use that has been reviewed and approved by the water user,” Melton said.
According to Delta Watermaster, Jay Ziegler, this approach has a clear benefit in the unique water flow setting of the Delta. “In reality, OpenET – and the use of publicly accessible data measuring ET is the only way to really discern consumptive use of water in the Delta on a reliable basis,” Ziegler said. “Candidly, we don’t really have a viable “plan B” in the absence of applying Open ET for water use reporting.”

Jay ziegler
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Watermaster

As water scarcity is increasingly becoming an urgent issue all around the world, it’s easy to imagine how many countries could benefit from OpenET data.
OpenET’s first international partnership is led by Anderson Ruhoff, a professor in Hydrology and Remote Sensing at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, where his team developed an evapotranspiration model called geeSEBAL for Brazil’s Water Agency.
Ruhoff learned about OpenET while he was in the US on a visiting professorship in Nebraska. He was intrigued and reached out to Melton who encouraged him to attend an upcoming conference in Reno, Nevada, where OpenET would be featured. The conference was due to start in just a few days time.
“So I had to find a last minute ticket to Reno and I’m glad I bought it, because when I arrived there they invited me to join Open ET. It was quite a coincidence,” Ruhoff said, smiling as he remembered the spontaneous decision. “We adapted our model for the US and started to participate in their work.”
In March, 2024, Ruhoff and OpenET launched an extension of the tool, called OpenET Brazil, with financial support from the Agência Nacional de Águas e Saneamento Básico (ANA), the Brazilian national water agency. The tool, called OpenET Brazil, will have similar goals as OpenET in the U.S., and the data collected will help improve Open ET’s accuracy overall.
Melton feels this will be a “great test case” for both working with new environmental conditions (in Brazil there frequently is more cloud cover than in the US during key parts of the growing season) and also developing new collaborations.
“The partnership will help us figure out how we can work with international partners to make the ET data useful,” Melton said. “The key aspect of our approach to geographic expansion is that leading scientists in each country and region, like Dr. Ruhoff, will lead the implementation, accuracy assessment, and the development of applications and partnerships for their country.”
Brazil has one of the world’s largest sources of freshwater, the Amazon River, and yet it can still be affected by drought. This is partly due to the fact that deforestation in the Amazon Rainforest has an impact on the entire region’s water cycle. Trees draw water up from the soil and during photosynthesis they release vapor into the atmosphere. This water vapor will accumulate and form precipitation. Trees are “basically a huge water pump,” Ruhoff said, and the Amazon Rainforest is large enough that it helps to produce the rainy season. But when deforestation is allowed to happen over large areas, that mechanism is interrupted. As a result of this disruption, the dry season is predicted to intensify, becoming longer and dryer, which in turn can affect crop production in Brazil as well as the rainfall that is critical for sustaining water supplies in Brazil and other areas of South America.
“Water doesn’t see borders. It doesn’t follow our rules,” Ruhoff said. “Deforestation in one place can affect people thousands of kilometers away.”

Anderson Ruhoff
Professor of Hydrology and Remote Sensing, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

Studying evapotranspiration can reveal the impacts of deforestation with even more clarity. And importantly, it’s also public information. “So not only the farmers and water managers but every citizen can check how much water is being used in their area, especially during drought. It’s democratic information in that way,” Ruhoff said. “I think it’s important to have this information openly available and to try and reach as many people as possible.”
Melton feels there’s the potential to expand the project, if more people like Ruhoff are there to lead the way.
“There’s huge potential, but there do need to be stakeholders that come to the table and say that this is something that they’re interested in,” Melton said. “Water is so important and at times so contentious that it’s really important the data is seen as trusted. When there is a local leader, that substantially increases the likelihood that it will be trusted, and most importantly, used to bring people together to develop solutions.”

Even when you live in a water-scarce region like California it’s easy to take water for granted. What platforms like OpenET can do for us, however, is make water, even in its most diffuse form, more visible to everyone.
Written by Jane Berg and Rachel Sender, co-published with the Bay Area Environmental Research Institute
To learn more about OpenET, visit https://etdata.org/
Program Contact:Forrest MeltonNASA Ames Research Centerforrest.s.melton@nasa.gov

MIL OSI USA News –

January 23, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Biden-Harris Administration Provides $860 Million for Hurricane Helene and Milton Survivors and Communities
Source: US Federal Emergency Management Agency

Headline: Biden-Harris Administration Provides $860 Million for Hurricane Helene and Milton Survivors and Communities

Biden-Harris Administration Provides $860 Million for Hurricane Helene and Milton Survivors and Communities
WASHINGTON — Helene and Milton recovery efforts continue in North Carolina and the Southeast. Over 8,500 federal personnel are deployed, which includes over 4,200 FEMA personnel who remain on the ground, working side-by-side with state and local officials, to help survivors get what they need to begin their recovery.

For those affected by Hurricane Helene, as of today, FEMA has approved over $860 million, which includes $507 million in assistance for individuals and communities affected and over $351.5 million for debris removal and activities to save lives, protect public health and safety and prevent damage to public and private property.

Survivors can jumpstart their recovery by applying for FEMA assistance. Applying online at disasterassistance.gov is the fastest way to begin the application process. As survivors go through the application process they can access Serious Needs Assistance for essential items like food, water, baby formula, breastfeeding supplies, medication and other emergency supplies.

Hurricane Milton Recovery Updates

Power restoration efforts have significantly improved across the region following Hurricane Milton. Crews have continued to work around the clock and have restored power for nearly 3 million residents. FEMA is currently working with state and local officials on debris removal plans for areas affected by the storms. Residents should pay attention to local guidance related to debris removal in their area.

Over 30 shelters are currently housing over 2,950 people impacted by Milton, a significant decrease from nearly 13,000 from last week. FEMA has 7.6 million meals and 4.6 million liters of water available to support survivors of Hurricane Milton, ensuring critical supplies are ready for immediate distribution.

Hurricane Helene Recovery Updates

Hurricane Helene recovery efforts continue, with federal responders working throughout the region to provide immediate and long-term support. FEMA Disaster Recovery Centers are also open across the region to provide support. To date, FEMA has delivered over 12.6 million meals and more than 12.8 million liters of water to the region.

Disaster survivors in certain areas of Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia can begin their recovery process by applying for federal assistance through FEMA. People with damage to their homes or personal property who live in the designated areas should apply for assistance, which may include upfront funds to help with essential items like food, water, baby formula, breastfeeding supplies and other emergency supplies. Funds may also be available to repair storm-related damage to homes and personal property, as well as assistance to find a temporary place to stay. Homeowners and renters with damage to their home or personal property from previous disasters, whether they received FEMA funds or not, are still eligible to apply for and receive assistance for Helene.

Apply for FEMA assistance in the following ways:
- Online by visiting disasterassistance.gov.
- Downloading and applying on the FEMA App.
- Calling the FEMA Helpline at 1-800-621-3362.
- Visiting a Disaster Recovery Center
- Applying through a Disaster Survivor Assistance member
Support for North Carolina

FEMA has approved more than $96 million in housing and other types of assistance for over 75,000 households.

More than 2,500 families who cannot return home are staying in safe and clean lodging through FEMA’s Transitional Sheltering Assistance program. Under the program, residents in declared counties who have applied for disaster assistance may be eligible to stay temporarily in a hotel or motel paid for by FEMA while they work on their long-term housing plan. FEMA will notify applicants of their eligibility for this assistance through an automated phone call, text message and/or email, depending upon the method of communication they selected at the time of application for disaster assistance. Shelter numbers continue to decline, with 13 shelters housing just over 560 occupants.

Commodity distribution, mass feeding, and hydration operations remain in areas of western North Carolina. Voluntary organizations are supporting feeding operations with bulk food and water deliveries coming via truck and aircraft.
- Residents can visit: ncdps.gov/helene to get information and additional assistance.
- Residents can get in touch with loved ones by calling 2-1-1 or visiting unitedwaync.org to add them to search and rescue efforts.
There are four Disaster Recovery Centers now open in Asheville, Lenoir, Marion and Sylva where survivors can speak directly with FEMA and state personnel for assistance with their recovery. To find the nearest center, visit FEMA.gov/DRC.

Support for Florida

As Helene recovery efforts continue in Florida, FEMA has approved more than $177.6 million for over 56,900 households. FEMA specialists are canvassing Florida communities affected by Helene to help survivors apply for assistance. Additionally, FEMA inspectors are visiting applicants’ homes to verify disaster-caused damage.

There are 122 Disaster Survivor Assistance members going into neighborhoods and there are ten Disaster Recovery Centers supporting survivors from Debby and Helene where survivors can speak to state and federal personnel to help with their recovery. Survivors may find their closest center by visiting FEMA.gov/DRC.

Residents in need of information or resources should call the State Assistance Information Line (SAIL) at 1-800-342-3557. English, Spanish and Creole speakers are available to answer questions.

Support for South Carolina

As recovery efforts continue in South Carolina, FEMA has approved over $119 million for more than 133,900 households. FEMA Disaster Survivor Assistance Teams are on the ground in neighborhoods across the affected counties, continuing to help survivors apply for FEMA assistance and connect them with additional state, local, federal and voluntary agency resources.

There are 81 Disaster Survivor Assistance members going into neighborhoods, and three Disaster Recovery Centers are open in Greenville, Barnwell and Batesburg where survivors can speak to state and federal personnel to help with their recovery. Survivors may find their closest center by visiting FEMA.gov/DRC.

Residents with questions on Helene can call the state’s toll-free hotline, open 24 hours a day, at 1-866-246-0133.

Residents who are dependent on medical equipment at home and who are without power due to Helene may be eligible for a medical needs shelter. Call the state’s Department of Public Health Care Line at 1-855-472-3432 for more information.

Support for Georgia

FEMA has approved over $103 million for more than 106,300 households. FEMA Disaster Survivor Assistance Teams are on the ground in neighborhoods across the affected counties helping survivors apply for FEMA assistance and connecting them with additional state, local, federal and voluntary agency resources.

There are 139 Disaster Survivor Assistance members going into neighborhoods, and three Disaster Recovery Centers are open in Valdosta, Douglas and Augusta where survivors can speak to state and federal personnel to help with their recovery. Survivors may find their closest center by visiting FEMA.gov/DRC.

Residents can find resources like shelters and feeding sites at gema.georgia.gov/hurricane-helene.

Support for Virginia

To date, FEMA has approved over $4.2 million for over 1,330 households. FEMA Disaster Survivor Assistance Teams are on the ground in neighborhoods across the affected counties, helping survivors apply for FEMA assistance and connecting them with additional state, local, federal and voluntary agency resources.

There are about 39 Disaster Survivor Assistance members going into neighborhoods, and three Disaster Recovery Centers open in Damascus, Independence and Tazewell where survivors can speak to state and federal personnel to help with their recovery. Survivors may find their closest center by visiting FEMA.gov/DRC.

Residents can find resources like shelters and feeding sites at: Recover – Hurricane Helene | VDEM (vaemergency.gov).

Support for Tennessee

FEMA has approved more than $10.7 million for disaster assistance for over 2,200 households. FEMA Disaster Survivor Assistance Teams are on the ground in neighborhoods across the affected counties, helping survivors apply for FEMA assistance and connecting them with additional state, local, federal and voluntary agency resources.

There are more than 42 Disaster Survivor Assistance members going into neighborhoods to connect with survivors without cell coverage or power. Counties continue to establish donation centers. For the evolving list, visit TEMA’s website.

Voluntary Organizations

Voluntary organizations are also providing personnel and resources to the hardest hit areas. The American Red Cross has hundreds of trained disaster workers providing comfort and operating shelters. Additionally, they are helping find loved ones through their helpline 1-800-RED-CROSS (1-800-733-2767) or by the Red Cross Hurricane Helene Reunification page where people can enter pertinent information about the person they’re looking for. If someone is missing a child related to this disaster or any other incident, they need to call 9-1-1 and then 1-800-THE-LOST to receive assistance from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

FEMA remains steadfast in its mission to support survivors as they begin their recovery from these historic storms. The agency will continue to work with federal, state, and local partners to ensure the safety and well-being of those impacted by Milton and Helene.
amy.ashbridge
Mon, 10/14/2024 – 22:45

MIL OSI USA News –
January 23, 2025
MIL-OSI Security: ATF Assembles Federal Law Enforcement Teams; Provides Emergency Support for Hurricanes Helene, Milton
Source: United States Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF)

WASHINGTON – The federal government’s Emergency Support Function #13 (ESF #13) was activated to provide federal public safety and security assistance in the aftermath of Hurricanes Helene and Milton. ESF #13 is managed by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) on behalf of the Department of Justice.

On Oct. 5, ESF #13 was activated to provide force protection for ESF #9 Federal Urban Search and Rescue (US&R) teams and ESF #8 Public Health and Medical Services missions following Hurricane Milton. ESF #13 is also positioned to provide direct federal assistance to Florida if needed. Since arriving in Florida, ESF #13 has:
- Pre-staged 34 Law Enforcement Strike Teams (LEST) comprised of more than 440 federal law enforcement officers (FLEO) from 12 separate federal agencies, including ATF, Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), Bureau of Prisons (BOP), Customs and Border Patrol (CBP), Coast Guard Investigative Service (CGIS), Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), Federal Air Marshals (FAMS), Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Small Business Administration Office of Inspector General (SBA-OIG), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and U.S. Marshals Service (USMS). It is anticipated that more FLEOs will be requested to assist with response efforts.
- Staged resources to provide law enforcement and security support for 22 US&R teams and two Disaster Medical Assistance Teams (DMAT).
On Sept. 24, ESF #13 was activated for Hurricane Helene to the southeastern part of the United States.

At its peak, ESF #13:
- Deployed more than 30 federal LESTs consisting of 400+ FLEOs from 15 federal law enforcement agencies, included ATF, DEA, FBI, USMS, BOP, CBP, BLM, USFWS, CGIS, Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division (EPA-CID), Department of Transportation OIG (DOT-OIG), U.S. Treasury Inspector General (TIGTA), Health and Human Services OIG (HHS-OIG), FAMS, and IRS.
- Deployed to Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, and North Carolina for Helene recovery support.
- Supported approximately 30 federal US&R teams from Virginia, Tennessee, Ohio, California, Texas, Indiana, Missouri, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Nebraska, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and Nevada.
- Deployed more than 40 K-9s to assist in searches.
- Supported four Health and Medical Task Forces (HMTF) and DMATs in the Western North Carolina area.
- Deployed approximately 10 peer support personnel from ATF and USMS.
The federal government’s disaster response includes 15 Emergency Support Functions. ESF #13 coordinates the federal law enforcement response to any disaster requiring the federal whole-of-government response. In Feb. 2006, the Department of Justice was designated the ESF #13 coordinating department. In October 2008, ATF was assigned as the lead coordinating agency for ESF #13 on behalf of DOJ.

[1:01 PM] Herman, Cara A. (ATF) ATF teams up with multiple agencies to stage resources to provide law enforcement and security support to FEMA’s ESF #9 Urban Search and Rescue teams.

ATF teams up with multiple agencies to stage resources to provide law enforcement
and security support to ESF #9 Federal Urban Search and Rescue teams.

ESF #13 provides force protection for FEMA’s Urban Search and Rescue teams following Hurricane Milton.

ESF #13 provides force protection for Federal Urban Search
and Rescue teams following Hurricane Milton.

ESF #13 provides force protection for a FEMA Urban Search and Rescue team in the southeastern part of the U.S. following Hurricane Helene.

ESF #13 provides force protection for aUrban Search and Rescue
team in the southeastern part of the U.S. following Hurricane Helene.

ESF #13 continues to provide force protection for Urban Search and Rescue teams as they use drones to look for victims across the southeastern part of the U.S. following Hurricane Helene.

ESF #13 continues to provide force protection for Urban Search
and Rescue teams as they use drones to look for victims across
the southeastern part of the U.S. following Hurricane Helene.

MIL Security OSI –
January 23, 2025
MIL-OSI Banking: Development Asia: Accelerating Climate Change Financing in the People’s Republic of China

Source: Asia Development Bank

Future Proof Climate Change Financing Guideline

An effective framework is crucial for managing climate finance projects. The project developed the Future Proof Climate Change Financing Guideline to advance climate action by setting clear project criteria, promoting technology adoption, and evaluating environmental benefits. Aligned with national climate goals, it offers a standardized approach to creating and assessing a robust project library.

By refining green finance frameworks, the guideline prioritizes projects in eight sectors: electricity, industry, transportation, buildings, methane, nitrous oxide, fluorinated gases, and carbon sinks. It also expands mitigation to include low-carbon services and adaptation to cover sponge city infrastructure, ecological restoration, and more.

The guideline’s assessment process includes project taxonomy, threshold evaluation, and technology analysis. By measuring technological advancements and environmental impacts, it ensures that funded projects deliver meaningful climate benefits. This approach supports the growth of climate finance nationwide, especially in pilot cities.

China Certified Emission Reduction Plus Guideline

Meanwhile, the China Certified Emission Reduction Plus Guideline, another output from the project, directs investment toward high-impact voluntary emission reduction projects. By applying strict evaluation criteria, it ensures that social capital backs projects with significant environmental and social benefits, accelerating the PRC’s journey to carbon neutrality.

Drawing from international practices like the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), Verified Carbon Standard (VCS), and others, this guideline adheres to additionality, permanence, and no-double-counting principles, while considering PRC-specific contexts. It introduces innovative approaches for crediting period management, implementation, and digital Measurement, Reporting, and Verification (MRV).

By dividing the evaluation into initial and subsequent stages, the guideline allows for thorough project assessment. It mandates environmental monitoring throughout the project lifecycle. Clear evaluation criteria help investors identify high-quality projects. The digital MRV standard enhances efficiency and ensures data integrity through automated monitoring and reporting.

MIL OSI Global Banks –

January 23, 2025
MIL-OSI New Zealand: “Advancing New Zealand and Asia relations”

Source: New Zealand Government

Good evening

Before discussing the ‘advancing of New Zealand and Asia relations’, we would like to congratulate the Asia New Zealand Foundation and acknowledge its significant contribution to New Zealand’s relationship with, and understanding of, Asia over the past 30 years.

Can we also welcome Thitinan Pongsudhirak, one of the Foundation’s Honorary Advisers, and Michael Fullilove, Executive Director of the Lowy Institute.

I would also like to acknowledge Members of Parliament; members of the diplomatic corps; Asia New Zealand Foundation founders Sir Don McKinnon and Philip Burdon; and its Chair, Dame Fran Wilde.

A lot has happened over the past 30 years – in New Zealand, in Asia, and indeed in New Zealand’s engagement with Asia.

30 years ago

It is, of course, difficult to talk about Asia in general terms. The region has 23 countries, hundreds of languages and a vast swathe of peoples and cultures and political systems.

This is to say nothing of the vast distances in Asia. Indeed, it’s closer from London to Moscow than Auckland to Jakarta, and yet we tend to think Indonesia as our back yard.

We tend to zone in on one country, or one issue.

Our understanding needs to be more nuanced than this – something the Asia New Zealand Foundation knows well and is in fact its core mission.

We can, however, look at some trends, as we think about New Zealand’s relationship with Asia over the past 30 years.

In 1994, for example, Asia’s population was over three billion people. The region accounted for one quarter of the world’s GDP, and economic growth was underway in many countries.

The region had experienced years of peace and stability, albeit with some notable exceptions. Many parts of the region were at the start of a long, although sometimes uneven, path of rising urbanisation, productivity and incomes.

In New Zealand, our population had just tipped over three million. Asian countries had become important trading partners – this was 20 years after Britain joined the European Economic Community and forced us to look beyond our traditional trading partners.

We had adapted by looking closer to home.

Thirty five percent of New Zealand’s exports went to Asia, with Japan accounting for close to half of this.

Remarkably, at that time China took just two percent of our exports, compared to 20 percent of today.

Many New Zealanders had come to realise the importance of Asia to our future prosperity.

Along with this came a recognition that we needed to better understand the vast range of cultures, languages and peoples of the region. This would be a shift for us.

Just three percent of New Zealanders at the time identified as being of Asian origin – compared to 17 percent today.

We had the beginnings of some cultural and culinary influences, with tourists and students starting to flow.

Under the Colombo Plan, we had welcomed many Asian students to New Zealand. But for the most part, these cultural influences were not mainstream or well-understood at the time.

It was in this context that the Asia New Zealand Foundation was born and began its important work that we are here to discuss today.

What has changed in Asia?

Even those who were aficionados back in 1994 might have been surprised at just how important Asia would become to New Zealand.

The Asian financial crisis in 1997 was devastating to the region. It was an unsettled and unpredictable time. But the region has recovered, and in fact boomed.

The figures are certainly impressive. More than one billion people have been lifted out of poverty in Asia since 1990. Asia now comprises over 40 percent of the world’s GDP. In the next quarter century, this is forecast to reach 50 percent.

It is important for us all to remember that there has not been just one linear trajectory in the region. Each country has had its own path, and these paths can have different twists and turns over time.

China’s growth story is of course well-known, but the statistics remain extraordinary. Today, China stands as the world’s second-largest economy worth nearly 18 trillion US dollars in 2023, soaring a staggering 4,000 percent since the 1990s.

This is not, however, just a China story. There has been astonishing success in other countries, too.

India overtook China to become the most populous country in the world last year, and with 900 million registered voters it is also the world’s largest democracy. This year India’s economy will be the fastest growing in the G20, and it is expected to overtake Germany and Japan to become the world’s third largest economy in the next few years.

India’s advances in science, technology, education, and space, are inspiring to many countries around the world. In short, India has become a significant global actor playing a key role in securing a stable and prosperous region.

Japan itself continues to be an economic powerhouse.

We must also recognise that ASEAN’s growth, after starting down the path of economic integration, has been remarkable.

If ASEAN today were one economy, it would be New Zealand’s fourth-largest trading partner. Its countries are growing at an impressive clip – more than five percent year in, year out.

The total GDP of ASEAN reached nearly four trillion US dollars last years, positioning it as the fifth largest economy in the world.

Projections indicate that ASEAN’s GDP is poised to reach an estimated four and a half trillion US dollars by the year 2030. This will propel ASEAN to become the world’s fourth-largest economy by 2040.

Much of Asia’s economic growth has been built on trade and manufacturing. But the region is now also central across many facets of the modern economy – from finance and capital, to people, and to innovation.

To take just two examples, Asia’s services trade is growing 1.7 times faster than the rest of the world. And by 2030, Asia’s fintech revenues are expected to be larger even than North America’s.

We know economic growth doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It is regional security that has provided the foundation for the significant rise in living standards we have witnessed across Asia.

In this time of global upheaval and challenges to the rules-based order, the role of regional security in our collective economic security is undeniable.

In Southeast Asia, ASEAN centrality is playing a pivotal role. ASEAN has led the way in bringing the region together in peaceful dialogue. This includes initiatives like the Regional Forum we attended in July, or last week’s East Asia Summit – which was attended by Prime Minister Luxon.

Notwithstanding the various peaceful offramps that exist, Asia has had, and continues to have, security challenges.

The liberal rules-based order – underpinned by US hegemony – is under strain.

As China’s power and influence have increased, so too have the areas of difference that we have had to navigate.

We are seeing a rising and more active India.

And we shouldn’t forget that Russia considers itself an Indo-Pacific power, too.

Added to this are hemispheric wild cards: the DPRK; other nuclear powers; arms build-up; and alliance and proxy relationships.

We also have population trends that will have not just economic but also geostrategic consequences.

Also, fierce competition for resources: protein and commodities like rare metals.

Finally – environmental challenges, which are an existential threat for many countries in the region – are exacerbating all of these factors.

What has this meant for New Zealand?

For New Zealand, the message is clear: we need to continue to understand and engage Asia.

The Coalition Government, via the Foreign Policy Reset, is focused on building and advancing relationships in a way that engages more actively the region’s opportunities and risks.

The work of the Asia New Zealand Foundation remains as relevant today as it was 30 years ago.

Understanding Asia starts here at home. The past 30 years has seen a boom, and our ethnic communities have grown significantly.

While there is still some way to go, we have started to see Asian New Zealanders in leadership roles – from Members of Parliament to business leaders, sports, and entertainment.

Along with this has come a richness of culture and language. Kiwis have enjoyed new festivities and embraced an array of Asian cuisine, at home and at restaurants – something almost completely unavailable 30 years ago.

The top 25 languages spoken in New Zealand include many Asian languages, such as Mandarin, with nearly 100,000 speakers, as well as Hindi with almost 70,000, Cantonese, Tagalog, Punjabi, Korean, Japanese, Gujarati, and Tamil.

We celebrate Diwali, Lunar New Year and Eid – festivals that showcase cultural traditions to New Zealanders.

Last year, 54,000 students from Asian countries came to study in New Zealand education institutions.

In the last year we have welcomed over 700,000 international visitors from Asia – nearly double that of a year ago – and we’re looking forward to seeing this growth continue over the coming years as the pandemic fall-out recedes.

Over the last 70 years, we have provided scholarships and training to 21 countries from the Asian region under our International Development Cooperation programme. This remains a foundation of our enduring people-to-people connections.

Thanks to the Asia New Zealand Foundation, we have some tangible evidence of how New Zealanders’ attitudes toward Asia have changed over time.

The first Perceptions of Asia survey was conducted in 1997 and showed that New Zealanders saw Asia as something largely external.

Today, however, over half of New Zealanders feel a connection to Asia in their daily lives, with more than a third regularly enjoying Asia-related entertainment.

Over the past decade, public awareness and engagement with Asia has grown significantly. In 2013, one third of New Zealanders said they felt knowledgeable about Asia.

That number has now risen to an all-time high, with nearly 60 percent saying they possess at least a fair amount of understanding about the region.

This is wonderful and thanks in no small part to the work of the Foundation. We hope we will see this familiarity grow further in the coming years.

New Zealand in Asia

Alongside these developments in New Zealand, we have been engaging both with Asia but also in Asia.

Today you can fly direct from Auckland and Christchurch to 14 destinations across Asia, connecting New Zealand to the region and providing opportunities for New Zealanders to interact with and learn about Asia.

Kiwis have been broadening their traditional “OE” and heading to Asia. As just one example, 3,300 New Zealanders have travelled to Japan under the Japan Exchange and Teaching, or “JET”, programme since its inception, teaching English in Japan.

Programmes such as the Prime Minister’s Scholarships for Asia have seen thousands of young New Zealanders study at Asian institutions and return with meaningful skills and experience.

The Asia New Zealand Foundation has also contributed to this through the internships, grants, and residencies it offers throughout Asia.

It is important to highlight that seven of our top 10 export destinations are Asian economies.

Exports to China amounted to 20 billion New Zealand dollars last year; Japan more than four billion. Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Indonesia round out the list of our top export destinations in Asia.

This has been supported by the network of free trade agreements we have negotiated to support our commercial partnerships over the past 20 years. It is notable that our second oldest FTA is with Singapore – second only to Australia.

The origins of CPTPP, one of our most significant trade agreements, also finds its origins in our relationships with Asia.

Its precursor, the P4 agreement with Singapore, Brunei, and Chile in 2006, provided the foundation stone for what would become CPTPP.

CPTPP is itself a high watermark agreement that includes other economies from the region such as Japan, Malaysia, and Viet Nam, and we continue to encourage others who can meet the agreement’s high standards to seek to join in the future.

All in all, 95 percent of our trade with Asia takes place under a trade agreement.

New Zealand has also invested in regional institutions. This architecture provides space for dialogue and the exchange of ideas on key issues impacting us.

We were the second country to become an ASEAN dialogue partner, and we will celebrate the 50^th anniversary of this next year. In that time New Zealand has been and continues to be a trusted partner to ASEAN and its member states.

We know that by contributing to ASEAN’s success, and the success of ASEAN-led councils like the East Asia Summit, we contribute to our own success and to that of the region.

In 1994, New Zealand was a member of one regional body – APEC, which was founded just five years earlier.

This platform gives us a venue to influence regional economic policy together with members, who today make up two thirds of global economic growth and take 80 percent of New Zealand’s exports.

Just over 10 years later, in 2005, our delegation was proud to take part in the inaugural East Asia Summit in Kuala Lumpur.

We had put intensive effort into laying the groundwork for the shape of the grouping and New Zealand’s participation.

Our membership as a founding partner made clear to all that New Zealand was part of the region and had a role to play in regional decisions.

The EAS is now the premier forum for strategic dialogue and regional cooperation.

New Zealand is showing up today, as we did then, because we want to support peace and stability in the region in tangible ways.

Recent years have seen the emergence of new plurilateral and ‘minilateral’ architecture alongside established multilateral architecture.

New Zealand supports new groupings that advance and defend our interests and capabilities, and we no reason why these can’t coexist as long as they are constructive, advanced in an open and transparent way, and are respectful of ASEAN centrality.

We have championed a stable, peaceful and nuclear-free Korean Peninsula. In the current climate, it is not possible to visit North Korea. But in the past, we have.

During a 2007 visit, we met with political leaders and advocated in favour of multi-party peace talks.

To this day, New Zealand Defence Force assets and personnel are deployed in Korea to maintain the armistice. The Defence Force also has a separate deployment to monitor and deter North Korea’s evasion of UN sanctions.

In 2006, we received a request from Timor-Leste, seeking assistance to restore stability and freedom of movement. We responded swiftly, deploying police and military troops.

In a testament to our security cooperation in the region, Singaporean personnel were integrated seamlessly into a New Zealand battalion.

New Zealand has a long-standing development programme in Asia. It is our largest programme outside the Pacific and is growing.

It goes beyond training and scholarships to respond to the priorities of our ASEAN partners, as well as humanitarian assistance.

Just last month, for example, we contributed humanitarian assistance in response to the devastating impacts of Typhoon Yagi in Viet Nam and Myanmar, and to extreme flooding in Bangladesh.

It is also worth noting that, for the past 30 years, New Zealand has advanced its policy towards Asia in a bipartisan way wherever possible.

This has ensured successive governments can follow through on policy commitments and is one of our greatest strengths.

What next?

It is instructive to think about how far we have come in the past 30 years

But it is also clear that we need to do more.

The world today is disordered and becoming more dangerous.

As we said to the NZIIA in May, “the challenges we face are stark, the worst that anyone today working in politics or foreign affairs can remember.”

As MFAT’s own strategic assessment has identified, one of the drivers for this has been a shift from rules to power: the Cold War era of predominant US western hegemony is over.

The multipolar world is here to stay, and states: large, middle, and small are all jostling to advance their interests.

Added to this is the fact that global problems – whether health, environmental, demographic, or migratory – present global risks, but at the same time require state-to-state cooperation to resolve.

We offer this simply to point out that we’re living in a time where relationships, norms and rules – many of which have enabled the rise of countries in Asia, including those which seek to challenge those same rules – are changing at the very time when we need to maximise global cooperation.

This is at the heart of what’s happening in Asia, as well as around the world more broadly.

This is why the Government decided earlier this year on a Foreign Policy Reset. A fundamental driver was that our foreign policy needs to reflect and respond to the challenging strategic context we find ourselves in. We need to act now to bring more energy, ambition and engagement to our relationships.

Under the Foreign Policy Reset, we have been explicit: we will be increasing the focus on and resources applied to Southeast Asia, South Asia especially India, and North Asia. This is what will have a major impact on our security and prosperity.

We are already delivering on this. The Prime Minister and international-facing Ministers have been incredibly active in our engagements with the region, having travelled between us to over 20 countries.

We have taken forward concrete initiatives to demonstrate the importance and future trajectory of our partnerships.

This ranges from cooperation with Japan on a hospital in Kiribati, to a Customs Cooperation Arrangement with India, to advancing toward Comprehensive Strategic Partnerships with ASEAN and Korea.

Conclusion

New Zealand is an Indo-Pacific country. This is our identity, and we know this is where our future lies. With every forecast about Asia’s trajectory, this becomes clearer and clearer.

It was this realisation that led to the Asia New Zealand Foundation’s birth 30 years ago. And as we have heard today, a lot has changed since then. Asia has evolved, and New Zealand’s relationship with Asian countries has evolved too, in some ways beyond recognition.

As we navigate our own pathway forward, we need to understand Asia. If we don’t, our relationships will be characterised by misconceptions, bias and miscalculation. So, our work has really only just begun. New Zealand’s security and prosperity depends on us continuing it.

MIL OSI New Zealand News –

January 23, 2025
MIL-OSI Banking: Disasters Trigger More Displacements than Conflicts, Says New ADB-IDMC Report

Source: Asia Development Bank

MANILA, PHILIPPINES (15 October 2024) — Global disasters accounted for more displacements in 2023 than conflict and violence, and governments and multilateral development banks must invest more to prevent and manage these crises, according to a new report jointly authored by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC).

The report found that last year, 26.4 million internal displacements—or forced movements within one’s country—were caused by disasters, compared to 20.5 million caused by conflict and violence.

The report, Harnessing Development Financing for Solutions to Displacement in the Context of Disasters and Climate Change in Asia and the Pacific, found most of the disaster displacement recorded globally in the past 10 years occurred in Asia and the Pacific, with 177 million internal displacements reported during 2014−2023. ADB’s developing member countries (DMCs) accounted for 95% of that total—more than 168 million displacements. The report warns that the effects of climate change will likely increase the scale, duration, and severity of displaced persons globally.

“Addressing displacement in the context of climate change and disasters is a significant challenge for the region,” said ADB Vice-President Fatima Yasmin. “However, we know what needs to be done and how to do it. Development and adaptation finance channeled through multilateral development banks, such as ADB, can support member countries in addressing the root causes of displacement through sector investments, technical assistance, and cofinancing.”

“Disaster displacement can upend lives, cost countries billions of dollars, and set back development efforts by years, but it doesn’t have to be this way,” said IDMC Director Alexandra Bilak. “Investments in disaster risk reduction and climate adaptation plans can reduce the scale and negative impacts of displacement. The payoff could be huge.”

The report outlines several ways development finance can be used to prevent and respond to displacement. Multilateral development banks can support and encourage displacement-inclusive policies and investments, better national data systems, and raise awareness for countries to include displacement in their development strategies.

The report says governments also need to better reflect their priorities to reduce displacement through specific and concrete measures in the national development plans, adaptation and disaster risk reduction plans, and nationally determined contributions, and to better recognize the complexity of displacement occurring in the context of climate change.

ADB is committed to achieving a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific, while sustaining its efforts to eradicate extreme poverty. Established in 1966, it is owned by 69 members—49 from the region.

MIL OSI Global Banks –

January 23, 2025
MIL-OSI Economics: Philip N Jefferson: The Fed’s discount window – 1990 to the present

Source: Bank for International Settlements

Thank you, Steve, for that kind introduction and for the opportunity to talk to this group today.

Let me start by saying that I am saddened by the tragic loss of life, destruction, and damage resulting from Hurricane Helene in North Carolina, and throughout this region. My thoughts are with the people and communities affected. For our part, the Federal Reserve and other federal and state financial regulatory agencies are working with banks and credit unions in the affected area to help make sure they can continue to meet the financial services needs of their communities.

Yesterday I shared my historical perspective on the discount window at Davidson College. In 1913, when the Federal Reserve was established, the discount window was the main tool it used to provide the nation with a safer, more flexible, and more stable monetary and financial system. More than 110 years later, the discount window continues to play an important role in supporting the liquidity and stability of the banking system, and the effective implementation of monetary policy.

Today I would like to discuss with you how the discount window has evolved in the 21st century, including recent steps the Federal Reserve Board has taken to solicit feedback from the public on discount window operations. Before I address our most recent efforts, however, I will review some important episodes in discount window history that brought us to where we are today.

MIL OSI Economics –

January 23, 2025
MIL-OSI Economics: Gabriel Makhlouf: Opening statement – joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach

Source: Bank for International Settlements

Good afternoon Chair, Committee members.

Thank you for the invitation to appear before you today. I am joined by Deputy Governors Vasileios Madouros and Derville Rowland.

I will begin by giving a brief overview of the economic outlook in the EU and in Ireland, before I touch on some consumer protection issues.

The economic outlook in the EU

Turning to the outlook, growth in the euro area as a whole slowed in the second quarter of 2024, driven by weaker investment and consumption. Having said this, the latest projections are for a consumption-led growth recovery, albeit marginally weaker than what was previously expected. Employment growth is projected to be somewhat weaker than its pre-pandemic average.

We remain on track to reach our 2 per cent inflation target in the fourth quarter of 2025, although some uncertainty remains around this baseline forecast. In particular more persistent services inflation and stronger than expected wage growth could impact the forecast.

At the most recent ECB Governing Council meeting, my colleagues and I decided to lower the deposit facility rate by 25 basis points, to 3.5 per cent. This was informed by the euro area inflation outlook, the dynamics of underlying inflation and the strength of monetary policy transmission.

Last month we also implemented changes we had announced in March to the operational framework for implementing monetary policy, which sees the spread between the main refinancing operations rate (MRO) and our main policy rate – the deposit facility rate – set at 15 basis points.

The economic outlook in Ireland

Turning to the Irish economy, it continues to grow at a strong pace supported by the buoyancy of domestic economic activity. Our latest Quarterly Bulletin – published last month – paints a picture of a resilient domestic economy poised to grow in the region of 2.5 per cent annually through to 2026. Headline inflation has eased considerably to below 2 per cent, and is expected to remain between 1.5 and 2 per cent out to 2026.

However, challenges to maintaining such performance are becoming more evident. Stronger than expected growth, over and above the economy’s potential rate, has brought into sharp focus domestic supply and infrastructure constraints. These, in turn, present a situation where globally-determined inflation in Ireland is declining substantially, while more domestically-driven inflation, as reflected in services price inflation, remains significant at around 4 per cent.

Given current conditions, the continued expansionary fiscal stance adds unnecessary stimulus to an economy at full employment. Against the current macroeconomic backdrop, increasing net spending in excess of 5 per cent over an extended period implies that the fiscal stance will aggravate price inflation and wage pressures, undermining competitiveness and creating risks that could damage sustainable economic growth.

As my pre-Budget letter of 4 July to the Minister for Finance – and the paper on the housing market we published last month – observed, higher levels of public investment are likely to be required over the coming years given known deficits in housing and to meet longer term structural challenges linked to the climate transition.

So while the projected increases in public investment are necessary, careful management of the overall fiscal stance is needed to avoid overheating. With the economy already at full employment, there is a risk that increasing public investment on the scale envisaged fuels overheating pressures and results in poor value for money. To avoid this outcome, it would have been preferable if the upward revisions to public investment had been accommodated while keeping overall net spending below 5 per cent. Undoubtedly, this would have presented difficult choices and trade-offs to be made in other areas of expenditure and on taxation.

Furthermore, to ensure additional government expenditure yields real improvements in services and that infrastructure investment is delivered efficiently, essential change outside of fiscal measures is needed in broader public policy areas. This includes in particular addressing delays and bottlenecks in the planning system, in the building regulation process and in construction. Progress in these areas would also help to further incentivise and crowd-in private investment.

Consumer protection

Let me turn to consumer protection. The Central Bank’s mission is to serve the public interest by maintaining monetary and financial stability while ensuring that the financial system operates in the best interests of consumers and the wider economy. All of our work is aimed at serving the public interest and protecting consumers of financial services, whether it is through the Consumer Protection Code, the mortgage measures, monetary policy, our oversight of payments systems, or supervising to ensure firms are resilient and are acting in the best interests of their consumers.

The environment in which we operate is changing rapidly, driven by technological change and by consumer preferences. The ways in which we as consumers buy, use and engage with financial services has changed hugely, leading to new risks in the financial sector we supervise and for the consumers we protect.

As outlined in my two recent letters to yourselves, the Central Bank is making changes to the way we are organised to deliver our financial regulation responsibilities. Consumer protection remains a core part of those responsibilities. But in order to continue to deliver on our mandate both today and into the future, we are changing our approach to ensure that consumers of financial services are protected in an increasingly complex environment. This enhanced approach is based on accumulated experience, on insight, on best practice and is built for a faster moving and more complex financial services sector. We are making the most fundamental strengthening of our consumer protection approach for more than a decade.

In terms of frameworks, as you know, we will shortly be introducing an updated Consumer Protection Code. This follows the largest, most in-depth review of the Code since it was introduced to ensure that it is fit for purpose into the future, is reflective of the changed nature of financial services and strengthens protections for consumers. This is a tangible demonstration of our ongoing commitment to the protection of consumers of financial services right across the country, and we have consulted widely on it to ensure we hear consumers’ and other stakeholders’ views directly.

To implement the rules we need the right operational approach internally. This includes moving to an integrated framework where, at an operational level, directorates with oversight of banks, insurance companies and capital markets will be responsible for the supervision of all the functions of their respective sectors (as opposed to separate directorates undertaking supervisory activities for consumer protection, prudential regulation and market supervision).

The new approach will make it easier to direct our supervisory resources to the areas of most risk to consumers or the system more widely. Importantly, we are taking the existing team that stood in a single consumer protection directorate and placing them where their expertise is most required, directly in supervisory directorates across banks, insurance and funds. ‘Mainstreaming’ consumer protection activity in this way will enable us to dedicate greater attention and resources to where the particular risk is at a point in time. The new approach will allow us to do more, not less, to protect consumers.

Let me give an example of how we see the interconnections in our work in relation to consumer protection. Next week we will publish our analysis of the shortfall between the cost of flooding in Ireland and that portion of the cost which is not insured. We know that Ireland will face more frequent and severe floods as the effects of climate change continue to crystallise and as we approach critical tipping points in a range of significant areas that increasingly require urgent action. Climate change has implications for the economy and for the financial system and floods in particular will impact directly on communities and consumers as well as the balance sheets of insurance companies. We cannot require insurance companies to provide flood insurance cover but our analysis can help everyone to understand the risks and support the cooperation and coordination required from the many stakeholders involved in building flood resilience in Ireland.

Finally, and as set out in my letter, the internal operational changes that we are making will not change the focus on consumer protection at the most senior levels of the Central Bank. Derville Rowland, as Deputy Governor (Consumer and Investor Protection), will continue to have consumer protection at the core of her responsibilities. The Central Bank Commission’s Consumer Advisory Group will also continue to operate as it does now. And the entire senior leadership team led by me will continue to have a focus on consumer protection.

These changes will come into effect in January and we are convinced that they are the best way for the Central Bank to continue to deliver on its mission, ensuring the financial system continues to operate in the best interests of consumers and the wider economy.

Conclusion

We are happy to take your questions.

MIL OSI Economics –

January 23, 2025
MIL-OSI Australia: Plimsoll Address

Source: Australian Government – Minister of Foreign Affairs

Thank you to the Australian Institute for International Affairs and the University of Tasmania for inviting me to give this address, in honour of this great statesperson.

With a career that spanned the first four decades of independent Australian foreign policy, there are few who have made a contribution comparable to James Plimsoll – or Jim Plim as he was affectionately known.

He first made his mark in the late 1940s supporting Foreign Minister Evatt during his presidency of the United Nations General Assembly – support that included ghost-writing Evatt’s book, The Task of Nations.

He later became Secretary of the Department of External Affairs – which we now know as DFAT…

He was appointed Ambassador in Washington, Tokyo, Brussels and Moscow…

High Commissioner in London and Delhi…

And even Governor of this great state of Tasmania…

Among all these lofty appointments, his biographer Jeremy Hearder reflected that the highlight of Plimsoll’s career was serving as Australia’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the UN Nations in New York, in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

And we can understand why. He found himself at the centre of major international issues – and his diplomatic skill meant, in the words of a British colleague, that Plimsoll “exercised an influence on the UN quite disproportionate to Australia’s standing in the world.”

This was partly because of what the then Secretary of External Affairs, Arthur Tange, described as Plimsoll’s “remarkable capacity… for talking to people in their own terms, freely encouraging them to explain their viewpoints and problems.”

It is patent that Jim Plim understood deeply how Australia’s interests as a middle power are at stake in the multilateral system.

Even with all the flaws with the international system, this remains the case today.

Australia will always be better off in a world that operates by rules that all countries have a say in shaping.

A world where Australia and other countries have the freedom to decide our own futures, without interference and intimidation.

A world where we can find collective solutions to our toughest problems.

Where no country dominates, and no country is dominated.

I’ve recently returned from the UN General Assembly’s annual High-Level Week, where Australia progressed our most ambitious multilateral agenda in many years.

I convened meetings of humanitarian leaders and ministers from influential countries to address a serious problem in the international system.

That is, the growing risk that norms are being eroded in international humanitarian law – what we often refer to as the rules of war.

We see this in the massive civilian toll in conflicts around the world, and we see this in the increasing numbers of aid workers being killed and kidnapped.

In order to protect civilians, we must also protect aid workers who deliver the food, water and medicine civilians need to survive.

Aid workers are the best of humanity. Their dedication to improving the lives of others should not cost them their own.

Yet 2023 was the deadliest year on record for aid workers, and 2024 is on track to be even worse.

This has been felt directly by Australians with the IDF’s strike against World Central Kitchen vehicles, which killed Australian Zomi Frankcom and her colleagues.

This was not a one-off incident. Gaza is the most dangerous place on earth to be an aid worker. More than 300 aid workers have been killed since the start of the conflict.

Together, the ministerial group I convened agreed to pursue a new Declaration for the Protection of Humanitarian Personnel.

Work on the Declaration is now underway, with our officials consulting experts and other countries.

All countries will be invited to join the Declaration, to demonstrate the unity of the international community’s commitment to protect aid workers – and to channel that commitment into action in Gaza, in Sudan, in Ukraine and in all current and future conflicts.

This is exactly the kind of leadership Australia should be taking in the world.

We are not a superpower. But we are respected, and at our best we have a reputation for bringing countries together to defend and promote the rules-based order that protects us all.

From the days helping draft the UN Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to Gareth Evans’ leadership on the Chemical Weapons Convention, to our more leading role in the Arms Trade Treaty.

There’s no doubt that reputation waned through the negative globalist years of the previous government.

But in driving this Declaration we are demonstrating that Australians are indeed constructive internationalists in the mould of the honouree of this address.

This brings me back to the book Plimsoll ghostwrote for Evatt, which spelled out our shared responsibility to each other. I quote:

“We should try to raise standards everywhere in order to practice the simple humanitarian doctrine which is the basis of all morality, namely that we should help our neighbour and relieve misery and suffering… [We] can hardly imagine … the common lot of so many of mankind – disease, low expectation of life, and unrelieved pain; flood, famine and epidemics… These wrongs cry out for redress, and can and must be righted by co-operative international effort.”

A powerful articulation of the motivation for our humanitarian work.

And tonight we build on that work. Tonight, I am releasing Australia’s new Humanitarian Policy.

It is a policy that comprehends the serious problems of our times.

A climate changing faster than our combined efforts to stop it.

More people displaced – in fact, more than 117 million people forcibly displaced from their homes.

More people needing humanitarian assistance – 302 million people this year, up by nearly 30 million in just the last two years.

More conflict than any time since World War Two. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Sudan. Myanmar. And in the Middle East.

The Albanese Government is committed to humanitarian action which saves lives, alleviates human suffering and builds resilient communities.

The Policy outlines the role Australia will play at a time when need is outstripping the world’s capacity to respond and disregard for international humanitarian law is increasing.

It is a plan of action that is not just about meeting humanitarian needs. It is also about protecting the peace, stability and prosperity that we want for Australia, our region and the world.

It is a plan that is accountable – to the Australian people, and to the partners and communities we seek to help.

We will focus on three priorities.

First, we will build readiness and preparedness, anticipating shocks before they occur and working with our partners to lessen their impact.

As part of this priority, I announce Australia is providing $5 million to the new Asia-Pacific Regional Humanitarian Fund to pre-position for the next emergency.

Second, we will respond to crises and disasters, delivering support that meets the needs of crisis-affected populations and protects the most vulnerable, both immediately and over the longer term.

As part of that effort, I announce $9 million in humanitarian relief to respond to high levels of food insecurity in Yemen. This follows support I announced yesterday for Myanmar, as well as over $80 million in aid to support civilians who have been devastated by the conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon.

And third, we will reinforce the international humanitarian system, working to take practical and actionable steps to strengthen adherence to international humanitarian law – just as we are doing with the Declaration.

We act globally, but our focus remains our region. We offer genuine partnerships, based on respect, listening and learning from each other.

And we are helping build self-reliance, so obviously in Australia’s interests and the region’s interests.

Now, we know humanitarian assistance can lessen shocks and keep further instability, conflict and displacement at bay.

But we all want a world where humanitarian assistance is needed far less often.

This is just one reason why the Albanese Government is acting on climate change.

We have enshrined our ambitious emissions reduction targets into legislation: 43 per cent by 2030 and net zero by 2050.

We are transforming our economy.

Within this decade, 82 per cent of Australia’s electricity generation will be renewable, up from around 32 per cent when we came to office.

We are building new industries to accelerate our economic transition and to export reliable, renewable energy to the world.

And we are acting internationally, to respond to our partners.

By the end of 2025, Australia will offer Climate Resilient Debt Clauses in our sovereign loans.

And the groundbreaking Australia-Tuvalu Falepili Union treaty entered into force on 28 August – a treaty which provides for both adaptation and mobility with dignity…

And the first treaty anywhere in the world which provides legal protection for sovereignty in the face of sea level rise.

But we can’t address climate change on our own, just as we can’t alone resolve all of the conflicts that are driving humanitarian crises.

What we are doing is using our forthcoming term on the UN Peacebuilding Commission to reform the international peacebuilding and conflict prevention architecture.

What we are doing is helping Ukraine end Russia’s illegal and immoral war on its own terms.

Since coming to office, we have more than doubled the military contribution to Ukraine – and Australia is the largest non-NATO contributor to Ukraine’s fight.

And what we are doing is supporting efforts for long-term peace in the Middle East.

We have just marked the first anniversary of the October 7 attacks by Hamas.

We condemn Hamas’ terrorism unequivocally. We call for the release of hostages immediately.

On that day, Hamas killed 1,200 people: the largest loss of Jewish life on any single day since the Holocaust.

October 7 is a day that recalls humanity’s darkest memories.

The six million European Jews killed in the Holocaust – following thousands of years of persecution and atrocities perpetrated against the Jewish people.

This long shadow of antisemitism is the history that finally resolved the international community to create the State of Israel.

At the same time, the world also promised a Palestinian state.

77 years later, that Palestinian state still does not exist.

Earlier this year, Australia voted in the General Assembly in support of Palestinian aspirations for full membership of the UN.

The international community now must work together to pave a path to lasting peace.

Australia wants to engage on new ways to build momentum, including the role of the Security Council in setting a pathway for two-states, with a clear timeline for the international declaration of Palestinian statehood.

The world knows we cannot keep hoping the parties will fix this themselves; nor can we allow any party to obstruct the prospect of peace.

Because a two-state solution is the only hope of breaking the endless cycle of violence – the only hope to see a secure and prosperous future for both peoples.

To strengthen the forces for peace across the region and undermine extremism.

Any future Palestinian state must not be in a position to threaten Israel’s security, with no role for terrorists.

Right now, the suffering across the region must end.

In Israel’s response to the attacks, more than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed. More than 11,000 children.

It is now more than ten months since Australia and 152 other countries voted for a ceasefire in Gaza.

I repeat that call again.

Just as I repeat our call for a diplomatic solution, de-escalation and ceasefire in Lebanon.

We want to see civilians on both sides of the Lebanon-Israel border return to their homes and the implementation of UNSC Resolution 1701.

Australia made our call alongside a number of countries – Canada, European Union, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, the United States and Qatar.

Shortly thereafter, G7 leaders issued a statement in similar terms.

Yet somehow Mr Dutton accused the Prime Minister of being at odds with our allies.

He said the Prime Minister should be condemned for calling for a ceasefire.

Now Mr Dutton has realised it is he who is at odds with the international community– but he still can’t bring himself to back a ceasefire.

I can’t recall a single time over the past year that Mr Dutton has called for the protection of civilians, or for the upholding of international law.

He never utters a word of concern for innocent Palestinians and Lebanese civilians.

From the other side, the Greens political party are being just as absolutist.

Australians are rightly distressed by the catastrophic conflict, and the distress is felt most acutely in our Jewish, Palestinian and Lebanese communities.

The lived experiences and understandings of our different Australian communities are distinct.

There is long, complex and disputed history – deeply felt, close to the heart of many.

And there is a need to acknowledge the real trauma on all sides, to acknowledge each other’s humanity, and to come together – as peacemakers throughout history have done.

It is incumbent on any Australian Government to play a responsible role in promoting peace – recognising we are not the crucial player in the Middle East, but we have a respected voice.

Leaders must govern for the whole country.

Our country does not benefit from the conflict being reproduced here.

Australians are 26 million people, from more than 300 ancestries. We are home to the oldest continuing civilisation on the planet.

There is vast power in that.

The ability to see and understand every part of the world.

Yet it’s also something we need to nurture.

If we allow people to divide our community, if we allow conflicts overseas to be reproduced here; if we shout each other down and insist on respective absolutes; the bedrock of our stability, our security and our prosperity is shaken.

Nothing is more important for our future than ensuring that Australia remains a pluralist nation, welcoming different races, religions and views, united by respect for each other’s humanity and for each other’s right to live in peace.

As I said, there is vast power in who we are. Our people are the most elemental aspect of our national power.

We must deploy that power at this time in our history…

This time when we face the most dangerous set of circumstances since World War Two.

This time when we need to combine our economic power, our cultural power, our strategic, diplomatic and defence power – all to make Australia stronger and more influential in a more contested and challenging world.

We are making Australia more economically resilient at home, with a Future Made in Australia setting us on a path to be a renewable energy superpower.

We are making Australia more economically resilient in the world, with the Southeast Asia Economic Strategy to 2040 that harnesses the opportunities from living in the most competitive and fastest growing region in the world – and so we never are over-reliant on one market again.

We are rebuilding our diplomatic relationships.

We are doing the work that should have been done a decade ago to again make Australia a partner of choice in the Pacific.

We don’t just go around picking fights and blowing up relationships.

We are investing in our credibility as a partner to the region.

It is by our actions that we have been able to restore trust among the Pacific family.

And we are stabilising our own relations with China, so we navigate differences wisely.

Our calm and consistent approach to the China relationship has seen progress on the removal of trade impediments for wine, barley, coal, cotton, timber logs, copper ores and concentrates; and now lobster – almost $20 billion worth of Australian exports back into China.

We are increasing our collaboration with new partners and traditional partners; with Southeast Asia, with Japan, with India, and through our Quad partnership.

We are investing in defence cooperation and our own military capabilities, including through AUKUS.

And we are working together with our partners to uphold the rules and reform the institutions that we helped establish.

All of these efforts are to shape the strategic calculus of the region, so no potential aggressor thinks the pursuit of conflict is worth the risk.

This is how we advance the region we want. A region in balance.

Where countries, large and small, have the freedom to decide our own futures.

These are just some of the ways in which the Albanese Government is driving Australia’s most ambitious international engagement in many years.

Being a partner to our region, and a leader in our values.

Always working toward a more peaceful, stable and prosperous world for all.

Where sovereignty is respected and civilians are protected.

And I would say, furthering the legacy of creative diplomacy and determined statecraft practised by the great Jim Plim himself.

Thank you.

MIL OSI News –

January 23, 2025
MIL-OSI Europe: Briefing – Confirmation hearings of the Commissioners-designate: Magnus Brunner – Internal Affairs and Migration – 15-10-2024

Source: European Parliament

Magnus Brunner has been Austria’s federal minister for finance since December 2021. Prior to this role, he served as a state secretary in the Federal Ministry of Climate Protection, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology from 2020 to 2021. From 2018 to 2020, Brunner was vice-president of the Federal Council of Austria, after having served as a member of this institution from 2009 to 2020. Additionally, he served on the Municipal Council of the Höchst Municipality from 2000 to 2004. From 2009 to 2020 Brunner was a member of the Federal Council of the Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP), affiliated to the European People’s Party (EPP) group in the European Parliament. Brunner’s earlier professional experience includes serving as the political director of the Austrian Economic Association (2002-2005), as well as holding the position of head of corporate development, communication and strategic development at the Austrian energy company Illwerke VKw Group (2006). He was also on the Board of the Austrian energy company OeMAG (2007-2020). Born in 1972, Brunner is a graduate of King’s College London (LLM), the University of Innsbruck and the University of Vienna (where he obtained a PhD in law). This is one of a set of briefings designed to give an overview of issues of interest relating to the portfolios of the Commissioners designate. All these briefings can be found at: https://epthinktank.eu/commissioner_hearings_2024.

MIL OSI Europe News –

January 23, 2025
MIL-OSI Europe: Briefing – Confirmation hearings of the Commissioners-designate: Dan Jørgensen – Energy and Housing – 15-10-2024

Source: European Parliament

Dan Jørgensen has most recently served as Danish Minister for Development Cooperation and Minister for Global Climate Policy. His role has been to oversee Denmark’s international development initiatives and global climate policies, including co-facilitating COP28 climate negotiations and co-chairing a number of working groups and alliances. Jørgensen is a member of the Social Democratic Party in Denmark, which is affiliated to the S&D group in the European Parliament. He has been a member of the Danish parliament since 2015 and previously served as Minister for Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, as well as Minister for Climate, Energy and Utilities, where he co-facilitated COP26 and COP27 negotiations and served as chair of the International Energy Agency’s Global Commission on People-Centred Clean Energy Transitions. Jørgensen was a Member of the European Parliament (2004-2013), where he served as vice-chair of the Committee on Environment, president of the Animal Welfare Intergroup and head of the Danish delegation of Social Democrats (2009-2013). Born in 1975, Jørgensen holds a master’s degree in political science from Aarhus University. His professional career also includes academic positions as adjunct professor and external lecturer. This is one of a set of briefings designed to give an overview of issues of interest relating to the portfolios of the Commissioners designate. All these briefings can be found at: https://epthinktank.eu/commissioner_hearings_2024.

MIL OSI Europe News –

January 23, 2025
MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Turkey: British Embassy Bilateral Programme Fund
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

The call for bids under The British Embassy Bilateral Programme is now open
The British Embassy in Ankara invites eligible organisations to submit project proposals for funding under the Bilateral Programme Fund. A total of £100,000 is available for projects in two thematic areas, with £50,000 allocated to each:

Women and Girls Thematic Area

Improved Access to Education and Skills Training

Economic Empowerment

Social Foundations Thematic Area

Improved Media Capacity and Training of Journalists

Greater Public Awareness of Climate and Gender Issues

Strengthened Civic Space

Eligibility and Guidelines

We are seeking proposals from NGOs, civil society organizations, academic institutions, and other relevant partners that align with the objectives of the Fund’s strategic priorities. Projects should demonstrate clear impact, measurable outcomes, and strong value for money.

Given the limited time for implementation, applicants must adhere to the following deadlines:

Proposal Submission Deadline: 31 October 2024

Spending Requirement: At least 80% of the allocated funds must be spent by 31 December 2024

Projects with innovative approaches, strategic partnerships, or pilot initiatives with the potential for scale-up are particularly encouraged to apply.

How to Apply

Please submit your proposals, using the required format (below), to bef.projects@fcdo.gov.uk by 31 October 2024. Late applications will not be considered.

Contact Information

For inquiries or further details, please contact us at bef.projects@fcdo.gov.uk

British Embassy Bilateral Programme Fund

Annexes:

Annex_1_-_British_Embassy_Bilateral_Programme_-_Bidding_Guidance

ODT, 12.9 KB

This file is in an OpenDocument format

Annex 2 – Project Proposal Form above £10k

ODT, 61.1 KB

This file is in an OpenDocument format

Annex 3 – Activity Based Budget Template

ODS, 10 KB

This file is in an OpenDocument format

Annex 4 – Due Diligence Questionnaire

ODT, 76.2 KB

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Updates to this page

Published 15 October 2024
MIL OSI United Kingdom –
January 23, 2025
MIL-OSI United Kingdom: expert reaction to study on the rate of increase of global warming

Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

October 14, 2024

A study published in Nature Communications and Earth & Environment looks at the recent increase of global warming.

Dr Kevin Collins, Senior Lecturer Environment and Systems, Open University, said:

“With many people and places experiencing year on year record temperatures around the globe in the last decade, it is very human to assume global warming is accelerating or ‘surging’. However, through an authoritative statistical analysis of temperature increases since 1970, this research concludes that there is no detectable surge. Yet.

“Instead, the results suggest global warming is occurring at a steady state. However, as the authors acknowledge, this may be because the size of any acceleration is either statistically too small, or there is simply not enough data to detect a surge in the last decade. In other words, it is still too early to tell if the last decade (the warmest on record) represents a ‘leap’ in the warming trend. By 2035 or 2040 we may look back and be able to see from 2015 onwards there has been a fundamental shift in the warming trend.

“There is a very real danger that the new research is misinterpreted to show that there is no global warming or that a steady state increase in temperature means we have lots of time to act.

“The bald statistics of a global warming world are already being lived by many populations and communities whose livelihoods are being severely impacted by heatwaves, droughts, floods, sea-level rise and other environmental changes.”

Prof Richard Allan, Professor of Climate Science, University of Reading and National Centre for Earth Observations, said:

“The new research highlights the difficulty in detecting an increase in the rate of surface warming, which is influenced by natural variations such as swings between warm El Niño and cool La Niña events. However, satellite observations and ocean measurements already detect a steady increase in Earth’s heating rate that is less susceptible to year to year fluctuations at the sea surface.

“In fact, when all lines of evidence are scrutinized it is apparent that climate change is accelerating rather continuing steadily. Halting global warming by stabilizing Earth’s climate and limiting further damage from worsening extreme weather and rising sea levels is only possible through rapid and massive cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.”

‘Is the Recent Surge in Global Warming Detectable?’ by Claudie Beaulieu et al. was published in Nature Communications Earth & Environment at 22:00 UK time on Monday 14th October.

Declared interests:

Dr Kevin Collins: No conflicts to declare.

Prof Richard Allan: No conflicts to declare.

MIL OSI United Kingdom –

January 23, 2025
MIL-OSI Canada: The Government of Canada Honours Mr. Floyd H. Prosser as a Hometown Hero

Source: Government of Canada News

The Government of Canada Honours Mr. Floyd H. Prosser as a Hometown Hero

Saturday, October 12, 2024 Halifax, Nova Scotia Parks Canada

The Government of Canada is committed to sharing the stories of the people, places, and events who have contributed to our country’s rich and diverse heritage.

Today, Darren Fisher, Member of Parliament for Dartmouth-Cole Harbour paid tribute to Mr. Floyd H. Prosser through Parks Canada’s Hometown Heroes program on behalf of the Honourable Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and Climate Change and Minister responsible for Parks Canada. The ceremony was held in Halifax, Nova Scotia at the Halifax Citadel National Historic Site in the presence of dignitaries and family members.

Mr. Floyd H. Prosser
Born in 1920 in Elgin, New Brunswick, Floyd H. Prosser enlisted in the Canadian Army Active Service Force in 1941 in Moncton, New Brunswick. Transferred overseas, Prosser trained for 2 years with the tanks in England and Scotland before being sent to Italy in 1943. Prosser was present at many of the 1^st Canadian Armoured Brigade’s famous battles and in addition to the tough enemy soldiers they were fighting, he and the other Canadian troops endured the extreme weather condition of hot summers and frigid winters. After leaving Italy, Prosser landed in France in March of 1945 when the 1^st Canadian Armoured Brigade was sent to support the liberation of Europe. During his time away, he saw Winston Churchill, and King George VI in person as he stood on guard for inspection. In addition, he, along with other Canadian troops was blessed by the Pope when they arrived in Rome.

He returned home to civilian life in 1946 after serving nearly 5 years away from home, working as an industrial electrician for Westinghouse Canada until his retirement in 1975. After retirement, he became actively involved with the Royal Canadian Legion and visited fellow veterans who were in the hospital.

To mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day in 2024, Parks Canada is honoured to add Floyd H. Prosser to the Hometown Heroes program. This individual joins a growing list of Canadians who have been recognized for their contributions as strong community leaders who are in alignment with the Parks Canada mandate and its priorities, and for their efforts to help protect and promote natural and cultural heritage in Canada as part of the Hometown Heroes program. His story will be added to the Fortress Halifax: A City Shaped by Conflict exhibit at Halifax Citadel National Historic Site in a display dedicated entirely to Parks Canada Hometown Heroes from across the country.

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MIL OSI Canada News –

January 23, 2025