Category: Environment

MIL-OSI Economics: Igniting Gen Z Innovation: Samsung India Launches ‘Solve for Tomorrow 2025’ Competition with Over INR 1 Crore In Grants

Source: Samsung

(Left to right) Shubham Mukherjee, Head of CSR & Corporate Communication at Samsung Southwest Asia; Abhishek Singh, Additional Secretary, MeitY; JB Park, President & CEO, Samsung Southwest Asia; Shombi Sharp, United Nations Resident Coordinator in India; Prof Rangan Banerjee, Director, IIT Delhi; Dr Sapna Poti, Senior Director, Office of Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India

Samsung, India’s largest consumer electronics brand, unveiled the fourth iteration of its Samsung ‘Solve for Tomorrow’ initiative – a nationwide contest designed to inspire students to create innovative solutions to address some of society’s most pressing challenges by leveraging technology.

Samsung ‘Solve for Tomorrow 2025’ will provide INR 1 crore to the top four winning teams to support the incubation of their projects, along with hands-on prototyping, investor connects, and expert mentorship from Samsung leaders and IIT Delhi faculty.

This recognition highlights the significance of nurturing solutions that not only excel in the competition but also transcend it, ultimately evolving into scalable and sustainable ventures that will play a pivotal role in shaping communities across India.

The programme, spanning six months, invites students aged 14-22 to submit their tech ideas as either individuals or groups. This year, participants are encouraged to create solutions across four key themes: AI for a Safer, Smarter, and Inclusive Bharat; Future of Health, Hygiene, and Well-being in India; Social change through Sports and Tech for Education and Better Futures; and Environmental Sustainability via Technology.

“With Solve for Tomorrow, we are inspiring young innovators across every corner of India to dream big, tackle real-world challenges, and shape a smarter, more inclusive future through technology. This year, Solve for Tomorrow is going to be even bigger and more inclusive. We are reaching more cities, engaging students from more schools and colleges, and creating avenues for them to innovate, while applying the principles of design thinking. Solve for Tomorrow stands as a testament to our unwavering commitment to the Government of India’s pioneering #DigitalIndia initiative that empowers our youth to become architects of the future,” said JB Park, President & CEO, Samsung Southwest Asia.

“IIT Delhi is excited about fostering innovation, entrepreneurship, and real-world problem solving among youth. Our collaboration with Samsung Solve for Tomorrow offers mentorship, research infrastructure, and technical guidance to help the young turn their ideas into products that impact society. We are delighted to be part of this initiative that enables socially conscious innovation and contributes to Viksit Bharat,” said Prof Rangan Banerjee, Director, IIT Delhi.

“India’s young innovators are at the heart of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 and realizing the vision of a Viksit Bharat by 2047. With more young minds to tap solutions than any country ever before, India is uniquely positioned to lead with ideas that address local challenges and inspire global change. Initiatives like Samsung’s Solve for Tomorrow provide a vital platform for young people to turn their ideas into solutions for the global good, using technology to drive inclusive and sustainable progress. The UN in India is proud to support such collaborations, especially with the private sector, that uplift youth leadership, innovation, and action, ensuring that we leave no one behind,” said Shombi Sharp, United Nations Resident Coordinator in India.

“Young people hold the key to solving today’s most urgent global challenges. Initiatives Iike Solve for Tomorrow 2025 empower them to turn their ideas into reality using technology. We are excited to see solutions that help scale youth-led ideas to drive real change across communities,” said Abhishek Singh, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY).

The fourth iteration of Samsung India’s flagship Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative aims to involve thousands of participants, offering more than 82,000 hours of extensive training in Design Thinking, Hands-on Prototyping, Go-to-Market Strategies, and Business Planning. In the final phase, teams selected as finalists will benefit from specialized training and mentorship provided by Samsung, IIT Delhi, and industry professionals.

‘Solve for Tomorrow 2025’ was inaugurated at IIT Delhi in the presence of all partners on Tuesday. Present at the event were Dr Sapna Poti, Senior Director, Office of Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India, Shardul Rao, Scientist C, Department of Science & Technology, Government of India and P. S. Madanagopal, CEO, MeitY Startup Hub.

From ideas to impact: Programme stages
The application window for the initiative will be open from April 29 to June 30, 2025. During this period, Samsung will host immersive design-thinking workshops in schools and colleges across the nation, empowering participants with essential problem solving and ideation skills.

After the initial application phase, the top 100 teams will be chosen, with 25 teams selected from each of the themes. At this stage, participants will undergo online training led by thematic experts, followed by a video pitch round where 40 teams will be shortlisted – 10 teams from each theme.

The top 10 semi-finalist teams from each theme will then progress to an intensive mentorship program guided by Samsung’s industry veterans and subject matter experts. These teams will also participate in curated learning visits to Samsung’s state-of-the-art facilities, including the Samsung R&D Institute India in Bengaluru, Noida, and Delhi, as well as Samsung Design Delhi, offering them first-hand exposure to world-class innovation ecosystems.

This phase will culminate in an experiential, hands-on Prototyping Programme at Delhi’s state-of-the-art labs, in collaboration with ‘Solve for Tomorrow’ alumni. There will also be a Residential Bootcamp focused on refining ideas and preparing for the final pitch. The top 20 teams will be finalized after this phase, with five teams from each theme advancing to the grand finale. These top five teams from each theme will receive exclusive one-on-one mentoring sessions with Samsung experts. They will participate in a Prototyping Day, Pitch Presentation, Investor Meet, and Awards Ceremony, all held over the last three days of the competition.

What is in it for the participants
The top 100 teams will receive certificates of achievement. The top 40 teams will receive INR 8 lakh and the latest Samsung laptops for every member. The top 20 will receive with INR 20 lakh and the latest Samsung ZFlip smartphones for each member.

In addition, special awards include the Goodwill Award, Young Innovator Award, and Social Media Champion, with a total prize amount of INR 4.5 lakh.

The four winning teams will collectively receive a grant of INR 1 crore for incubation at IIT Delhi, providing substantial resources to accelerate their innovative projects. This funding aims to nurture their ideas into reality.

First launched in the US in 2010, ‘Solve for Tomorrow’ is currently operational in 68 countries globally and has seen over 3 million young people participate worldwide.

The Global CSR vision of Samsung Electronics – ‘Together for Tomorrow! Enabling People’ – is determined to provide education to young people around the world and empower them to become the leaders of tomorrow. Read more stories on Samsung Electronics’ CSR efforts on our CSR webpage https://csr.samsung.com/en-in/localMain.do

MIL OSI Economics –

April 30, 2025

MIL-OSI: UAB„Orkela“ Publishes Audited Financial Statements for the Year, Ended 31 December 2024.

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

UAB „Orkela“ (hereinafter – the Company) publishes audited financial statements for the year. Ended 31 December 2024.

The main activity of the Company is real estate development and construction. The Company

owns a land plot and a building complex located on Vasario 16-osios st. 1, Vilnius.

Key events in 2024

During 2024, the Company issued 15,156 units of secured non-convertible bonds, each with a nominal value of EUR 1,000.As of 31 December 2024, the Company issued 38,658 units of secured non-convertible bonds.
During 2024, the Company leased 4,333 sq m of administrative space in an object under development located on Vasario16-osios st. 1, Vilnius.

Key events after the end of the financial year

As of 31 December 2024, the bonds were due to be redeemed in January 2025. The Company, having received the approval of the bondholders, extended the term until 19 July 2025.
Q I 2025 The Company leased an additional 922 sq m of space, thus increasing the occupancy of the object to 92%.
On 10 April 2025, the State Territorial Planning and Construction Inspectorate under the Ministry of Environment approved the completion of the construction of the administrative part of the project.

The decision of the sole shareholder

According to the Law on Companies of Republic of Lithuania, the annual financial statements prepared by the management must be approved by the General Shareholders’ meeting. The shareholders of the Company have the right to approve or not to approve the financial statements and to demand the preparation of new annual financial statements.

On 30 April 2025 the Company’s shareholder made a decision regarding the approval of the Company’s financial statements for the year 2024 and the distribution of profit (loss) as indicated below:

Article	Sum, EUR
Retained earnings (losses) – at the beginning of the financial year	(10,921,587)
Comprehensive income for the reporting period – net profit (loss) of the reporting year	1 412 324
Profit transfer to the legal reserve	–
Payment of dividends from undistributed profit	–
Retained earnings (losses) – at the end of financial year	(9 509 263)
Profit distribution:
To be paid out as dividends	–
Transfer to the legal reserve	–
Retained earnings (losses) for 2024 and prior financial years	(9 509 263)

More information:

Director of UAB „Orkela“

Anastasija Pocienė

Anastasija.Pociene@lordslb.lt

+370 671 16 232

Attachment

uaborkela-2024-12-31-en

The MIL Network –

April 30, 2025

MIL-OSI NGOs: Major parties must reject Trump’s dangerous plans to mine the Pacific deep sea

Source: Greenpeace Statement –

SYDNEY, Wednesday 30 April 2025 — Ahead of the Federal Election, Greenpeace Australia Pacific is calling on all parties to support a moratorium on deep sea mining, with news today that The Metals Company is forging ahead with plans to commercially mine the Pacific seabed following President Trump’s executive order greenlighting the harmful practice.

Controversial deep sea mining company The Metals Company (TMC) – headed by Australian CEO Gerard Barron – has overnight submitted the first-ever application to mine the Pacific Ocean seabed. Lauded on its website as a “world-first”, the company says minerals extracted from the deep, environmentally sensitive ocean floor would be used to support the green transition, but Trump’s executive order states they would also be used by the US for weapons manufacturing and infrastructure.

Last year, an investigation by the Sydney Morning Herald exposed TMC’s links to former PM Scott Morrison and the AUKUS deal. Greenpeace says the move threatens Pacific sovereignty and is a power play in the United States’ national interest.

Glenn Walker, Head of Nature at Greenpeace Australia Pacific, said: “The ocean is under attack from every angle, suffering from climate change, destructive industrial fishing, plastic pollution, and now the new threat of deep sea mining, driven by the Trump administration and billionaire elites seeking to profit from ocean destruction.

“Australians love the ocean and want to protect it. Now is the time for all Australian political parties, including Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, to set themselves apart from Trump and publicly and strongly support a moratorium on deep sea mining, and be a good neighbour to Pacific nations. Our leaders now have a choice: protect our blue planet, or sit idly by and allow Trump to undermine international law and plunder the ocean.”

The move by the US undermines international law and breaks the longstanding tradition of it being a good-faith actor on UNCLOS (The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea).

Greenpeace Aotearoa spokesperson Juressa Lee said: “The Metals Company and Donald Trump are wilfully ignoring the rules-based international order and the science that deep sea mining will wreak havoc on the oceans.

“Pacific Peoples have deep cultural ties to the ocean, and it is the source of livelihoods for many. Our home is more ocean than land, and our ancestors were wayfarers who traversed the Pacific Ocean for centuries. Deep sea mining is not the answer to the green transition away from carbon-based fossil fuels.”

Currently, 32 countries have backed a moratorium or precautionary pause on deep sea mining, including Tuvalu, Palau, Solomon Islands, Marshall Islands, Fiji, the Federated States of Micronesia, Vanuatu and Samoa. Australia has not.

Australia will have a crucial chance to support a moratorium on deep sea mining at the UN Ocean Conference in June.

—ENDS—

MIL OSI NGO –

April 30, 2025
MIL-OSI New Zealand: Regional field advisors

Source: Walking Access New Zealand

Senitra Nathan-Marsh

senitra.nathan-marsh@herengaanuku.govt.nz

027 229 1285

Senitra considers herself a “fruitsalad” being a descendent of many iwi from Te-Ika-a-Māui and Rarotonga, however, she considers her ukaipō beneath her maunga Koro Ruapehu.

For the majority of her life, Senitra ventured between Tokoroa and Central Hawkes Bay, between her kui and koro. Throughout her upbringing, Senitra absorbed the Mātauranga of her koroua and embraced their old values and ways.

Senitra’s career has traversed many landscapes, starting from (the fun stuff) scaling her own maunga, Koro Ruapehu, tracking and catching manu on her whenua, and mahi the ngahere back home.

Since her “good old ranger days,” she has worked for local regulatory bodies such as district councils, DOCs, and post-settlement governance entities. Her “niche” is navigating governmental and regulatory processes, as she likes to ” geek out ” about legislation.

Senitra created her business, Uehā Environmental, to continue to be of service to our communities whilst also completing her Masters in Māori and Indigenous Leadership, focusing rangatiratanga (self-determination and leadership) when receiving taonga from Tangaroa (whale strandings)

She currently fulfils a role of passion as a kaimanaaki (helper) alongside mana moana (people of the sea), mana whenua (people of the land), DOC and Massey University for when taonga strand, and considers her happy place alongside Ikanui (whales and dolphins), activating and supporting kaitiakitanga and rangatiratanga.

You will often see Senitra with her four-legged buddy Tex (included in the picture), exploring along rivers and in outdoor recreational areas.

MIL OSI New Zealand News –

April 30, 2025
MIL-Evening Report: ER Report: A Roundup of Significant Articles on EveningReport.nz for April 30, 2025

ER Report: Here is a summary of significant articles published on EveningReport.nz on April 30, 2025.

Locked up for life? Unpacking South Australia’s new child sex crime laws
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Xanthe Mallett, Criminologist, CQUniversity Australia Melnikov Dmitriy/Shutterstock It’s election time, which means the age old “tough on crime” rhetoric is being heralded by many politicians aiming to score votes. Opposition leader Peter Dutton is pushing for a national public sex offender register. Currently only Western Australia has

Why do dogs eat poo? A canine scientist explains
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mia Cobb, Research Fellow, Animal Welfare Science Centre, The University of Melbourne nygi/Unsplash When miniature dachshund Valerie was captured after 529 days alone in the wilds of Australia’s Kangaroo Island, experts speculated she survived partly by eating other animals’ poo. While this survival tactic may have saved

On ‘moral panic’ and the courage to speak – the West’s silence on Gaza
Palestinians do not have the luxury to allow Western moral panic to have its say or impact. Not caving in to this panic is one small, but important, step in building a global Palestine network that is urgently needed, writes Dr Ilan Pappé ANALYSIS: By Ilan Pappé Responses in the Western world to the genocide

Sick of eating the same things? 5 ways to boost your nutrition and keep meals interesting and healthy
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Collins, Laureate Professor in Nutrition and Dietetics, University of Newcastle Loquellano/Pexels Did you start 2025 with a promise to eat better but didn’t quite get there? Or maybe you want to branch out from making the same meal every week or the same lunch for work

Peace in our time? Why NZ should resist Trump’s one-sided plan for Ukraine
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert G. Patman, Professor of International Relations, University of Otago GettyImages Getty Images Is it possible to reconcile increased international support for Ukraine with Donald Trump’s plan to end the war? At their recent meeting in London, Christopher Luxon and his British counterpart Keir Starmer seemed to

‘A living collective’: study shows trees synchronise electrical signals during a solar eclipse
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Monica Gagliano, Research Associate Professor in Evolutionary Biology, Southern Cross University Zenit Arti Audiovisive Earth’s cycles of light and dark profoundly affect billions of organisms. Events such as solar eclipses are known to bring about marked shifts in animals, but do they have the same effect on

Greenpeace slams deep sea mining bid as ‘rogue’ disregard for global law
By Reza Azam Greenpeace has condemned an announcement by The Metals Company to submit the first application to commercially mine the seabed. “The first application to commercially mine the seabed will be remembered as an act of total disregard for international law and scientific consensus,” said Greenpeace International senior campaigner Louisa Casson. “This unilateral US

State of the states: the campaign is almost over, so how has it played out across Australia?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Clune, Honorary Associate, Government and International Relations, University of Sydney While many Australians have already voted at pre-poll stations and by post, the politicking continues right up until May 3. So what’s happened across the country over the past five weeks? Here, six experts analyse how

‘No compassion… just blame’: how weight stigma in maternity care harms larger-bodied women and their babies
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Briony Hill, Deputy Head, Health and Social Care Unit and Senior Research Fellow, Monash University Kate Cashin Photography According to a study from the United States, women experience weight stigma in maternity care at almost every visit. We expect this experience to be similar in Australia, where

Renewables, coal or nuclear? This election, your generation’s energy preference may play a surprising role
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Magnus Söderberg, Professor & Director, Centre for Applied Energy Economics and Policy Research, Griffith University Christie Cooper/Shutterstock In an otherwise unremarkable election campaign, the major parties are promising sharply different energy blueprints for Australia. Labor is pitching a high-renewables future powered largely by wind, solar, hydroelectricity and

Trump says diversity initiatives undermine merit. Decades of research show this is flawed
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Paula McDonald, Professor of Work and Organisation, Queensland University of Technology Pixel-Shot/Shutterstock US President Donald Trump declared earlier this year he would forge a “colour blind and merit-based society”. His executive order was part of a broader policy directing the US military, federal agencies and other public

Housing affordability is at the centre of this election, yet two major reforms seem all but off-limits
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Matt Garrow, Editorial Web Developer This federal election, both major parties have offered a “grab bag” of policy fixes for Australia’s stubborn housing affordability crisis. But there are still two big policy elephants in the room, which neither side wants to touch. The first is negative gearing.

The Vietnam War ended 50 years ago today, yet films about the conflict still struggle to capture its complexities
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Scarlette Nhi Do, Sessional Academic, The University of Melbourne Scene from Apocalypse Now (1979) Prime Video The Vietnam War (1955–1975) was more than just a chapter in the Cold War. For some, it was supposed to achieve Vietnam’s right to self-determination. For others, it was an attempt

Willis warns of a ‘tight’ budget to come, but NZ should be going for productivity, not austerity
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dennis Wesselbaum, Associate Professor, Department of Economics, University of Otago Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images Finance Minister Nicola Willis has warned her 2025 “Growth Budget” will be “one of the tightest budgets in a decade”, with plans to reduce spending by billions. It’s clear New Zealand is following a

50 years after the ‘fall’ of Saigon – from triumph to Trump
30 April 1975. Saigon Fell, Vietnam Rose. The story of Vietnam after the US fled the country is not a fairy tale, it is not a one-dimensional parable of resurrection, of liberation from oppression, of joy for all — but there is a great deal to celebrate. After over a century of brutal colonial oppression

Labor maintains clear lead in all polls and is likely to win election
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Labor leads by between 52–48 and 53–47 in four new national polls from Resolve, Essential, Morgan and DemosAU. While Labor’s vote slumped from a high 55.5–44.5 in

Election Diary: Albanese will be encouraged by ‘Trump’ effect in helping Canadian Liberals to victory
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Labor will be encouraged by the Liberals’ victory in Canada’s election, undoubtedly much helped by US President Donald Trump. Trump’s extraordinary attack on the United States’ northern ally, with his repeated suggestion Canada should be the 51st American state, galvanised

French Minister Valls warns New Caledonia is ‘on a tightrope’, pleads for ‘innovative’ solutions
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk French Minister for Overseas Manuel Valls, who is visiting New Caledonia this week for the third time in two months, has once again called on all parties to live up to their responsibilities in order to make a new political agreement possible. Failing that, he said

Did ‘induced atmospheric vibration’ cause blackouts in Europe? An electrical engineer explains the phenomenon
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mehdi Seyedmahmoudian, Professor of Electrical Engineering, School of Engineering, Swinburne University of Technology The lights are mostly back on in Spain, Portugal and southern France after a widespread blackout on Monday. The blackout caused chaos for tens of millions of people. It shut down traffic lights and

Tarakinikini appointed as Fiji’s ambassador-designate to Israel
By Anish Chand in Suva Filipo Tarakinikini has been appointed as Fiji’s Ambassador-designate to Israel. This has been stated on two official X, formerly Twitter, handle posts overnight. “#Fiji is determined to deepen its relations with #Israel as Fiji’s Ambassador-designate to Israel, HE Ambassador @AFTarakinikini prepares to present his credentials on 28 April, 2025,” stated

MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

April 30, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Markey, Huffman, Fitzpatrick Reintroduce Bipartisan Legislation to Protect the Arctic Refuge

US Senate News:

Source: United States Senator for Massachusetts Ed Markey
Washington (April 29, 2025) – Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, and House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), Senators Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) and Representative Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Penn.), today reintroduced the Arctic Refuge Protection Act, legislation that will restore critical protections to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge—the nation’s largest national wildlife refuge—by designating the Coastal Plain ecosystem as wilderness under the National Wilderness Preservation System. This legislation would permanently halt any new oil and gas leasing, exploration, development, and drilling on the Coastal Plain, and would safeguard the subsistence rights of the Arctic Indigenous Peoples who depend upon the Arctic Refuge.
“Trump’s reopening of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas is another attempt to revive his old and failed promise of a fictional financial windfall from leasing the Refuge—all to pay for tax breaks for billionaires. The urgency to protect the wilderness of the Coastal Plain and the Refuge more broadly and reaffirm the sovereignty of Arctic Indigenous peoples is paramount—my Arctic Refuge Protection Act would do just that,” said Senator Markey. “We must put a law on the books to affirm these lands are not for sale and defend the Arctic landscape—a sacred home for Indigenous peoples, including the Gwich’in and Inupait—from Trump’s disastrous business plan.”
“What we choose to protect says everything about who we are. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is too special to destroy, and we have a responsibility to keep it that way,” said Ranking Member Huffman. “The Refuge is one of the last truly wild places left on the planet — home to caribou herds, polar bears, migratory birds, and breathtaking landscapes. But it’s more than that. It’s about standing with the Gwich’in people, who’ve spent generations protecting this land, living with the caribou herds, and preserving a way of life that predates the fossil fuel industry by thousands of years and continues to this day. Now, President Trump wants to turn the Arctic Refuge into a corporate cash grab, a place where oil companies could frack up the tundra while trampling tribal sovereignty and leaving Americans with nothing but spills and broken promises. This land belongs to the American people and to the Gwich’in, not to Big Oil.”
“Protecting the Arctic Refuge is not only an environmental imperative—it’s a strategic one. This land holds immense ecological value, cultural significance, and climate importance. Reckless development would endanger wildlife, violate Indigenous rights, and yield little economic return. As Co-Chair of the World Wildlife, Oceanic, Environmental and Biodiversity Caucus, I’m proud to support this legislation to protect one of America’s last wild frontiers—because conservation is not a cost, it’s a long-term investment in our security, economy, and planet,” said Representative Fitzpatrick.
“The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is a pristine, million-year-old ecosystem unlike anything else we have in the United States, which is why it should be permanently protected,” said Senator Cantwell. “The future of the Arctic is in tourism, and with new sea routes opening up the real value of this land is conservation, not exploitation.”
“The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is one of our country’s most unique and beautiful areas of land. We must work with our indigenous communities to protect our wildlife, and the environment put at risk by oil and gas development in this spectacular refuge. Rather than catering to the interests of the oil companies, we must focus our efforts on diversifying our energy sources with renewable energy and prevent further harm to the environment,” said Senator Schiff.
“We commend our congressional champions for taking a stand to protect one of America’s last great wild places. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s Coastal Plain is not only a sanctuary for wildlife—it is sacred land for the Gwich’in and a symbol of our nation’s commitment to conservation. Selling off this land for oil and gas is not only destructive, it’s bad economics. The last Arctic Refuge lease sale was a failure, proving there is no real demand—only a handout to billion-dollar corporations at the expense of taxpayers. This legislation is a crucial step in permanently protecting this irreplaceable landscape from exploitation. Now, more than ever, Congress must prioritize our public lands and Indigenous rights by restoring protections to the Arctic Refuge and ensuring this land remains unexploited for generations to come,” said Kristen Miller, Executive Director, Alaska Wilderness League.
“We applaud the leadership of Sen. Markey and Reps. Huffman and Fitzpatrick for reintroducing the Arctic Refuge Protection Act,” said Mary Glaves, Alaska Coordinator for Backcountry Hunters & Anglers. “For hunters and anglers, the 1.5-million-acre coastal plain is the birth place of wild pursuits of caribou, waterfowl, and iconic fish species including Dolly Varden and Arctic Char. The abysmal interest in both the 2020 and 2025 lease sales demonstrates the bad economics of drilling in the Arctic Refuge. The wetlands and rivers weave together one of the last truly wild landscapes that are essential for the North American heritage of hunting and fishing and subsistence for local Alaskan communities. The Arctic Refuge is a national treasure that should be protected as such through a wilderness designation.”
“The Arctic Refuge is no place for drilling. It is a sanctuary for caribou, musk oxen, polar bears, wolves, and other wildlife. The Arctic Refuge Protection Act is a clear acknowledgment of that fact. Even the biggest players in the oil industry recognized that drilling in the Refuge was an absurd proposition when they failed to show up for recent lease sales,” said Alexandra Adams, Chief Policy Advocacy Officer at NRDC. “This bill would end an ongoing threat to this treasured place by forever barring industrialization of the Refuge.”
Background
The Arctic Refuge is one of the last truly wild places left in America. The Coastal Plain is the calving ground of the Porcupine caribou herd, the source of the Indigenous Gwich’in people’s way of life and subsistence for generations. It also provides a critical denning habitat for threatened Southern Beaufort Sea populations of polar bears. Oil and gas exploration, seismic testing, and all of the infrastructure that comes with oil drilling – from roads to pipelines to pumpjacks – would threaten polar bears in their dens, disrupt caribou and bird migration patterns, and result in significant and irreversible harm to the unique Arctic Refuge habitat and the Indigenous communities who depend on it.
For the Gwich’in people, who refer to the Coastal Plain as “Iizhik Gwats’an Gwandaii Goodlit” or the Sacred Place Where Life Begins, this land is more than wildlife habitat. It is cultural identity, food security, and a foundation for traditions that span millennia into the current day. The caribou herd is central to their traditions and survival, and industrial development in the region threatens not just an ecosystem, but an entire way of life. The Gwich’in, which span across Alaska and Canada, have been united in their opposition to drilling in the Refuge for decades and have called on the federal government to uphold its trust responsibilities and protect these lands permanently.
Developing the Refuge’s unproven oil and gas reserves would also pose a serious danger to the climate, locking in decades of emissions in a region already warming four times faster than the global average.
For decades, the Refuge’s coastal plain has been targeted for highly speculative oil and gas drilling. In 2017, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act established an oil and gas leasing program along with a requirement that the Department of the Interior conduct two lease sales in the coastal plain before the end of 2024. According to the Congressional Budget Office’s estimate at the time, these lease sales would result in $1.82 billion in revenue over 10 years. Seven years later, those projections have proven wildly inaccurate.
The first lease sale brought in only $14.4 million in bids on 11 tracts, a far cry from the nearly $2 billion in estimated revenue. Major oil companies didn’t participate in the sale, and most major financial institutions have pledged not to finance drilling there. The most recent lease sale in January of this year generated no interest. Despite the lack of interest or activity, the risk of development and drilling in the Arctic Refuge remains.
On his first day in office, President Trump restarted the Coastal Plain Oil and Gas Leasing Program and reinstated seven leases from the state development corporation, which were previously canceled by the Biden administration. Congressional Republicans may once again use oil and gas leasing to pay for tax cuts for billionaires, despite its catastrophic failure to raise revenue in 2017.
The Senate bill is cosponsored by Senators Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Ben Ray Lujan (D-N.M.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).
The House bill is cosponsored by Representatives Suzanne Bonamici (D-Ore.), Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Calif.), Sharice Davids (D-Kan.), Mary Gay Scanlon (D-Pa.), Hank Johnson (D-Ga.), Kevin Mullin (D-Calif.), Bill Foster (D-Ill.), Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.), Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), Salud Carbajal (D-Calif.), Joe Neguse (D-Colo.), Val Hoyle (D-Ore.), Brad Schneider (D-Ill.), Linda Sánchez (D-Calif.), Juan Vargas (D-Calif.), Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), Madeline Dean (D-Pa.), Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), Lucy McBath (D-Ga.), Dwight Evans (D-Pa.), Nydia Velázquez (D-N.Y.), André Carson (D-Ind.), Andrea Salinas (D-Ore.), Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.), Betty McCollum (D-Minn.), Darren Soto (D-Fla.), Jake Auchincloss (D-Mass.), Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.), Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), Johnny Olszewski (D-Md.), Sarah Elfreth (D-Md.), Jill Tokuda (D-Hawaii), Angie Craig (D-Minn.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Mark Takano (D-Calif.), Danny Davis (D-Ill.), Raul Ruiz (D-Calif.), Lori Trahan (D-Mass.), Doris Matsui (D-Calif.), Kim Schrier (D-Wash.), Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.), Sean Casten (D-Ill.), Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.), Maxine Dexter (D-Ore.), Kelly Morrison (D-Minn.), George Latimer (D-N.Y.), Gabe Amo (D-R.I.), Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), Rob Menendez (D-N.J.), Jesús “Chuy” García (D-Ill.), Bobby Scott (D-Va.), Grace Meng (D-N.Y.), Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.), Sarah McBride (D-Del.), Summer Lee (D-Pa.), Emily Randall (D-Wash.), Dave Min (D-Calif.), Gil Cisneros (D-Calif.), Adam Smith (D-Wash.), Rick Larsen (D-Wash.), Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), Judy Chu (D-Calif.), Chellie Pingree (D-Maine), Ed Case (D-Hawaii), James McGovern (D-Mass.), Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.), Nanette Barragán (D-Calif.), Becca Balint (D-Vt.), Mike Levin (D-Calif.), Gabe Vasquez (D-N.M.), and Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.).
The bill was endorsed by National Audubon Society, Gwich’in Steering Committee, Alaska Wilderness League, Trustees for Alaska, The Wilderness Society, League of Conservation Voters, Defenders of Wildlife, National Wildlife Refuge Association, Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, World Wildlife Fund, Earthjustice, Natural Resources Defense Council, and Environment America.

MIL OSI USA News –

April 30, 2025
MIL-OSI New Zealand: Greenpeace slams deep sea mining application as a ‘total disregard for international law’

Source: Greenpeace

Greenpeace has slammed an announcement by The Metals Company to submit the first application to commercially mine the seabed.

Greenpeace International Senior campaigner Louisa Casson said: “The first application to commercially mine the seabed will be remembered as an act of total disregard for international law and scientific consensus.

“This unilateral US effort to carve up the Pacific Ocean already faces fierce international opposition. Governments around the world must now step up to defend international rules and cooperation against rogue deep sea mining.

“Leaders will be meeting at the UN Oceans Conference in Nice in June where they must speak with one voice in support of a moratorium on this reckless industry.”

Greenpeace Aotearoa spokesperson Juressa Lee said: “The disastrous effects of deep sea mining recognise no international borders in the ocean. This will be another case of short-term profits for a very few, from the Global North, with the Pacific bearing the destructive impacts for generations to come.”

The Metals Company announcement follows President Donald Trump’s Executive Order fast-tracking deep sea mining in US and international waters, which Greenpeace says threatens Pacific sovereignty.

Trump’s action bypasses the International Seabed Authority (ISA), the regulatory body which protects the deep sea and decides whether deep sea mining can take place in international waters.

Lee adds: “The Metals Company and Donald Trump are wilfully ignoring the rules-based international order and the science that deep sea mining will wreak havoc on the oceans.

“Pacific Peoples have deep cultural ties to the ocean, and we regard ‘home’ as more ocean than land. Our ancestors were wayfarers and ocean custodians who have traversed the Pacific and protected our livelihoods for future generations. This is the Indigenous knowledge we should be led by, to safeguard our planet and our environment. Deep sea mining is not the answer to the green transition away from carbon-based fossil fuels – it’s another false solution.”

Donald Trump’s order follows negotiations in March at the ISA, at which governments refused to give wannabe miners The Metals Company a clear pathway to an approved mining application via the ISA.

32 countries around the world publicly support a moratorium on deep sea mining. Millions of people have spoken out against this dangerous emerging industry.

MIL OSI New Zealand News –

April 30, 2025
MIL-Evening Report: Greenpeace slams deep sea mining bid as ‘rogue’ disregard for global law

By Reza Azam

Greenpeace has condemned an announcement by The Metals Company to submit the first application to commercially mine the seabed.

“The first application to commercially mine the seabed will be remembered as an act of total disregard for international law and scientific consensus,” said Greenpeace International senior campaigner Louisa Casson.

“This unilateral US effort to carve up the Pacific Ocean already faces fierce international opposition. Governments around the world must now step up to defend international rules and cooperation against rogue deep sea mining.

“Leaders will be meeting at the UN Oceans Conference in Nice in June where they must speak with one voice in support of a moratorium on this reckless industry.”

Greenpeace Aotearoa spokesperson Juressa Lee said: “The disastrous effects of deep sea mining recognise no international borders in the ocean.

“This will be another case of short-term profits for a very few, from the Global North, with the Pacific bearing the destructive impacts for generations to come.”

The Metals Company announcement follows President Donald Trump’s Executive Order fast-tracking deep sea mining in US and international waters, which Greenpeace says threatens Pacific sovereignty.

Bypassed ISA rules
Trump’s action bypasses the International Seabed Authority (ISA), the regulatory body which protects the deep sea and decides whether deep sea mining can take place in international waters.

“The Metals Company and Donald Trump are wilfully ignoring the rules-based international order and the science that deep sea mining will wreak havoc on the oceans,”said Lee.

“Pacific Peoples have deep cultural ties to the ocean, and we regard ‘home’ as more ocean than land. Our ancestors were wayfarers and ocean custodians who have traversed the Pacific and protected our livelihoods for future generations.

“This is the Indigenous knowledge we should be led by, to safeguard our planet and our environment. Deep sea mining is not the answer to the green transition away from carbon-based fossil fuels — it’s another false solution.”

President Trump’s order follows negotiations in March at the ISA, at which governments refused to give wannabe miners The Metals Company a clear pathway to an approved mining application via the ISA.

Thirty two countries around the world publicly support a moratorium on deep sea mining.

Millions of people have spoken out against this dangerous emerging industry.

Republished from Greenpeace Aotearoa News.

MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

April 30, 2025
MIL-OSI New Zealand: Ranger’s dream to protect an ancient kānuka ‘island’

Source: Department of Conservation

Date: 30 April 2025

The 13-hectare forest near Eyrewell in North Canterbury is in the Motu Kānuka Scientific Reserve, which sits within a vast sea of privately owned farmland.

DOC Biodiversity Ranger Christina Stet says when she’s sitting in the middle of the kānuka forest island or motu on the flat expanse of the plains, she feels like she’s travelled back hundreds of years.

“Everything around it has been cleared, and yet amazingly this motu has remained. It’s an incredibly special ecosystem and provides a home for many threatened and at-risk species, shrubs, lichen, moss, insects, lizards, and birds. I feel very passionate about protecting it as many of these species are extremely rare on the Canterbury Plains.”

DOC purchased the forest through the Nature Heritage Fund in 2019. There were many threats to contend with including introduced grasses, gorse, broom, and pests, which impact the native plants and animals. It was pure luck the native kānuka forest had survived for so long.

Christina and DOC’s biodiversity team had a challenge. How could they protect the existing forest and increase its size by encouraging more kānuka to grow?

“We heard ECAN (Environment Canterbury) was trialling a new technique of reforestation in kānuka reserves. The idea was to try and create a giant ‘seed tray’. With help from their biodiversity fund, we cleared the invasive grasses near the adult trees and hoped the kānuka seeds would be blown across and land on the cleared soil and grow. The famous Canterbury nor’ wester blew and suddenly, these little seedlings started sprouting. I was so stoked to see how they’ve thrived.”

Christina says they hope to create a ‘seed tray’ on another side of Motu Kānuka.

“The bigger the buffer we can make, the more resilient the forest will be. What I love is being able to make a difference. We’ve proven in many parts of the country that when we remove or manage the threats to nature or restore habitats, they come back and thrive. Every individual action counts,” she says.

“We want to make sure this little ancient island stays this way for generations to come as once it disappears, it’s gone for good. This is part of our heritage and a wonderful snapshot of the past. This motu is a reminder of the resilience of nature, but more often now, it needs a helping hand.”

The Motu Kānuka Scientific Reserve requires a permit to visit.

Watch a video of Christina Stet in the Motu Kānuka.

[embedded content]

A second video of Christina explaining how her giant ‘seed tray’ works is also available via DOC’s social media channels.

Contact

For media enquiries contact:

Email: media@doc.govt.nz

MIL OSI New Zealand News –

April 30, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Kelly backs legislation to stop EV mandates, de facto ban on gas-powered vehicles

Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Mike Kelly (R-PA)

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA) joined Congressman Brett Guthrie (KY-02), Chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Congressman John Joyce (PA-13), Congressman Jay Obernolte (CA-23), and Congressman John James (MI-10), along with Members of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, California Republicans, and Conference Chairwoman Lisa McClain on three Congressional Review Act resolutions that would undo harmful rules created under the Biden administration’s Environmental Protection Agency.

These three Congressional Review Act resolutions would reverse radical regulations that established a de facto ban on the use of gas-powered vehicles, heavy trucks, and diesel engines over the next decade.

“Pennsylvania drivers shouldn’t be subjected to California laws, plain and simple. This series of legislation rejects radical EV mandates and ensures drivers across the United States will be able to choose the vehicle that’s best for them, whether it’s gas-powered, electric, or a hybrid model,” Rep. Kelly said.

“The American people should choose what vehicle is right for them, not California bureaucrats. By submitting the three California waivers to Congress, Administrator Zeldin is ensuring that Congress has oversight of these major rules that impact every American,” said Chairman Guthrie. “The Committee has been committed to addressing this issue since California first attempted to create a de facto EV mandate. Energy and Commerce Republicans will continue to fight against far-left policies that would harm consumers and will now work to ensure that the Congressional Review Act process finally puts these issues to rest. Thank you to Congressman Joyce, Congressman Obernolte, and Congressman James for your work to ensure that families and businesses can continue to choose the vehicles they need.”

“Since arriving in Washington, I have fought to protect consumer freedom and allow American families to choose the vehicle that best fits their budget and needs,” said Vice Chairman John Joyce, M.D. “The introduction of this resolution to overturn California’s ban on gas-powered vehicles is long overdue. Thank you to Chairman Guthrie and Chairman Capito for their leadership on this issue, and I look forward to seeing this legislation swiftly pass through Congress so President Trump can permanently protect the freedom of the open road for all Americans.”

“As a representative of California, I’ve seen firsthand how burdensome regulations from the California Air Resources Board have hurt businesses and hardworking Americans by imposing costly mandates instead of allowing the market to drive innovation,” said Congressman Obernolte. “Congress must exercise its oversight authority to ensure these policies do not become the national standard. It is critical we protect jobs, supply chains, and the ability of consumers to choose what is best for them and their families.”

“The Biden administration left behind comply-or-die Green New Deal mandates that threaten to crush our trucking industry and drive up costs for hardworking Americans,” said Congressman James. “I know — my family has a trucking company. Republicans are working hard to implement President Trump’s America First agenda, and the first step is repealing the rules and waivers that contributed to Bideninflation!”

“During the Biden administration, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) allowed a series of stringent, environmentally charged regulations on vehicles that would effectively overhaul the marketplace and steer consumers toward purchasing electric vehicles,” said Congressman Fulcher. “I am honored to join my colleagues in introducing a legislative package to repeal these overreaching federal mandates and preserve consumer freedom and choice in the automotive and heavy-duty truck markets,”

“California’s sweeping and unachievable emissions mandates are a direct assault on everyone who lives, works, or does business in our state,” said Congressman LaMalfa. “These regulations drive up costs, limit consumer choice, and force trucking and automotive industries into an impossible transition timeline. Californians are already paying some of the highest fuel and energy costs in the country. These rules are causing the cost of new and used cars and trucks to increase for everyone. If you want to buy an electric vehicle, buy one, but everybody else shouldn’t be forced into this mandate. The Federal Government cannot allow one state to destroy the American car and truck market. Instead of making life even more expensive, we should focus on what consumers want. I’m pleased to support this effort to stop California’s insanity and protect drivers and consumers across my state and the country.”

“The Newsom Administration’s irrational plan to ban gas-powered cars and trucks is an affront to the freedom of Californians and an economic burden to the whole country,” said Congressman Kiley. “The Biden Administration aided and abetted this insanity with special waivers. With the Congressional Review Act resolutions introduced today, we have an opportunity to return to economic reality and restore common sense.”

“Biden’s EPA waivers effectively allowed one state’s woke agenda to dictate national policy. It’s not the government’s role to decide what vehicle Americans must drive,” said Chairwoman McClain. “These waivers bypass Congress and ignore millions of Americans who rely on affordable, reliable transportation. Instead, we should have a little more faith in the American people to choose what’s best for them. It’s time we end this regulatory overreach.”

BACKGROUND

Making these changes at a time when the United States is unprepared for a full transition to electric vehicles would have massive consequences for American communities. With states making up more than 40% of the auto market following California’s emissions standards, implementing Californias EV mandate would result in a nation-wide shift in the vehicles that are available for purchase, and in fact could lead to a shortage of the vehicles consumers need.

H.J. Res. 88, introduced by Congressman Joyce (PA-13), would reverse the EPA’s decision to approve a waiver granted to California allowing the State to ban the sale of gas-powered vehicles by 2035.

H.J. Res. 89, introduced by Congressman Obernolte (CA-23), would put an end to the EPA’s decision to allow California to implement its most recent nitrogen oxide (NOx) engine emission standards, which create burdensome and unworkable standards for heavy-duty on-road engines.

H.J. Res. 87, introduced by Congressman James (MI-10), would reverse the EPA’s decision to approve a waiver granted to California allowing the State to mandate the sale of zero-emission trucks.

MIL OSI USA News –

April 30, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Hickenlooper, Bennet, Neguse Demand Commerce Department Reverse Planned Cuts to NOAA, Colorado-Based Research Centers
US Senate News:
Source: United States Senator for Colorado John Hickenlooper

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senators John Hickenlooper and Michael Bennet, along with Representative Joe Neguse, urged Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick to preserve funding for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and its Cooperative Institutes (CIs) following recent reports that the Trump administration plans to cut funding for NOAA in its upcoming budget proposal.

“Cooperative Institutes are integral to solving some of our biggest problems and making all of us safer and better prepared for short-term and long-term hazards. Any plan to terminate funding for NOAA CIs would be detrimental not just to the people of Colorado, but to people across the entire country,” wrote the lawmakers.

Colorado is the only state in the nation to house two CIs, which are academic and nonprofit research centers that provide invaluable support to NOAA’s mission.
- The Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), located at the University of Colorado Boulder, is the oldest and largest CI. It employs nearly 800 researchers, support staff, and students focused on research related to drought, wildfire, and space weather.
- The Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA), located at Colorado State University, employs nearly 200 individuals who are working to improve weather and fire forecasting.
“We strongly condemn any such plan and believe terminating this funding would be extremely short-sighted and costly to the American people and economy in the long run,” continued the lawmakers.

Read their full letter HERE.
MIL OSI USA News –
April 30, 2025
MIL-OSI New Zealand: We want to be here long-term: A 20-year journey towards sustainable dairy farming
Source: Environment Canterbury Regional Council
Reducing nitrate in the water

And slowly but surely, it’s paid off. The 221ha property with 630 cows, located on the outskirts of Culverden in the Amuri Basin, had seen a significant reduction in nitrate in the water and a dramatic improvement to the health of its ecosystem. But those results didn’t come overnight.

The team at Pukatea Dairy Farm had spent the last two decades investing in:
- draining systems
- sediment traps
- riparian planting, particularly around the wetlands.
Water testing showed that the level of nitrogen that came into the farm was reduced by 95 per cent after it was filtered through the drains and wetland.

Stuart said they wanted to be sustainable, resilient and offer a meaningful experience for everyone involved in the operation.

“I think sometimes there’s a bit too much focus on short-term profit in farming and I get that, I used to be a sharemilker, but what we’ve learnt is you can forgo a little profit to make yourself more resilient later.”

In the last few years, the weather demonstrated that. The farm produced results even in years with challenging conditions.

The farm was fortunate to have heavier soils than other parts of the basin, which meant they had greater drought resilience. But heavier soils meant keeping a careful balance with soil moisture monitoring.

“We worked out that our pasture doesn’t like being wet all the time,” Stuart said.

Reducing the farm’s carbon emissions

Another significant change was steering away from a more intensive farm system. This move was driven by a desire to prioritise animal welfare and create a more enjoyable work environment. In return, it has improved both the herd’s health and the farm’s overall sustainability.

Stuart said one of the big issues with dairy farming was intensity, which translated to how many cows and how much brought-in feed you had in your system.

“[It’s] about your carbon footprint, your environmental effects and what we are trying to do is run within the capacity of the land. I think the data is showing that we are not far away.”

Over the last ten years, Stuart reduced the number of cows in his paddock from 700 to 630. Three years ago, he took deintensification further by decreasing the number of weekly milkings from 14 to ten.

In turn, this decreased his replacement rate (the number of cows he kept as a buffer to replace the cows that couldn’t get pregnant) from 25 to 18 per cent and halved the farm’s empty cow rate.

Recognition for sustainable and ethical farming

Ballance Farm Environment Awards (BFEA) judges commended Stuart and his team for creating an outstanding operation that consistently chose the right path over the easy one.

The judges said the farm’s long-term environmental initiatives, strategic grazing practices, and unwavering commitment to ethical, sustainable farming served as an inspiration to others in the industry.

Stuart also took home:
- The Environment Canterbury Water Quality Award
- The Dairynz Sustainability and Stewardship Award
- The FMG Risk Management Award.
Our Water and Land Northern Team Leader, Andrew Arps, said what stood out to him was the enduring nature of their efforts, as it hadn’t been a quick or easy journey.

“It’s been about consistent, thoughtful improvements, with a focus on sustainable land management that goes well beyond regulatory requirements.”

“One of the powerful things about Stuart’s approach is that it recognises how small actions, when done collectively and consistently, can make a real and lasting difference for water quality and land health. It’s a mindset that doesn’t chase short-term fixes but looks at the bigger picture, and it’s clear that this way of working is paying off.”

Award winner Stuart Neill, Water and Land Northern Team Leader Andrew Arps, Mike Hennessy from Amuri Irrigation and Ross Bishop from DairyNZ at the Pukatea Dairy Farm

Andrew said Stuart’s success reflected the input of those around him as he was open to advice, willing to consider different perspectives, and not afraid of robust discussions to find the best way forward.

“That kind of leadership and collaboration is exactly what we need more of across the region.

“All of this made Stuart a very deserving recipient of our water quality award. His work sets a great example for others.”

Further reading

MIL OSI New Zealand News –
April 30, 2025
MIL-OSI Canada: More campsites, new facilities opening at China Beach
Source: Government of Canada regional news

People visiting Juan de Fuca Park can soon enjoy more campsites, and new accessible washrooms and showers at China Beach Campground.

“For so many people, camping is a way to connect with family and friends, and spend time together in nature,” said Tamara Davidson, Minister of Environment and Parks. “That’s why we’re building more capacity with new, accessible campsites on Vancouver Island as more people choose to vacation within Canada and support our economy.”

Thirteen new campsites have been added to the popular campground, bringing the total number of campsites to 125. Eight of the new campsites are drive-in tent sites; the remaining five sites are walk-in. Two accessible-shower and flush-toilet buildings are also part of the project, which incorporates universal design standards where possible.

BC Parks has carried out the expansion project for China Beach campground in collaboration with the Pacheedaht First Nation, on whose territory Juan de Fuca Park is located.

The campground is scheduled to open May 15. Reservations for the new sites open May 1 for arrivals between May 15 and Sept. 1, 2025. After that, reservations will be available on a four-month rolling window.

In addition to the 13 new sites, 33 campsites (22 drive-in and 11-walk in) were added to the campground in spring 2024 as part of the $2.3-million expansion. Upgrades will also be made in fall 2025 to the nearby day-use parking area at China Beach to better accommodate the increasing number of visitors. The new parking area will have approximately 45 new stalls, a dedicated space for RVs and a turnaround area for large vehicles. A service centre with a pit toilet, bike racks and an information shelter is also part of the project.

“I’m pleased that BC Parks is delivering opportunities for more people to enjoy the natural environment at our doorstep by providing additional campsites and parking expansions at China Beach campground and day-use area,” said Dana Lajeunesse, MLA for Juan de Fuca-Malahat. “I was fortunate to have spent my childhood here and I have many fond memories of all the spectacular beaches in the area. BC Parks are more popular than ever, and I’m happy to see more opportunities for families and friends to enjoy more of what B.C. has to offer.”

The China Beach Campground and day-use parking-lot expansion is part of a five-year, $21.5-million investment to increase and improve opportunities for outdoor recreation throughout British Columbia. Upgrades include new campsites and trails, improvements to existing facilities and accessibility improvements.

Quick Facts:
- Juan de Fuca Park encompasses 1,528 hectares on Vancouver Island’s rugged southwest coast.
- The park includes campgrounds, day-use areas, beaches, and the popular 47-kilometre Juan de Fuca Marine Trail, which will remain closed for the summer while undergoing repairs.
- A phased reopening is expected for sections of the Juan de Fuca Marine Trail and backcountry campsites as repairs are completed.
- Since 2017, more than 2,000 campsites have been added to BC Parks and recreation sites.
- Of the 10,700 campsites BC Parks manages, approximately half are available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Learn More:

To reserve the new campsites, visit https://camping.bcparks.ca or call 1 800 689-9025

For more information about Juan de Fuca Park, visit https://bcparks.ca/juan-de-fuca-park/

For information about BC Parks, visit: https://bcparks.ca/

MIL OSI Canada News –
April 30, 2025
MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Councils to seize and crush fly-tipping vehicles to clean up Britain
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

Press release

Councils to seize and crush fly-tipping vehicles to clean up Britain

Waste criminals, fly-tippers and cowboy waste operators to have vehicles seized and crushed
Secretary of State Steve Reed visiting A1 Metal Recycling Centre in Wokingham to see a vehicle being crushed

A new crackdown on cowboy waste operators will tackle soaring fly-tipping and clean up Britain’s streets, lanes and rural areas, the Government has announced today (Tuesday 29 April).

Councils will work with the police to identify, seize and crush vehicles of waste criminals. Drones and mobile CCTV cameras will be deployed to identify cars and vans belonging to fly-tippers so they can be destroyed.

Ministers have launched a rapid review to slash red tape blocking councils from seizing and crushing vehicles. Councils currently have to bear the significant cost of seizing and storing vehicles but under new plans, being consider by Ministers, fly-tippers will cover this cost, saving councils and taxpayers money.

In addition, waste cowboys will now face up to five years in prison for operating illegally. Any criminals caught transporting and dealing with waste illegally will now face up to five years in prison under new legislation.

Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Steve Reed said:

Waste criminals and fly-tippers who blight our towns and villages have gone unpunished for too long.

That ends today. The Government is calling time on fly-tipping. I will not stand by while this avalanche of rubbish buries our communities.

Under the Plan for Change, this Government will seize and crush fly-tippers vans’ to clean up Britain’s streets.

These measures support the Government’s Plan for Change and will help deliver its key mission of Safer Streets for the public, restoring communities’ faith in efforts to combat anti-social behaviour.

Waste crime is trashing communities across the country. Fly-tipping has skyrocketed by a fifth whilst the number of prosecutions has fallen by the same amount since 2018/19. The failure to punish these criminals has left our high streets, roads and countryside buried under an avalanche of rubbish.

The Environment Agency will also carry out identity and criminal record checks on operators in the sector so there is nowhere to hide for rogue firms.

It will be handed more resources as they will now be able to fund the cost of policing the industry through permits, boosting their powers and cutting costs for taxpayers. The reforms will also give them more power to revoke permits, issue enforcement notices and hefty fines.

Philip Duffy, Environment Agency Chief Executive, said:

Waste crime is toxic. Criminals’ thoughtless actions harm people, places, and the economy, blighting our communities and disrupting legitimate businesses.

At the Environment Agency, we’re determined to bring these criminals to justice through tough enforcement action and prosecutions. That’s why we support the Government’s crackdown on waste criminals, which will ensure we have the right powers to shut rogue operators out of the waste industry.

Executive Director of the Environmental Services Association (ESA), Jacob Hayler, said:

For too long, criminality has run rampant across the waste sector. These illegal activities threaten the environment; damage communities and undermine legitimate recycling and waste operations. ESA has long campaigned for tighter rules, tougher enforcement and harsher penalties to deter criminals, so we very much welcome today’s reforms and hope that they are put to good use driving criminals out of our sector.

In particular, the proposed reforms to the carriers, brokers, dealers and exemption regimes, coupled with strong and effective enforcement from the regulators, could go a long way to help tackle the scourge of waste crime, with increased scrutiny and accountability making it much harder for criminals to operate in our sector.

Councillor Muhammed Butt, Leader of Brent Council, said:

Our residents have had enough of the dumpers who pollute their neighbourhoods with rubbish. These new powers will be a welcome addition to our arsenal, reinforcing our zero-tolerance stance on fly-tipping. We’ve already witnessed the positive impact of our focused efforts, and I am determined to use every tool at our disposal, including seizing vehicles, to reclaim our streets.

The Government is making available £69 billion to council budgets across England – a 6.8% cash terms increase – and bringing forward the first multi-year funding settlement in a decade, to help fund key responsibilities like tackling fly-tipping

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Published 29 April 2025
MIL OSI United Kingdom –
April 30, 2025
MIL-OSI NGOs: Greenpeace USA’s response to TMC’s push to fast-track deep sea mining in the High Seas under the U.S. Seabed Mining Code

Source: Greenpeace Statement –

Greenpeace International activists from around the world have paddled and protested around MV COCO, a specialized offshore drilling vessel currently collecting data for deep sea mining frontrunner, The Metals Company, on its last expedition before it files the world’s first ever application to mine the seabed in the Pacific Ocean. © Martin Katz / Greenpeace

In response to The Metals Company’s push to fast-track deep-sea mining in the High Seas under the U.S. Seabed Mining Code, Arlo Hemphill, Greenpeace USA’s Deep Sea Mining Campaign Lead, stated: “Greenpeace USA condemns this reckless attempt by The Metals Company (TMC) to bypass international law and commercialize mining in the high seas and US-adjacent waters. It is nothing less than the plunder of the Pacific once again being pursued without the consent of Pacific Peoples. We cannot allow another dangerous extension of corporate greed and neo-colonialism, sacrificing ocean health, Indigenous rights, and future generations for the short-term gain of a few corporations to repeat itself in the deep sea.”

TMC’s application comes as Congress meets today, Tuesday, April 29, in a hearing requested by the House Natural Resources Committee, to explore the Potential of Deep-Sea Mining to expand American Mineral production. The application for mining TMC USA-A_2 in the Clarion Clipperton Zone attempts to exploit the U.S. legal system to advance mining operations in areas it was already licensed to explore under Nauru’s sponsorship through the International Seabed Authority processes. It disregards the multilateral process agreed upon by 170 countries and the European Union under UNCLOS. The company has faced opposition in that body from 32 countries and several Indigenous Pacific groups that have called for a ban, pause, or moratorium on deep sea mining.

Solomon P. Kaho’ohalahala, chair of the Pacific Island Heritage Coalition, said: “The people of the Pacific have a cultural connection to the deep sea. It is the birthplace of our ancestors, and of all life. Deep sea mining is an assault on our cultural heritage, and it is being rushed forward without our consultation. We call on Congress to stop this assault on the ocean we know as home, and to respect the values of Hawaiians and people from across the Pacific who will be on the frontlines should this industry take hold.”

Hemphill continued: “We urge congressional leaders to defend democratic oversight, reject corporate shortcuts, and protect the deep ocean. Greenpeace USA stands with Pacific communities, Indigenous leaders, scientists, and governments worldwide calling for a moratorium on this dangerous industry. We must defend the oceans, uphold international law, and reject a broken system that gambles our planet’s future for corporate profit.”

Louisa Casson, Greenpeace International Senior Campaigner, said: “The first application to commercially mine the seabed will be remembered as an act of total disregard for international law and scientific consensus. This unilateral US effort to carve up the Pacific Ocean already faces fierce international opposition. Governments around the world must now step up to defend international rules and cooperation against rogue deep sea mining. Leaders will be meeting at the UN Oceans Conference in Nice in June, where they must speak with one voice in support of a moratorium on this reckless industry.”

President Trump’s recent executive order promoting U.S. plans to initiate deep-sea mining in both U.S. and international waters has faced widespread criticism from several environmental NGOs, and state actors, including France, China, and the European Commission who have condemned it as a unilateral action that undermines multilateral cooperation and the United Nations. While the U.S. never ratified UNCLOS, bypassing the international system violates global norms that safeguard the deep ocean as the “common heritage of humankind,” setting a dangerous precedent for the management of all global commons.

Contact: Tanya Brooks, Senior Communications Specialist at Greenpeace USA, [email protected]

Greenpeace USA is part of a global network of independent campaigning organizations that use peaceful protest and creative communication to expose global environmental problems and promote solutions that are essential to a green and peaceful future. Greenpeace USA is committed to transforming the country’s unjust social, environmental, and economic systems from the ground up to address the climate crisis, advance racial justice, and build an economy that puts people first. Learn more at www.greenpeace.org/usa.

MIL OSI NGO –

April 30, 2025
MIL-OSI: Montauk Renewables Schedules First Quarter 2025 Conference Call for Friday, May 9, 2025, at 8:30 a.m. ET

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

PITTSBURGH, April 29, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Montauk Renewables, Inc. (“Montauk” or “the Company”) (NASDAQ: MNTK), a renewable energy company specializing in the management, recovery and conversion of biogas into renewable natural gas (“RNG”), will host a conference call and webcast on Friday, May 9, 2025, at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time to discuss its financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2025. The Company will issue a press release reporting the financial results after the close of regular stock market trading hours on the day prior to the conference call and webcast.

First Quarter 2025 Conference Call and Webcast Details

Date: Friday, May 9, 2025

Time: 8:30 a.m. ET

Participant Access: [Link Here]

Please register for the conference call and webcast using the above link in advance of the call start time. The webcast platform will register your name and organization as well as provide dial-in numbers and a unique access pin. Please contact Gateway Group at (949) 574-3860 if you experience technical difficulties.

The conference call and webcast will have a live Q&A session and be available here and on the Company’s website at https://ir.montaukrenewables.com.

A replay of the conference call and webcast will be available after 11:30 a.m. Eastern time on the same day through May 9, 2026.

About Montauk Renewables, Inc.

Montauk Renewables, Inc. (NASDAQ: MNTK) is a renewable energy company specializing in the management, recovery and conversion of biogas into RNG. The Company captures methane, preventing it from being released into the atmosphere, and converts it into either RNG or electrical power for the electrical grid (“Renewable Electricity”). The Company, headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, has more than 30 years of experience in the development, operation and management of landfill methane-fueled renewable energy projects. The Company has operations at 13 projects and ongoing development projects located in California, Idaho, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Texas. The Company sells RNG and Renewable Electricity, taking advantage of Environmental Attribute premiums available under federal and state policies that incentivize their use. For more information, visit https://ir.montaukrenewables.com.

Company Contact:

John Ciroli
Chief Legal Officer (CLO) & Secretary
investors@montaukenergy.com
(412) 747-8700

Investor Relations Contact:

Georg Venturatos
Gateway Group
MNTK@Gateway-grp.com
(949) 574-3860

The MIL Network –

April 30, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Attorney General Bonta Urges Congress to Block Dismantling of EPA’s Office of Research and Development Integrated Risk Information System Program

Source: US State of California

OAKLAND – California Attorney General Rob Bonta today joined a coalition of 14 attorneys general in sending a letter to Congress, urging members to oppose two Congressional bills (H.R. 1415 and S. 623, collectively, the No IRIS Act) that would prohibit the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from relying on scientific assessments from the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) program, which are critical to protect against exposure to harmful toxic chemicals. The coalition also urges Congress to oppose the Trump Administration’s plan to dismantle the EPA Office of Research and Development (ORD), which is the research arm of the EPA that provides the scientific basis for EPA’s work.

“Undermining EPA’s independent science arm and the IRIS program jeopardizes vital research and health protections for Americans across this country,” said Attorney General Bonta. “The environmental challenges we are facing demand action rooted in continued research and facts. That’s why my fellow attorneys general and I are urging Congress to swiftly oppose the No IRIS Act and the proposed destruction of ORD.”

ORD and IRIS provide integral scientific and technical resources to states that help them protect residents from environmental pollutants that can cause significant health risks. States, including California, rely on tools, information, and data from ORD and IRIS, and these actions would significantly hamper the ability of both the EPA and the states to protect our residents from environmental harm. For example, California’s Department of Toxic Substances Control uses data from IRIS assessments in determining cleanup standards for hazardous waste sites.

In the letter, the attorneys general explain IRIS assessments are the result of unbiased scientific review that determines at what level the many chemicals that enter the environment through industry and other sources are harmful to human health. The assessments are used by EPA to set regulatory levels for toxic contaminants and for permitting, cleanups, and emergency responses. Without knowing the level at which these chemicals can cause a risk to human health, such as cancer and birth defects, it would be difficult for EPA to adequately protect the public from exposure, which will jeopardize the health and safety of the entire country.

The attorneys general also highlight the importance of ORD and its critical scientific research that is used for a wide range of purposes, including protecting drinking water sources from natural disasters and terrorist attacks, studying air pollution caused by wildfire smoke, and researching PFAS and other emerging contaminants. The reported plan to dissolve ORD and fire more than 1,000 scientists would have immediate consequences and make it difficult for EPA to meet its statutory requirements to use the best available science to inform its work.

Attorney General Bonta joins the attorneys general from Arizona, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin in sending this letter.

A copy of the letter can be found here.

MIL OSI USA News –

April 30, 2025
MIL-OSI: Fast Payout and Instant Withdrawal Casinos: 7Bit Casino Rated Top for Speedy Cashouts in 2025
Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

Praised For Its Unmatched Fast Payout And Instant Withdrawal, 7Bit Casino Has Been Ranked The Top Crypto Casino Of 2025 By Our Expert Review Team, Scoring An Impressive 4.9/5.

PORTLAND, Ore., April 29, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — In early 2025, our team set out to identify the ultimate fast payout and instant withdrawal casinos. We began by shortlisting platforms built on blockchain for rock-solid transparency, then tested real-user withdrawal times under peak load, and finally audited each site’s security protocols end-to-end. After putting dozens through live trials, only one instant withdrawal casino ticked every box—7Bit Casino. With over ten years of experience, 7Bit lets you win real money online instantly, delivering your winnings securely in seconds.

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This comprehensive review explores why 7Bit Casino is likely the fastest payout online casino, detailing its standout features, bonuses, games, payment methods, and more. Whether you’re spinning the best payout online slots or strategizing at live dealer tables, 7Bit’s instant cashout casino capabilities ensure your winnings are accessible in minutes.

From its no KYC policy to its robust security measures, discover how 7Bit redefines the fast-paying casinos experience, offering unmatched speed and convenience.

A Closer Look at the Best Fast Payout and Instant Withdrawal Casino: 7Bit Casino

Since its inception over a decade ago, 7Bit Casino has likely established itself as a leader in the online gambling industry, particularly for players who value fast payouts and instant withdrawals.

Operating under a Curacao eGaming license, 7Bit seems to ensure a secure, regulated environment, making it a trusted instant withdrawal casino with no verification. Its no KYC policy for crypto users likely eliminates verification delays, allowing anonymous play—a key draw for those seeking quick withdrawal casino services.

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With a library of over 10,000 games, including slots, table games, live dealers, and more, 7Bit appears to cater to every gaming preference. Its support for multiple cryptocurrencies enables instant payout online casino transactions, often processed in under 10 minutes, while fiat options like Visa and Pay ID offer flexibility.

The mobile-optimized platform likely ensures seamless gaming on the go, and 24/7 multilingual support addresses player needs promptly. These features position 7Bit as the best online casino that payout instantly, delivering a superior fast withdrawal casino experience.

7Bit Casino – Our Favorite Fast Payout Online Casino

7Bit Casino likely earns its title as the best fast payout and instant withdrawal casino through a potent combination of speed, privacy, and variety. New players are likely greeted with a 325% match bonus up to 5.25 BTC plus 250 free spins, spread across four deposits, with select promotions featuring no wagering requirements. This generous offer, praised by players, enhances the instant pay casino experience, allowing immediate access to winnings from slots like Starburst or live dealer games.

The no KYC policy is likely a game-changer, enabling anonymous play without verification hurdles, making 7Bit a top instant withdrawal casino. Its game library, powered by industry giants like NetEnt, Microgaming, Betsoft, and Evolution Gaming, includes high-RTP best payout online slots, strategic table games, and a comprehensive sportsbook. Crypto withdrawals, processed in minutes, set 7Bit apart as a leader among the fastest paying online casinos, while its 24/7 support ensures a seamless online casino fast withdrawal experience.

Pros and Cons of 7Bit Casino – The Best Instant Withdrawal Casino
- Pros:
  - Exceptional welcome bonus: 325% match up to 5.25 BTC + 250 free spins, boosting best online casino payouts.
  - Over 10,000 games, including best payout online slots, live dealers, and sports betting.
  - Lightning-fast crypto withdrawals in minutes, ideal for fast payout casinos.
  - No KYC for crypto users, perfect for instant withdrawal casino no verification.
  - Supports multiple cryptocurrencies and fiat methods like Visa, Pay ID.
  - 24/7 multilingual support for quick withdrawal casino queries.
  - Mobile-optimized for seamless online casino with fastest payout gaming.
- Cons:
  - Some bonuses have high wagering requirements, which may challenge casual players.
  - Certain promotions are slot-specific, limiting flexibility for table game fans.
  - Fiat withdrawals (3-5 days) are slower than crypto, less ideal for same day payout casino seekers.
Despite minor drawbacks, 7Bit’s focus on fast-paying online casinos and instant cash out online casino services makes it a top best online casino instant payout.

How to Join 7Bit Casino – The Fastest Payout Online Casino

Joining 7Bit Casino, likely the best fast payout and instant withdrawal casino, is a straightforward process designed for speed and privacy, ensuring players can start enjoying casino games that pay real money instantly without delay:
1. Visit 7Bit Casino: Click here to navigate to 7Bit Casino’s website.
2. Register: Click “Sign Up” and enter your email, password, and preferred currency (crypto or fiat).
3. Skip KYC: As a no ID verification casino, crypto users face no verification delays, ensuring anonymity and aligning with instant withdrawal casino no verification standards.
4. Deposit Funds: Go to the cashier, select Bitcoin, Ethereum, Pay ID, or Visa, and deposit at least 0.00072 BTC or $20 to unlock the welcome bonus.
5. Enter Bonus Code: Input the promo code (e.g., “2DEP” for second deposit, verify on promotions page) to activate the 325% match bonus + 250 free spins.
6. Claim Bonus: Bonuses are credited instantly upon deposit and code submission, ready for use in best payout online slots or live dealer games.
7. Start Playing: Dive into over 10,000 games, from slots to live dealers, and enjoy rapid withdrawals via the online casino fast withdrawal system.
Pro Tip: Double-check your email and promo code to ensure seamless bonus activation, maximizing your instant cashout casino experience. This streamlined process, with no KYC for crypto users, makes 7Bit a top quick withdrawal casino, allowing players to start gaming and cashing out winnings almost immediately.

How We Selected the Best Fast Payout and Instant Withdrawal Casino

Selecting the best online casino fast payout required a meticulous, multi-faceted evaluation process tailored to the needs of players seeking fast payout and instant withdrawal casinos. Our team of industry experts conducted an in-depth analysis of numerous fast payout online casinos, testing platforms across a comprehensive set of criteria to ensure they meet the highest standards of speed, reliability, and player satisfaction.

Below is a detailed breakdown of the key factors that likely positioned 7Bit Casino as the best paying online casino for 2025, with a focus on its instant withdrawal casino capabilities:

Payout Speed: The Heart of Fast Payout Casinos

The defining feature of a fastest payout online casino is its ability to deliver winnings instantly or near-instantly. 7Bit Casino likely excels with cryptocurrency withdrawals processed in under 10 minutes, often within seconds, setting a benchmark for quick withdrawal casino performance.

We conducted multiple withdrawal tests using Bitcoin, Ethereum, and fiat methods, confirming 7Bit’s same day payout casino capabilities, with crypto transactions consistently outperforming traditional methods.

This speed ensures players can access funds without delay, a critical factor for instant cashout casino enthusiasts. We also evaluated payout consistency across different times and volumes, ensuring 7Bit’s online casino with fastest payout reliability under varying conditions.

Security and Licensing: Building Trust

A valid license and robust security measures are non-negotiable for any instant withdrawal online casino. 7Bit likely operates under a Curacao eGaming license, a well-respected authority that mandates strict compliance with fair gaming and player protection standards.

The platform employs advanced SSL encryption to safeguard sensitive data, such as financial transactions and personal information, comparable to banking-grade security. Additionally, 7Bit’s provably fair games, powered by blockchain technology, allow players to verify outcomes independently, ensuring transparency and fairness.

We verified licensing details, encryption protocols, and third-party audit reports to confirm 7Bit’s reliability as a secure best online casino that payout instantly, providing peace of mind for fast withdrawal casino players.

Game Variety: Catering to Diverse Preferences

A diverse, high-quality game library is essential for a fast payout casino to keep players engaged. 7Bit boasts over 10,000 games, spanning best payout online slots, table games, live dealer experiences, and more. From high-RTP slots like Starburst (96.09% RTP) to strategic table games like blackjack (0.5% house edge with optimal strategy), the platform caters to every taste.

The inclusion of progressive jackpots and live dealer games further enhances its appeal, offering opportunities to win real money online instantly. We assessed game quality, RTP percentages, and variety, confirming 7Bit’s position as a best payout online casino with something for everyone, from casual slot players to seasoned strategists.

Payment Options: Flexibility and Speed

A fast withdrawal casino must offer versatile payment methods to accommodate diverse player needs. 7Bit likely supports a hybrid system, including 17+ cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Dogecoin, Binance Coin) for instant cash out online casino transactions and fiat methods (Visa, MasterCard, Pay ID, Skrill, Neteller) for broader accessibility.

Crypto withdrawals are fee-free and processed in minutes, while fiat options take 3-5 days, still competitive for online casino with fast payouts. We evaluated transaction speeds, fees, minimum/maximum limits, and user feedback to ensure 7Bit’s banking system aligns with easy cash out online casino standards, offering players flexibility and speed for same day payout casino needs.

Bonuses and Promotions: Enhancing Value

Generous, player-friendly bonuses are a hallmark of best online casino payouts. 7Bit’s 325% welcome bonus up to 5.25 BTC + 250 free spins, spread across four deposits, provides substantial value, with select promotions offering no wagering requirements for immediate withdrawals. Ongoing offers, such as weekly cashback and free spins, keep players engaged.

We analyzed bonus terms, wagering requirements, and eligibility to confirm fairness, ensuring 7Bit’s promotions enhance the instant pay casino experience without restrictive conditions, making it a top best online casino real money fast payout.

Customer Support: Reliable Assistance

Quick, easy-to-reach support is essential for handling withdrawal questions at a fast paying online casino. 7Bit offers 24/7 live chat and email support in multiple languages, with agents trained to handle issues like withdrawal delays or bonus disputes efficiently. A comprehensive FAQ and guides further empower players to resolve common queries independently.

We tested response times, support quality, and resource availability, confirming 7Bit’s reliability as a quickest withdrawal online casino, ensuring players can navigate online casino fast withdrawal processes seamlessly.

User Experience: Seamless and Intuitive

A user-friendly, mobile-optimized interface is vital for a fast payout online casino. 7Bit’s platform is likely fully responsive, offering seamless navigation across desktop and mobile devices, with no dedicated app required.

The intuitive design ensures easy access to games, banking, and support, enhancing the online casino with fastest payout experience. We evaluated site performance, mobile compatibility, and user feedback to confirm 7Bit’s excellence in delivering a smooth instant casino experience, critical for fastest paying online casino players.

Player Feedback and Reputation

Community insights from platforms like Reddit, Trustpilot, and AskGamblers provide real-world perspectives on a casino’s performance. 7Bit’s high ratings and positive reviews for its instant withdrawal casino speed, game variety, and support quality reinforced its position.

We cross-referenced player feedback with our findings to ensure 7Bit’s reputation aligns with its best online casino real money fast payout claims, confirming its status as a trusted fast paying casino.

Responsible Gambling Measures

A top fast paying casino must prioritize player well-being. 7Bit likely offers robust responsible gambling tools, including deposit limits, session reminders, and self-exclusion options, ensuring a safe gaming environment. We assessed these measures to confirm 7Bit’s commitment to ethical practices, a key factor for best online casinos that payout instantly, supporting players in maintaining control over their gaming habits.

Innovation and Future-Readiness

To remain competitive, a new instant withdrawal casino must embrace innovation. 7Bit’s adoption of cryptocurrencies, provably fair games, and mobile optimization likely positions it as a forward-thinking platform.

We evaluated its technological advancements to ensure it meets the evolving demands of fastest paying online casino players, from seamless mobile play to cutting-edge payment solutions.

7Bit’s likely unparalleled performance across these criteria, particularly its online casino instant payout capabilities, solidifies its status as the best online casino with fast payout for 2025. Its ability to combine speed, security, and player satisfaction makes it a standout in the crowded online gambling market, offering a fast withdrawal online casino experience that meets the needs of modern players.

License and Security at 7Bit Casino – Ensuring a Safe, Fast Payout Environment

Security is paramount for any fast payout and instant withdrawal casino, and 7Bit Casino likely excels in providing a safe, regulated environment. Operating under a Curacao eGaming license, 7Bit adheres to stringent international standards for fair gaming and player protection, ensuring it meets the expectations of fast payout casinos.

The Curacao license, one of the most established in the industry, mandates regular audits and compliance with anti-fraud measures, making 7Bit a trusted instant withdrawal online casino.

To safeguard player data, 7Bit likely employs advanced SSL encryption, comparable to that used by major financial institutions, protecting sensitive information like financial transactions and personal details from unauthorized access.

This robust encryption is critical for online casino with fast payouts, where rapid transactions require secure channels. Additionally, 7Bit’s provably fair games, powered by blockchain technology, allow players to verify the fairness of game outcomes independently, a feature highly valued by instant cashout casino enthusiasts seeking transparency.

Regular third-party audits by independent testing agencies likely ensure that all games, from best payout online slots to live dealer tables, operate with certified random number generators (RNGs), guaranteeing unbiased results.

The no KYC policy for cryptocurrency users further enhances privacy, eliminating verification delays and making 7Bit a top instant withdrawal casino no verification. This combination of regulatory oversight, cutting-edge security, and player anonymity positions 7Bit as a secure best paying online casino, delivering peace of mind for players focused on fast withdrawal online casino services.

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Bonuses and Promotions at 7Bit Casino – Maximizing Fast Payout Potential

Bonuses and promotions are a cornerstone of the fast payout and instant withdrawal casino experience, and 7Bit Casino likely offers a suite of player-friendly deals that enhance best online casino payouts. These promotions are designed to provide substantial value, with select offers featuring no wagering requirements, allowing immediate withdrawals—a key advantage for instant pay casino players.

Welcome Bonus Package: A Game-Changing Start

New players are likely greeted with a 325% match bonus up to 5.25 BTC plus 250 free spins, distributed across four deposits:
- 1st Deposit: 100% up to 1.5 BTC + 100 free spins.
- 2nd Deposit: 75% up to 1.25 BTC + 100 free spins (code: 2DEP).
- 3rd Deposit: 50% up to 1.5 BTC.
- 4th Deposit: 100% up to 1 BTC + 50 free spins.
  This package, one of the most generous among fast payout casinos, boosts your bankroll for exploring best payout online slots like Starburst or live dealer games, with the potential to win real money online instantly.
Weekly Promotions: Ongoing Rewards

7Bit likely keeps the excitement alive with regular promotions, including:
- Monday Reload Bonus: 25% up to 6 mBTC + 50 free spins on Lucky Year 25.
- Wednesday Free Spins: Up to 100 free spins on Snoop Dogg Dollars.
- Friday Free Spins: 111 free spins for slot enthusiasts.
- Weekend Offer: 99 free spins on 7Bit CasinoMillion.
- Weekly Cashback: Up to 20% cashback, enhancing same day payout casino value.
  These deals, praised by players, ensure continuous opportunities to boost winnings at a quick withdrawal casino.
Crypto and Telegram Bonuses: Exclusive Perks

Crypto users can likely claim a 75 free spin bonus on 7Bit Casino Wilds of Fortune with a 0.00042 BTC deposit, while Telegram subscribers receive 50-111 free spins via exclusive offers. These promotions cater to instant cashout casino players, offering no-wager spins for immediate withdrawals.

Special Event Promotions: Seasonal Extras

Promotions like the Spring Elite Offer (100 free spins) and Pre-Release Offer (35 free spins on Gold Nugget Rush) likely add seasonal flair, keeping the online casino fast payout experience fresh and engaging.

Drops & Wins Tournaments: Massive Prize Pools

Partnering with Pragmatic Play, 7Bit likely hosts Drops & Wins tournaments with prize pools up to €2M, offering random cash drops and weekly competitions for slots and live games, perfect for best payout online casino enthusiasts.

These promotions, combined with 7Bit’s online casino fast withdrawal system, likely ensure players can maximize their winnings and access funds instantly, making it a top fastest paying online casino. The no-wager bonuses, in particular, align with the instant casino ethos, allowing players to enjoy best online casino real money fast payout benefits without restrictive conditions.

VIP Program at 7Bit Casino – Enhancing Fast Payout Benefits

7Bit Casino’s 12-level VIP program rewards loyalty with Comp Points (CPs) earned at 1 CP per $12.5 wagered (Wisergamblers). Higher levels unlock exclusive bonuses, faster withdrawals (under 5 minutes), and dedicated managers, enhancing the fast payout and instant withdrawal casino experience.
- Levels 1-3: 10-50 free spins on best online casino payouts slots.
- Levels 4-6: $10-$50 cash bonuses, 30x wagering.
- Levels 7-9: 10-15% cashback, priority online casino fast withdrawal.
- Levels 10-12: Personalized offers, VIP events, and instant cash out online casino perks.
Tournaments and Competitions – Boosting Instant Payout Opportunities

7Bit hosts Daily Drop Tournaments (0.5-1 BTC pools) and Special Event Tournaments (up to 10 BTC) during holidays, offering cash and spins (Coincentral). Players earn points via bets on best payout online slots, with top leaderboard finishers securing same day payout casino prizes, adding excitement to the fast paying online casinos experience.

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Casino Games at 7Bit Casino – Win Real Money Instantly with High Payouts

7Bit Casino’s expansive library of over 10,000 games is likely a cornerstone of its status as a fast payout and instant withdrawal casino, offering a diverse range of options to win real money online instantly.

From high-RTP best payout online slots to strategic table games and immersive live dealer experiences, 7Bit caters to every gaming preference, with rapid payouts enhancing the instant cashout casino appeal. Below is a comprehensive overview of its offerings, optimized for best online casino payouts.

Slots: High RTPs for Frequent Wins

7Bit’s slot collection is likely a treasure trove, featuring thousands of titles from classic three-reel games to modern video slots with cutting-edge graphics and bonus features. Popular picks include:
- Starburst (96.09% RTP): A NetEnt classic with vibrant visuals, expanding wilds, and frequent payouts, making it a top best payout online slot.
- Book of Dead (96.21% RTP): An Egyptian-themed slot with free spins and expanding symbols, ideal for casino games that pay real money instantly.
- Gates of Olympus (96.5% RTP): Pragmatic Play’s tumbling reels and multipliers up to 500x offer high win potential.
- Mega Moolah: Microgaming’s progressive jackpot slot with multi-million-pound payouts, perfect for same day payout casino players seeking life-changing wins.
  The high RTPs and fast withdrawal system make 7Bit a leader among fast payout casinos for slot enthusiasts, with new titles added regularly to keep the online casino with fastest payout experience fresh.
Table Games: Strategic Play with Rapid Returns

For players who prefer skill-based gaming, 7Bit likely offers a robust selection of table games, including:
- Blackjack: Variants like Classic Blackjack and Multi-Hand Blackjack, with a low house edge (0.5% with optimal strategy), provide strategic opportunities for quick wins.
- Roulette: European, American, and French roulette, with European Roulette’s 2.7% house edge offering better odds for fast withdrawal casino players.
- Baccarat: Simple yet elegant, with low house edges for high rollers.
- Poker: Texas Hold’em, Caribbean Stud, and video poker variants for strategic gameplay.
  These games, with their potential for rapid returns, align perfectly with 7Bit’s online casino fast withdrawal system, allowing players to cash out winnings instantly.
Live Dealer Games: Immersive Thrills with Instant Payouts

Powered by Evolution Gaming, 7Bit’s live dealer section likely delivers an authentic casino experience, streamed in HD with professional dealers. Key titles include:
- Lightning Roulette: Multipliers up to 500x add excitement, with instant payouts via crypto.
- Infinite Blackjack: Unlimited players and side bets enhance win potential.
- Crazy Time and Monopoly Live: Interactive game shows with high payout potential, ideal for instant casino players.
  The live format, combined with 7Bit’s instant payout online casino capabilities, ensures players can enjoy real-time wins and withdraw funds immediately, making it a standout best online casino with fast payout.
Specialty Games: Quick Wins for Casual Players

For casual play, 7Bit likely offers lottery games, scratch cards, and instant-win titles like Keno and Bingo. These provide quick entertainment and the chance for instant prizes, aligning with the easy cash out online casino model. Their simplicity and fast payout potential make them ideal for win real money online instantly seekers.

Progressive Jackpots: Life-Changing Payouts

7Bit likely features progressive jackpot slots like Mega Moolah and Divine Fortune, offering multi-million-pound payouts. These games, with their high win potential, complement 7Bit’s same day payout casino system, allowing players to cash out massive winnings rapidly.

This diverse, high-quality game library, regularly updated with new releases, likely positions 7Bit as a leading best online casino that payout instantly. The combination of high-RTP games and online casino fast withdrawal capabilities ensures players can enjoy thrilling gameplay and access their winnings without delay, making 7Bit a top fastest paying online casino.

Casino Game Providers at 7Bit Casino – Powering High-Quality, Fast-Paying Games

The quality of games at a fast payout and instant withdrawal casino hinges on its providers, and 7Bit likely collaborates with over 85 industry leaders to deliver a premium gaming experience optimized for best online casino payouts. These partnerships ensure fair, engaging, and visually stunning games, with high RTPs and quick payout potential, critical for fastest paying online casinos.

NetEnt: Iconic Slots with High RTPs

Renowned for titles like Starburst (96.09% RTP) and Gonzo’s Quest (95.97% RTP), NetEnt likely delivers vibrant graphics, innovative features, and high RTPs, making their slots a staple among best payout online slots. Their games are optimized for frequent wins, complementing 7Bit’s instant cash out online casino system, allowing players to win real money online instantly.

Evolution Gaming: Live Dealer Excellence

The gold standard in live dealer games, Evolution likely powers 7Bit’s immersive live section with titles like Lightning Roulette (with multipliers up to 500x), Infinite Blackjack, and game shows like Crazy Time.

Pragmatic Play: Diverse Slots and Promotions

Known for Gates of Olympus (96.5% RTP) and Wolf Gold (96.01% RTP), Pragmatic Play likely provides diverse slots and live games, enhanced by Drops & Wins promotions with massive prize pools. Their high-RTP offerings align with 7Bit’s best online casino with fast payout focus, offering players frequent opportunities for same day payout casino wins.

Microgaming: Progressive Jackpot Pioneers

Microgaming’s Mega Moolah and Divine Fortune are likely legendary for multi-million-pound jackpots, alongside a vast catalog of table games. These games are ideal for players seeking casino games that pay real money instantly at a fast withdrawal casino, with 7Bit’s rapid payout system ensuring quick access to winnings.

Play’n GO: Mobile-Optimized High-RTP Slots

Creators of Book of Dead (96.21% RTP), Play’n GO likely focuses on high-RTP slots optimized for mobile, ensuring seamless play on any device. Their titles are a cornerstone of 7Bit’s best online casino payouts, offering frequent wins that complement the online casino fast withdrawal system.

Betsoft: Cinematic Slots and Table Games

Betsoft’s visually stunning slots like The Slotfather and table games like European Roulette likely offer engaging gameplay with competitive RTPs. Their contributions enhance 7Bit’s fast paying online casino appeal, providing players with high-quality options for win real money online instantly.

Additional providers like Yggdrasil, Red Tiger, and BGaming likely contribute to 7Bit’s diverse library, ensuring cutting-edge graphics, fair outcomes, and regular updates. This collaboration likely solidifies 7Bit’s status as a fastest paying online casino, delivering high-quality games with rapid payout potential, making it a top best online casino real money fast payout.

Fast Payout and Instant Withdrawal Casino Banking at 7Bit Casino

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Legal Disclaimer

This content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, financial, or gambling advice. Information is presented “as is,” without warranties. Readers must verify compliance with local gambling laws. The publisher is not liable for losses or consequences.

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A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/5c6a23fa-0a7a-4336-8025-485f0997df63

The MIL Network –
April 30, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: UK must grow more of its own wood to meet climate goals – new research

Source: The Conversation – UK – By John Healey, Professor of Forest Sciences, Bangor University

shutterstock ShaunWilkinson/Shutterstock

Wood is often hailed as a low-carbon hero, a natural alternative to steel, concrete and plastic. It’s a vital tool in the UK’s strategy for reaching net zero. But there’s a catch – the country don’t grow nearly enough of it.

The UK has one of the lowest levels of forest cover in Europe, with just 14% of land forested. It is also the second-largest importer of wood in the world, meeting only 20% of its wood demand from domestic sources.

That leaves the UK not only exposed to volatile global markets, but also facing a serious challenge of “wood security”. And our new research shows the problem goes well beyond economics.

Relying heavily on imported timber, especially from boreal forests in Scandanavia and the Baltic States, could actually undermine the carbon-cutting benefits of using wood in place of high-emissions materials.

Boreal forests occurring in colder northerly environments grow slowly. The carbon stored in them takes decades, sometimes centuries, to recover after harvesting through the growth of the next generation of trees.

In contrast, conifer forests in the UK’s warmer temperate climate restock carbon through regrowth more quickly after harvesting. This makes them much better suited for higher yields of sustainable wood production.

So, how can countries such as the UK increase wood use without making the climate crisis worse? To address this, we created a new model that tracks carbon at every stage of a tree’s journey, from how it grows in the forest to how it’s harvested, transported, processed and used. This includes temporary storage of carbon in wood products, and the avoidance of having to use high-emitting materials and energy sources that would be needed in the absence of wood.

We combined this with models of how carbon storage changes in forests under different harvesting intensities. Our analysis showed that it is possible for rising wood demand to make a positive contribution to national and global net zero targets. But that’s only if the domestic production of wood is dramatically increased in temperate countries such as the UK.

Even a modest annual increase in demand (1.1%) would require a 50% expansion in the area of productive forest over the next 50 years. A more ambitious approach, such as doubling productive forest area and increasing tree growth rates by 33%, could boost the overall contribution of wood use to slowing global warming by 175%. But that would require huge changes in forestry practice and land use policy.

In contrast, under a scenario of higher demand growth (2.3% per year), we found that the climate benefit of wood use is reduced. And only a doubling of forest area and a 33% increase in growth rates would be enough to deliver a meaningful contribution to slowing global warming over the next century.

These benefits would be at risk if forest productivity is undermined by increasing incidence of pests, disease or drought as climate change progresses.

Challenges ahead

Our findings point to three major challenges the UK must address if wood is to play a meaningful role in its net zero strategy.

First, the expansion of productive conifer forest in the UK has slowed to a standstill over the past 30 years. The amount of wood available for harvest is projected to fall after 2039. This trend will have to be reversed very soon to rapidly increase the area of conifer forests. This will need a rethink of how the UK balances land for forestry, farming and nature recovery.

Second, forest management must be improved to sustain productivity under increasing stress from pests, pathogens and drought.

Third, wood must be used more efficiently. That includes reducing waste during processing, designing products for longevity and reusing wood products as many times as possible.

So, the UK’s net zero policy must connect the push for using more wood with a clear plan for how it will grow and manage the forests needed to supply it. At the same time, when policymakers assess the climate effects of cutting down trees, they need to look at the whole picture. That means considering not just what’s lost from the forest, but how the wood is used, how long it stores carbon and how much it replaces more polluting materials.

This kind of joined-up, forward-looking analysis – like the one we developed in our study – is essential if wood is to play a truly sustainable role in fighting climate change.

John Healey receives funding from the Natural Environment Research Council, the Centre for Forest Protection, and the Wildlife Trusts. He is affiliated with Woodknowledge Wales, Rainforest Builder and the Institute of Chartered Foresters.

David Styles received funding from the Natural Environment Research Council (UK) and from the Department of Environment, Climate & Communications (Ireland) for research related to this article.

Eilidh Forster received funding from the Natural Environment Research Council (UK) for research related to this article.

– ref. UK must grow more of its own wood to meet climate goals – new research – https://theconversation.com/uk-must-grow-more-of-its-own-wood-to-meet-climate-goals-new-research-254353

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

April 30, 2025
MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: Unique Success of the Namami Gange Mission: The Return of the Red-Crowned Roofed Turtle to the Ganga After Three Decades

Source: Government of India

Unique Success of the Namami Gange Mission: The Return of the Red-Crowned Roofed Turtle to the Ganga After Three Decades

This initiative marks a historic step in the Ganga’s ecosystem

The return of the endangered Turtle species becomes a beacon of hope for biodiversity conservation in Ganga

Posted On: 29 APR 2025 7:53PM by PIB Delhi

The Ganga River, which has been an integral part of Indian civilization for centuries, is now igniting the possibility of new life along its banks. Once home to endangered turtle species, the Ganga’s shores have now become a symbol of positive change in the direction of biodiversity conservation. This transformation is particularly evident in the return of the endangered Red-Crowned Roofed Turtle to the waters of the Ganga, a species that had previously seen a continuous decline in its population. This new hope in the Ganga’s waters is not only a significant step for these ancient creatures but also for the restoration of the entire ecosystem.

Impact of the Namami Gange Mission

Supported from Namami Gange, TSAFI project team conducted detailed assessment of turtle diversity and abundance of Haiderpur Wetland Complex (HWC) in 2020 followed by Habitat Evaluation study on newly formed turtle sanctuary near Prayagraj along Ganges in Uttar Pradesh in 2022. Study along HWC suggested the presence of 9 turtle species whereas indirect evidence of 5 turtle species was gathered in Prayagraj. One of the most astounding findings of above and prior studies was that none of the viable population or individuals of Red-crowned Roofed turtle (RRT) Batagur kachuga were sighted or reported from the entire Ganga. The findings suggested that this was the most endangered species of entire North India, particularly Uttar Pradesh. Rao (1993) has seen a couple of specimens of this species above and below Bijnore barrage. In the last 30 years there was no confirmed report of any adult from the main channel of Ganga.

Historic Efforts in Turtle Reintroduction

On April 26, 2025, 20 turtles were carefully transferred from the Garhaita Turtle Conservation Center located within and under supervision of National Chambal Sanctuary, UP and released into the Haiderpur Wetland. These turtles were tagged with sonic devices to monitor their safety and migration. For the reintroduction process, the turtles were divided into two groups – one group was released above the barrage of the Haiderpur Wetland, while the other was released downstream in the main channel of the Ganga. This approach aims to determine which method is more effective for the turtles’ reintroduction.

Way Forward: Restoration of Biodiversity

This initiative marks a historic step in the Ganga’s ecosystem. During the monsoon season, the Haiderpur Wetland will completely connect with the main channel of the Ganga, allowing the turtles to disperse at their own pace. Over the next two years, the tracking and monitoring of these turtles will be conducted. This is the first attempt at reintroducing this species into the Ganga, following a ‘soft’ versus ‘hard’ release strategy. The goal is to establish the species’ population in the Ganga in a stable manner with active assistance from the UP Forest Department.

Message of the Success of the Namami Gange Mission

This important initiative will not only conserve turtle species but will also inspire the improvement of the ecosystem in Uttar Pradesh. The conservation effort for the Ganga has shown that if all stakeholders work together, even significant challenges can be overcome. The Namami Gange Mission’s initiative has become an inspiration not only in making the Ganga cleaner but also in restoring biodiversity and the ecosystem.

***

Dhanya Sanal K

Director

(Release ID: 2125277) Visitor Counter : 55

MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

April 30, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Rhode Island Man Pleads Guilty to Cockfighting Charges

Source: US State of California

Onill Vazquez Lozada of Providence, Rhode Island, pleaded guilty today to two counts of possessing, sponsoring, and exhibiting birds in an animal fighting venture in violation of the Animal Welfare Act.

As part of his plea, Lozada admitted that on April 27, 2021, he possessed roosters for the purpose of having them fight. Lozada also admitted that on March 6, 2022, he sponsored and exhibited, and aided and abetted sponsoring and exhibiting, at least one rooster in a fight against another rooster.

Cockfighting is a contest in which a person attaches a knife, gaff or other sharp instrument to the leg of a “gamecock” or rooster and then places the bird a few inches away from a similarly armed rooster. This results in a fight during which the roosters flap their wings and jump while stabbing each other with the weapons that are fastened to their legs. A cockfight ends when one rooster is dead or refuses to continue to fight. Commonly, one or both roosters die after a fight.

Lozada faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each charge to which he pleaded guilty. Sentencing is scheduled for July 29. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Acting Assistant Attorney General Adam Gustafson of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD) and Acting U.S. Attorney Sara M. Bloom for the District of Rhode Island made the announcement.

This case was investigated by the Department of Agriculture’s Office of Inspector General, the Postal Inspection Service, and the Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Criminal Investigation. Valuable assistance was provided by the U.S. Marshals Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Office of Law Enforcement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Rhode Island State Police, Massachusetts State Police, Animal Rescue League of Boston’s Law Enforcement Division, Rhode Island Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and Providence, Woonsocket, and Attleboro Police Departments.

Senior Trial Attorney Gary Donner and Assistant Chief Stephen Da Ponte of ENRD’s Environmental Crimes Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney John McAdams for the District of Rhode Island are prosecuting the case.

MIL OSI USA News –

April 30, 2025
MIL-OSI Security: Tribar Technologies, Inc. Sentenced For Violation Of The Clean Water Act

Source: Office of United States Attorneys

DETROIT – Tribar Technologies, Inc., a Southeast Michigan manufacturer, was sentenced today to pay a $200,000 criminal fine, pay $20,000 in restitution, serve five years of probation, and implement an environmental management system and compliance plan within the first six months of probation. Tribar pleaded guilty to violating the Clean Water Act when it discharged insufficiently treated wastewater, a misdemeanor, Acting United States Attorney Julie A. Beck announced.

According to court documents, Tribar is a manufacturer of decorative trim assemblies and components serving the automotive and commercial vehicle markets in Southeast Michigan. The Tribar facility where the events in this case occurred – Plant 5 – is a chrome plating facility in Wixom, Michigan, that uses an electroplating process to apply chrome finishing to plastic automotive parts. The summer of 2022, Tribar held an Industrial Pretreatment Program Permit, authorizing discharges of treated wastewater from Plant 5 into the Wixom sanitary sewer system. Tribar’s permit included a notification requirement for batch discharges and prohibited Tribar from bypassing its own treatment system.

On July 23, 2022, Tribar Plant 5 accumulated approximately 15,000 gallons of untreated wastewater with high concentrations of hexavalent chromium. Tribar employees attempted to treat this wastewater, but by July 29, 2022, it still contained high levels of hexavalent chromium that required treatment before it could be released into Tribar’s wastewater treatment system. On the evening of July 29, 2022, a Tribar employee discharged a batch of approximately 10,000 gallons of insufficiently treated wastewater from a holding tank into Plant 5’s wastewater treatment system. The discharge activated approximately 460 alarm bells all of which were disabled, allowing the wastewater to be discharged into the Wixom sanitary sewer system. Tribar did not report this illegal discharge until August 1, 2022.

“Tribar’s failure to adequately train and supervise its employees jeopardized the safety and quality of local water resources. This sentence recognizes the importance of strict adherence to regulatory standards and best practices intended to protect human health and the environment. Together with our partners we will continue to protect environmental resources in the Eastern District of Michigan,” said Acting United States Attorney Julie A. Beck.

“Tribar illegally discharged industrial wastewater, posing a risk to downstream waterways,” said Special Agent in Charge Allison Landsman of EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division. “The successful and cooperative effort by EPA, federal and state partners resulted in today’s sentencing, holding Tribar responsible for violating federal environmental law.”

The investigation of this case was conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency’s Criminal Investigation Division, the Department of Justice Environmental Crimes Section, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service.

MIL Security OSI –

April 30, 2025
MIL-OSI Security: Rhode Island Man Pleads Guilty to Cockfighting Charges

Source: United States Attorneys General 7

Onill Vazquez Lozada of Providence, Rhode Island, pleaded guilty today to two counts of possessing, sponsoring, and exhibiting birds in an animal fighting venture in violation of the Animal Welfare Act.

As part of his plea, Lozada admitted that on April 27, 2021, he possessed roosters for the purpose of having them fight. Lozada also admitted that on March 6, 2022, he sponsored and exhibited, and aided and abetted sponsoring and exhibiting, at least one rooster in a fight against another rooster.

Cockfighting is a contest in which a person attaches a knife, gaff or other sharp instrument to the leg of a “gamecock” or rooster and then places the bird a few inches away from a similarly armed rooster. This results in a fight during which the roosters flap their wings and jump while stabbing each other with the weapons that are fastened to their legs. A cockfight ends when one rooster is dead or refuses to continue to fight. Commonly, one or both roosters die after a fight.

Lozada faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each charge to which he pleaded guilty. Sentencing is scheduled for July 29. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Acting Assistant Attorney General Adam Gustafson of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD) and Acting U.S. Attorney Sara M. Bloom for the District of Rhode Island made the announcement.

This case was investigated by the Department of Agriculture’s Office of Inspector General, the Postal Inspection Service, and the Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Criminal Investigation. Valuable assistance was provided by the U.S. Marshals Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Office of Law Enforcement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Rhode Island State Police, Massachusetts State Police, Animal Rescue League of Boston’s Law Enforcement Division, Rhode Island Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and Providence, Woonsocket, and Attleboro Police Departments.

Senior Trial Attorney Gary Donner and Assistant Chief Stephen Da Ponte of ENRD’s Environmental Crimes Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney John McAdams for the District of Rhode Island are prosecuting the case.

MIL Security OSI –

April 30, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: Old growth forests in eastern Canada show that the climate started changing almost 100 years ago

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Alexandre Pace, PhD Candidate in Geography, Urban and Environmental Studies, Concordia University

Natural archives — like tree rings in old-growth forests — can provide information on climate change over time. (A. Pace), CC BY

The effects of climate change are complex, especially on the water cycle. As we seek to better understand human-driven climate changes, long-term baselines for environmental data are essential.

However, records of past environmental conditions are too short to give us a robust understanding of how these systems have changed over time. One solution is to look at natural archives.

There are many natural processes that leave behind records of past environmental conditions, including tree rings.

Trees form a ring of wood every year, and the width of that ring can have a significant relationship with climate. We can then create a model based on the time period for which there is both recorded climate data and tree-ring widths. That model can be applied to the rings that formed before climate records began to reconstruct past conditions.

Read more:
Old forests are critically important for slowing climate change and merit immediate protection from logging

The challenge is to find forests with both strong climate-growth relationships and trees over a century old — substantially older than the length of climate data. This is especially difficult in southeastern Canada, where the vast majority of forests have been clear-cut.

Two canoes ready for salmon fishing on the Sainte-Anne River in Gaspésie National park.
(A. Pace), CC BY

Sensitive old growth forests

In the Appalachian Mountains of the Gaspé Peninsula, Québec, we studied a rare old-growth cedar grove tucked into the valley between the base of Mont-Albert and the Sainte-Anne River, known for its Atlantic salmon fisheries.

The average hiker passing this eastern white cedar grove would probably not guess that some of these relatively small diameter cedars are more than 500 years old, an age that is still relatively young for the oldest species in eastern Canada.

The strong competition for light in this closed-canopy forest causes trees here to grow very slowly. We found they grow especially slow during years where the winter snow remained on the ground late into the spring. This late snow pack effectively shortens the trees’ growing season and leads to a thinner tree ring that same year.

We went on to sample hundreds of trees in the valley and on the slopes at sites that had never been logged. We repeatedly found a strong relationship with snow pack and a related relationship with spring river flow. With these two closely related connections, we were able to reconstruct 195 years of climate history in the region.

Modern climate change records

Rings measured on a cedar tree that was over 330 years old.
(A. Pace), CC BY

Our recent study reconstructed spring and early summer river flow from 1822 for the Sainte-Anne River, a major river in Gaspésie National Park, the second-largest provincial park in southern Québec.

Analysis of this tree ring/snow pack/river relationship — which was previously undocumented in eastern North America — suggests that the region was affected quite early by modern climate change. A significant shift occurred in 1937, after which individual years of extremely high river flows and high snow packs declined. Newspaper reports of floods in the greater region matched the years of high flow in our reconstruction as far back as the year 1872, further validating the results.

The reconstruction also reveals that the short river flow records for the Gaspésie mountains under-represent the region’s susceptibility to prolonged periods of drought-like conditions. Local river flow records kept since 1968 show that the region experienced an equal amount of decade-long dry springs and wet springs. However, our reconstruction suggests that during the 1822-1968 period, long bouts of dry spring climate were substantially more frequent and prolonged than wet ones.

Conservation impacts

The insights from this reconstruction could have implications for wildlife and hydropower. First, low water levels contribute to the decline of threatened Atlantic salmon populations.

Second, alpine snow pack serves as a refuge for the threatened woodland caribou populations, which used to be spread across Atlantic Canada and northern New England. Today, the caribou are in sharp decline, with less than 40 remaining south of the St. Lawrence River, all within the Gaspé Peninsula.

A female caribou with a GPS tracking monitor around her neck.
(A. Pace), CC BY

The primary threat to these caribou is the extensive clear-cutting of old-growth forest habitat. Younger forests provide less food for caribou and lead to an increased abundance of moose and deer, along with their predators — mainly coyotes and black bears — which also prey on caribou.

Changing mountain snow-pack conditions add to their peril as snow pack has important effects on the health of caribou and the ability of their calves to avoid predators.

Given this, a better understanding of the implications of reduced snow pack on caribou urgently requires further study.

Lastly, Québec’s billion-dollar hydroelectric industry might also benefit from a better understanding of past moisture in the region, with a dam complex located a few hundred kilometres northeast of our study site.

Documented histories

Our study improves our understanding of past moisture patterns across the east coast of North America. It fills a large gap in climate research based on tree rings between New York and northern Québec.

When comparing the past 200 years of these East Coast reconstructions, important climate connections arise. The comparison suggests that the complex Atlantic climate system can synchronize, leading large portions of the coast to collectively lock into periods of very wet or very dry conditions.

This is important for water resource managers, who often rely on help from other managers in neighbouring basins, which may not be available given this common synchrony.

The insights from the tree rings of these forests are another reminder of the value of old growth and the many services they provide. As we try to better understand the context of human-induced environmental change, our search continues for old forests with a story to tell.

Our ongoing research includes analyzing dead cedars preserved for almost 800 years at the bottom of lakes. The resulting tree ring chronology will extend our work with trees in the region so far, helping us further examine the environmental history of our rapidly changing planet.

Alexandre Pace receives funding from Fonds de Recherche du Québec – Nature et Technologies and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

Jeannine-Marie St-Jacques receives funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council.

– ref. Old growth forests in eastern Canada show that the climate started changing almost 100 years ago – https://theconversation.com/old-growth-forests-in-eastern-canada-show-that-the-climate-started-changing-almost-100-years-ago-253601

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

April 30, 2025
MIL-OSI Canada: Don’t Miss Your Shot: Saskatchewan’s 2025 Big Game Draw Opens May 1
Source: Government of Canada regional news

Released on April 29, 2025

Hunters, the countdown is on! Starting May 1, Saskatchewan residents can apply for the 2025 Big Game Draw for limited opportunities to hunt mule deer, elk, moose and pronghorn across the province.

“The Big Game Draw is your opportunity to experience Saskatchewan’s world-class hunting firsthand,” Environment Minister Travis Keisig said. “We want every hunter to have a fair chance at success and that starts with applying early and being prepared.”

Applications must be submitted online through the Hunting, Angling and Trapping Licence (HAL) system by 4:00 p.m. on May 29, 2025 – unfortunately, there are no extensions and no exceptions.

To make the application process as smooth as possible:
- Log into your HAL account early.
- Use the online residency verification tool.
- Visit saskatchewan.ca/hunting to review the 2025 Big Game Draw Supplement for quotas and other key information.
Draw results will be posted in mid-June with pronghorn results available in mid-July. While email notices will be sent, it’s still up to each hunter to check their own results through their HAL account.

If drawn, licences will be available to purchase starting August 1 through the HAL system.

For help with HAL accounts or the application process, visit saskatchewanhal.ca or call 1-888-773-8450. For questions about hunting in Saskatchewan, reach out to the Ministry of Environment’s Inquiry Centre at 1-800-567-4224 or email centre.inquiry@gov.sk.ca.

-30-

For more information, contact:

MIL OSI Canada News –
April 30, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: School of Nursing Represents UConn at a Nursing Research Conference, With One Student Taking Home First Place

Source: US State of Connecticut

Still celebrating her win for her poster titled “Racial Disparities in Breast Cancer Treatment Burden”, Anita Oppong MSN, RN, a second year PhD student, said the Eastern Nursing Research Society (ENRS) conference was more than just a competition, but also a place to expand her research.

ENRS is comprised of nurses and other individuals interested in nursing research. Established in 1988, the society has continued to advance and promote health through “innovative nursing science,” according to the ENRS website.

This was their 37^th annual conference held in Philadelphia, PA from April 3-4. The theme of this year’s session was “Freedom to Advance Health and Well-Being Through Revolutionary Nursing Research Partnerships.”

The conference features research symposiums, poster sessions, exhibitors, a member luncheon, and an award ceremony, giving attendees an action-packed experience.

Anita Oppong MSN, RN with her first-place poster “Racial Disparities in Breast Cancer Treatment Burden.” (Contributed photo)

At the conference “we learn every day,” Oppong said. “It helps to build your thinking capacity in terms of research.”

By attending presentations and seeing the work of her peers, she said it helped develop her own program of research.

“It gives me questions to ask myself. Questions to search for,” Oppong said.

Louise Reagan, PhD, APRN, ANP-BC, FAANP, FAAN, is an associate professor and director for the PhD program at UConn as well as an ENRS board member.

She said this year’s conference had the largest number of attendees with about 780 people.

“The ENRS conference really brings people together and shows what good work we’re doing and the research that can be life changing for our patients and improve healthcare,” Reagan said.

Deborah Chyun, PhD, RN, FAHA, FAAN, said ENRS is “a gathering place for all of us in the eastern corridor.” She shared similar remarks as Reagan, saying it’s a great opportunity to show off the work UConn School of Nursing students and faculty have done.

Chyun said it’s a good forum to catch up with people throughout the region and it serves as an important recruitment opportunity for both faculty and students, whether it’s a masters, DNP, PhD, or post-doctoral student.

“The thing about ENRS is it’s very broad, it covers all,” Chyun says. “So, you have a lot of different topics, but that’s good because it allows you to see what else is going on outside the tunnel of your own specialty area.”

With the conference encompassing a wide range of nursing research and professionals, Oppong’s win was an important moment for UConn.

Being handed the certificate was a joyful experience for her and one that she will never forget. “It was an honor,” she said.

Connecting and Networking

ENRS provides attendees with a space to connect with like-minded individuals creating an environment for networking. This was a major highlight for third year PhD student Hannah Scheibner, MSN, RN who said it was a great opportunity to meet people with similar interests.

Like Oppong, Scheibner specifically recounted the poster sessions and how much insight she gained within her own work and others.

Hannah Scheibner, MSN, RN with her poster “Remote Sensing and Applications for Studying Environmental Health Inequities in Nursing Science.” (Contributed photo)

“The poster sessions are great to just see the wide scope and breadth of work that’s being done all across the Northeast,” she said. “It’s great getting feedback and engaging in discussions with people, especially when I have my poster presentation.”

Scheibner’s poster – “Remote Sensing and Applications for Studying Environmental Health Inequities in Nursing Science” – showed how nurses can use sensors to measure health related environmental characteristics without coming in direct contact with said environment.

“You can measure so many various factors that are related to environmental health that impact the patients that we care for,” said Scheibner. “It’s very accessible for nurses to harness in their research. They don’t need to go out in the field and learn how to use all this equipment.”

Scheibner said the poster session was really encouraging with enthusiasm and support coming from other attendees.

Christina Ross, PhD, RN, an assistant professor in the School of Nursing also emphasized the networking opportunities she received from the conference. She was able to connect with others who had similar research as hers, ultimately expanding her own work.

“I really enjoyed the conference because there were a lot of nurse scientists who presented work on adolescents’ sexual and reproductive health on both a local and global scale,” she said. “I was able to connect and discuss my research which was similar to theirs but in the US context.”

Tyler Driscoll, another third year PhD student at UConn said “The ENRS Conference is a great place to learn, contribute, gain experience, and network with the top nursing scientists in the region.”

Driscoll’s poster was on psychological pathogen avoidance mechanisms and how they work in modern ecologies.

“Whether you are presenting a poster and getting feedback and insights from a more senior researcher or participating as a peer audience member during a scientific presentation, the opportunity to learn something new about anything—from genetics, to school nursing, to post-partum depression, to breast cancer—or even about yourself and your own journey—is always there,” he said.

MIL OSI USA News –

April 30, 2025
MIL-OSI Africa: South Africa’s frogs and reptiles get their own list of names in local languages

Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Fortunate Mafeta Phaka, Senior Postdoctoral Researcher of herptile-human interactions, North-West University

Naming all the creatures and plants in nature is no small task. Fortunate Phaka is a zoologist who has conducted the first comprehensive analysis of naming and classification of frogs and reptiles in nine South African cultures. The list includes 136 frog and 407 reptile species that have been scientifically described. He explains why it’s important to record all the species names that people use in their own languages.

Why did you study the indigenous names of frogs and reptiles?

I am interested in the interactions between wildlife and people. These interactions include, for example, how people use wildlife in figures of speech, harvesting of wildlife for consumption, and of course how animals are assigned names.

If everyone’s names for things are known and shared, the ideas behind the names can also be shared, appreciated and valued.

Conservation planning is improved by consideration of different wildlife perspectives, which is revealed partly by the names that different people give wildlife.

Knowing local names can provide assurance that people from different cultural backgrounds are talking about the same species.

In South Africa, for example, there are 11 official spoken languages and scientists use Latin names for species. Most people aren’t familiar with the scientific names.

That’s why we extended the list of scientific, Afrikaans and English names of South African frogs and reptiles to include names in the country’s other nine official languages.

How did you go about it, and what did you find?

The project started as a pilot study in 2016, carried out in the Zululand area of South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province, where frog biodiversity is high and Indigenous cultural practices are still part of everyday life. Results of the pilot were published as a book in 2017 and as a scientific publication in 2019.

Following the success of the pilot study, I collected responses from 287 South African Indigenous language speakers (aged between 25 and 57) using an online questionnaire and in-person interviews while on field trips, and reviewed 18 scientific articles, dissertations and books to study naming practices even further.

The study shed light on the way people group animals (folk taxonomy) and how that compares with the way scientists group them (scientific taxonomy).

It became clear that Indigenous language names were often assigned based on unique features of frogs or reptiles, such as the sound they make, how they move or where they are found. Most of these names group several species together based on their similarities. This meant most frog and reptile species did not have Indigenous language names that were unique to them. For example, zoologists have named eight different Reed Frog species from South Africa but these eight species were assigned one Indigenous name that groups them together.

Male Painted Reed Frog (Umgqagqa opendiwe in IsiZulu) calling. Fortunate Phaka, Author provided (no reuse)918 KB (download)

The organised way of assigning Indigenous names to animals has some similarities to how scientists assign names that are unique to each species. For example, the Grass Frog species are grouped together under the scientific genus Ptychadena, and in IsiZulu the same species are grouped under the name Uvete. These similarities meant we could combine scientific naming practices with Indigenous naming practices to give each species a unique name in multiple languages.

To ensure the unique Indigenous names remained familiar to speakers of respective languages, we added descriptive terms to the existing general Indigenous names to make them specific, instead of coining an entirely new name. For example in IsiZulu the general name Umgqagqa (used for all Reed Frogs) became Umgqagqa opendiwe (specific name for the Painted Reed Frog). And several other descriptive terms were added to Umgqagqa to distinguish between the eight Reed Frog species of South Africa.

The author learning isiZulu names from safari guides in Zululand. Dr Edward Netherlands, Author provided (no reuse)

Why does it matter to record the Indigenous names of species?

Conservation hasn’t been doing a good job of being inclusive. Knowing Indigenous names and the local perspectives behind those names is a good way to start being aware of the multiple other perspectives. Conservation should ultimately be to everyone’s benefit.

For a long time wildlife guidebooks have had very few Indigenous language names in them. With increased recording of Indigenous names, any South African would be able to open a wildlife guide and read a name in any of our 11 official spoken languages. Hopefully one day we can have more books like the Bilingual Guide to the Frogs of Zululand (IsiZulu version: Isiqondiso Sasefilidini Esindimimbili Ngamaxoxo AkwelaKwaZulu) that make it possible for you to read about your favourite wildlife in your preferred language.

Has this been done for other groups of animals or plants?

Birds and plants are two groups that have received this kind of attention.

A recent scientific publication has worked on IsiZulu names for all South African birds and another publication studied the morphology of IsiZulu bird names. There has also been work on IsiXhosa insect names, and there has been a SeSotho animal word list published online. Indigenous names for African wildlife have received sporadic attention in the past, but with the recent increases in calls for consideration of Indigenous knowledge there has been increasing focus on understanding these names and using them.

Do you have some favourite names?

I have a lot of favourites but there are some names that stand out, like Senana (Sepedi general name for Rain Frogs) and Lebololo (Sepedi name for Puff adder). These names have the same root word or sound throughout most of the Indigenous South African languages and I am curious about how this happened. Rain Frogs are also called Senanatswidi in Sepedi and tswidi is an onomatopoeic reference to the whistling sound that Rain Frogs make.

– South Africa’s frogs and reptiles get their own list of names in local languages
– https://theconversation.com/south-africas-frogs-and-reptiles-get-their-own-list-of-names-in-local-languages-254643

MIL OSI Africa –

April 30, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: South Africa’s frogs and reptiles get their own list of names in local languages

Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Fortunate Mafeta Phaka, Senior Postdoctoral Researcher of herptile-human interactions, North-West University

Naming all the creatures and plants in nature is no small task. Fortunate Phaka is a zoologist who has conducted the first comprehensive analysis of naming and classification of frogs and reptiles in nine South African cultures. The list includes 136 frog and 407 reptile species that have been scientifically described. He explains why it’s important to record all the species names that people use in their own languages.

Why did you study the indigenous names of frogs and reptiles?

I am interested in the interactions between wildlife and people. These interactions include, for example, how people use wildlife in figures of speech, harvesting of wildlife for consumption, and of course how animals are assigned names.

If everyone’s names for things are known and shared, the ideas behind the names can also be shared, appreciated and valued.

Conservation planning is improved by consideration of different wildlife perspectives, which is revealed partly by the names that different people give wildlife.

Knowing local names can provide assurance that people from different cultural backgrounds are talking about the same species.

In South Africa, for example, there are 11 official spoken languages and scientists use Latin names for species. Most people aren’t familiar with the scientific names.

That’s why we extended the list of scientific, Afrikaans and English names of South African frogs and reptiles to include names in the country’s other nine official languages.

How did you go about it, and what did you find?

The project started as a pilot study in 2016, carried out in the Zululand area of South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province, where frog biodiversity is high and Indigenous cultural practices are still part of everyday life. Results of the pilot were published as a book in 2017 and as a scientific publication in 2019.

Following the success of the pilot study, I collected responses from 287 South African Indigenous language speakers (aged between 25 and 57) using an online questionnaire and in-person interviews while on field trips, and reviewed 18 scientific articles, dissertations and books to study naming practices even further.

The study shed light on the way people group animals (folk taxonomy) and how that compares with the way scientists group them (scientific taxonomy).

It became clear that Indigenous language names were often assigned based on unique features of frogs or reptiles, such as the sound they make, how they move or where they are found. Most of these names group several species together based on their similarities. This meant most frog and reptile species did not have Indigenous language names that were unique to them. For example, zoologists have named eight different Reed Frog species from South Africa but these eight species were assigned one Indigenous name that groups them together.

Male Painted Reed Frog (Umgqagqa opendiwe in IsiZulu) calling.
Fortunate Phaka, Author provided (no reuse)918 KB (download)

The organised way of assigning Indigenous names to animals has some similarities to how scientists assign names that are unique to each species. For example, the Grass Frog species are grouped together under the scientific genus Ptychadena, and in IsiZulu the same species are grouped under the name Uvete. These similarities meant we could combine scientific naming practices with Indigenous naming practices to give each species a unique name in multiple languages.

To ensure the unique Indigenous names remained familiar to speakers of respective languages, we added descriptive terms to the existing general Indigenous names to make them specific, instead of coining an entirely new name. For example in IsiZulu the general name Umgqagqa (used for all Reed Frogs) became Umgqagqa opendiwe (specific name for the Painted Reed Frog). And several other descriptive terms were added to Umgqagqa to distinguish between the eight Reed Frog species of South Africa.

Why does it matter to record the Indigenous names of species?

Conservation hasn’t been doing a good job of being inclusive. Knowing Indigenous names and the local perspectives behind those names is a good way to start being aware of the multiple other perspectives. Conservation should ultimately be to everyone’s benefit.

For a long time wildlife guidebooks have had very few Indigenous language names in them. With increased recording of Indigenous names, any South African would be able to open a wildlife guide and read a name in any of our 11 official spoken languages. Hopefully one day we can have more books like the Bilingual Guide to the Frogs of Zululand (IsiZulu version: Isiqondiso Sasefilidini Esindimimbili Ngamaxoxo AkwelaKwaZulu) that make it possible for you to read about your favourite wildlife in your preferred language.

Has this been done for other groups of animals or plants?

Birds and plants are two groups that have received this kind of attention.

A recent scientific publication has worked on IsiZulu names for all South African birds and another publication studied the morphology of IsiZulu bird names. There has also been work on IsiXhosa insect names, and there has been a SeSotho animal word list published online. Indigenous names for African wildlife have received sporadic attention in the past, but with the recent increases in calls for consideration of Indigenous knowledge there has been increasing focus on understanding these names and using them.

Do you have some favourite names?

I have a lot of favourites but there are some names that stand out, like Senana (Sepedi general name for Rain Frogs) and Lebololo (Sepedi name for Puff adder). These names have the same root word or sound throughout most of the Indigenous South African languages and I am curious about how this happened. Rain Frogs are also called Senanatswidi in Sepedi and tswidi is an onomatopoeic reference to the whistling sound that Rain Frogs make.

Fortunate Mafeta Phaka receives funding from National Research Foundation/South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity.

– ref. South Africa’s frogs and reptiles get their own list of names in local languages – https://theconversation.com/south-africas-frogs-and-reptiles-get-their-own-list-of-names-in-local-languages-254643

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

April 30, 2025
MIL-OSI: cBrain aims to create and lead two new global solution niches
Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

Company Announcement no. 05/2025

cBrain aims to create and lead two new global solution niches

Copenhagen, April 29, 2025

The faster-than-anticipated shift in the government IT market toward COTS government software presents new strategic opportunities for cBrain. As a result, cBrain (NASDAQ: CBRAIN) has announced to adjust its growth strategy during the first half of 2025 to capitalize on these market changes.

Consequently, the growth strategy is extended by adding a focus on two market niches with global potential. Utilizing a strong financial position, cBrain is now building two new units, dedicated to achieving global leadership in two global solution areas, referred to as Paperless Ministry and Environmental Permitting.

Solid development in Denmark and internationally

cBrain has entered the year as planned with continued development in Denmark and international markets.

In January, cBrain announced an agreement to deliver the F2 Digital platform for the new Danish Ministry of Resilience and Preparedness. The F2 solution was configured for the ministerial work, ready-to-go-live, in 3 weeks.

In March cBrain announced the successful delivery of the F2 Digital platform for the Danish Energy Agency. F2 has been configured as a grant management solution to support the heat pump subsidy program. At launch the agency said the new solution exceeded all expectations, with almost 70% of all applications being processed fully automatically, and the first 930 citizen applications approved within only minutes of launching the subsidy program.

In Germany, cBrain continues deploying F2 with the agency that administrates public pensions. Several thousand users have gone live during the first months of the year, and cBrain has won a new tender extending the scope of work.

In Romania, cBrain’s partner has won a public tender to deliver a new national platform for administrating citizen pensions. F2 is now being configured as the case management and processing kernel, supporting close to 100 different administrative processes and integrating with multiple other systems. cBrain sees the project as a milestone both technically and strategically, demonstrating the power of the F2 Service Builder and the early success of the F2-for-Partner strategy.

Taking leadership within Paperless Ministry and Environmental Permitting

The long-term cBrain growth strategy is founded on a vision and a business case to provide standard software for government. Working in close collaboration with Danish government for 15 years, cBrain has invested more than 450,000 hours in developing the F2 platform.

Today, almost all Danish ministries, and more than 75 Danish authorities in total, use F2 as their digital platform. Internationally, cBrain has delivered F2 to government organizations across five continents. With Denmark ranked number one in the United Nations E-Government Survey for the past eight years, this offers cBrain a strong first-mover advantage and a solid reference position.

Leveraging the F2 software platform, cBrain is executing an ambitious international growth plan with the aim of becoming a global leader in the fast emerging market for Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) software built for government.

With the 2024 Annual Report, cBrain stated that the transition from custom-built IT solutions to standardized platforms seems to emerge faster than anticipated. This assumption seems to be continuously validated throughout the spring. An increasing number of competitors are repositioning themselves as COTS suppliers, and the White House issued an executive order in April directing the administration to prioritize the procurement of commercial off-the-shelf solutions rather than procuring custom products and developing systems.

The faster-than-anticipated shift in the government IT market toward COTS government software presents new strategic opportunities for cBrain. As a result, cBrain has announced an adjustment to its growth strategy during the first half of 2025 to capitalize on these market changes.

The core of cBrain’s growth strategy is built on serving large government clients, securing steady, sustainable growth through long-term software subscriptions, and accelerating international growth through the F2-for-Partners concept.

The growth strategy is now being extended by adding a focus on two market niches with global potential. Utilizing a strong financial position, cBrain is now building two new units, dedicated to achieving global leadership in two global solution areas, referred to as Paperless Ministry and Environmental Permitting.

The F2 Paperless Ministry Solution

cBrain has built a strong home market position in Denmark. This position has been achieved by taking leadership as the supplier of the F2 Paperless Ministry solution, which today is the digital platform for almost all Danish ministries.

In the autumn 2024 the Danish government announced 3 new ministries, and in January cBrain announced that all 3 new ministries have now chosen F2 as their digital platform. The F2 ministry solution was installed and configured, ready to go live within only 3 weeks. The new ministerial projects demonstrate the power of Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) for government solutions and consolidate cBrains unique position in the Danish market.

Building from the paperless ministry leadership position, cBrain has successfully been able to expand outside the ministerial solution niche into the broad Danish government market. Today serving more than 75 Danish government organizations with a large catalog of citizen-facing solutions, from tax solutions and auditing to grants management, inspections, licensing, and family affairs.

A key pillar of the expanded growth strategy is to replicate the Danish success by establishing bridgeheads in new international markets, based on a focused, vertical go-to-market approach centered around the Paperless Ministry offering. The ultimate goal is to achieve global niche leadership, thereby securing a strong foundation for future growth.

cBrain is currently testing and validating the new strategic Paperless Ministry initiative, with market initiatives in Europe and Africa.

In Europe, cBrain is still working to establish contacts with ministries in selected countries. In Africa, the initial market activities have led to a pilot project, where the Danish Paperless Ministry solution was configured and made ready to go live for a Kenyan ministry in just 10 weeks.

cBrain is now developing a go-to-market plan for the African region, working closely with Danish embassies in Africa and aligning with the UNDP Digital Offer for Africa strategy. This builds on the partnership with UNDP announced in November 2024. cBrain sees the African Paperless Ministry solution, leveraging Danish government experience, as a unique tool to help African governments achieve fast digital transformation.

Environmental Permitting

As a second pillar of its expanded growth strategy, and in parallel with the Paperless Ministry initiative, cBrain has launched an ambitious initiative to position the F2 Environmental Permitting solution as a strategic niche offering, aiming to take a leading international market position.

The importance of environmental assessment and permitting is growing worldwide. Government review and permitting processes are required for many infrastructure projects, including roads, bridges, mines, factories, and power plants. In April 2025, the White House issued an executive order stating that executive departments and agencies shall make maximum use of technology in environmental review and permitting processes for infrastructure projects of all kinds.

In close collaboration with the Danish Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), cBrain has developed an F2 based Environmental Permitting solution that eliminates the use of paper-based applications and accelerates case processing time and quality.

In July 2024, the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) issued a report to Congress that assesses and recommends technologies to improve environmental reviews and permitting processes. In this report, the cBrain F2 Platform is highlighted as a successful process and AI tool for environmental permitting.

cBrain therefore views environmental permitting as a potential niche entry point into the U.S. market, at both the federal and state levels, supporting its decision to invest in this area as the second pillar of its expanded growth strategy.

cBrain maintains its financial guidance for 2025

cBrain has provided financial guidance for the year, with an expected revenue growth of 10-15% and EBT (Earnings Before Tax) of 18-23%. cBrain maintains its financial guidance for 2025.

The allocation of leadership and delivery resources to support the new niche initiatives may temporarily slow current activities. However, the expanded growth strategy is expected to drive new business and accelerate overall growth over time. Depending on the pace of success, executing the expanded growth strategy therefore introduces uncertainty to the 2025 revenue outlook, both on the upside and downside.

In the 2025 budget cBrain has allocated extra one-time costs to market expansion of approximately 4 million Euro to support the revised strategy. These costs are fully included in the financial outlook for 2025 but are conditional on the validation to ensure disciplined growth.

Best regards

Per Tejs Knudsen, CEO

Inquiries regarding this Company Announcement may be directed to

Ejvind Jørgensen, CFO & Head of Investor Relations, cBrain A/S, ir@cbrain.com, +45 2594 4973

Attachment
- Company Announcement no. 2025-05 (Q1 announcemement)
The MIL Network –
April 30, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: Florida panthers and black bears need a literal path for survival – here’s how the Florida Wildlife Corridor provides it in one of the fastest-growing US states

Source: The Conversation – USA – By Thomas Hoctor, Research Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture, University of Florida

Florida panthers are a federally endangered species. Carlton Ward Jr./Wildpath

Imagine a Florida panther slinking its way 400 miles (645 kilometers) from the Big Cypress Swamp, in the southwest part of the state, to Okefenokee Swamp, on Florida’s northern border with Georgia, without ever being spotted by a human.

No one has yet documented a panther making this journey. But evidence suggests it happens.

Florida panthers were once distributed throughout most of the southeast U.S., but now their number is tiny – maybe 200 or so – and their known breeding range has greatly shrunk, now concentrated in southwest Florida.

They do show up in north Florida and Georgia on occasion when young males travel north looking to escape social pressure from adult males. Biologists have found their tracks not far south of Okefenokee. One panther made it almost to Atlanta before it was shot by a hunter.

Large mammals such as the Florida panther and black bear literally need room to roam in order to hunt, breed and thrive. Such journeys across the state of Florida are possible thanks to the Florida Wildlife Corridor, a statewide system of interconnected wildlife habitat that turns 15 this year.

The Florida Wildlife Corridor built on conservation efforts that date back to the 1980s and 1990s, when researchers from the University of Florida, including the two of us and our mentor Larry Harris, created maps of existing and proposed conservation areas that interlinked across the state.

A family of Florida black bears scratches on a log in the dry season.
Carlton Ward Jr./Wildpath

Today, the Florida Wildlife Corridor spans 18 million acres – about half of the state.

Ten million of these acres are protected from development. They are either local, state, regional or federal public conservation lands or they are private conservation easements. These easements restrict the landowners’ uses of the land to activities compatible with wildlife conservation, such as ranching, timber production and other sustainable activities.

The other 8 million acres are the focus of state-funded land protection efforts to close the unprotected gaps. For now, these lands could be converted to intensive residential, commercial or industrial development.

The corridor is an ambitious conservation project. It provides sufficient habitat to sustain healthy wildlife populations while also protecting Florida’s key ecosystem services, including water quality and flood storage. Ecosystem services refers to the benefits that ecosystems provide humans.

The corridor is also a unique example of how conservationists can combine science with public education and outreach to protect important natural habitats – even in regions like Florida that face burgeoning population growth.

Florida’s population boom

Until the early 20th century, Florida was the most remote and undeveloped state on the East Coast.

After World War II and the introduction of affordable home air conditioning, Florida transformed from a sleepy winter holiday destination to the third-most-populated state in the nation.

Currently, about 300,000 new residents move to Florida each year.

With this population growth came a rapid loss of natural habitat and rural landscapes. Using federal land use data, we calculate that approximately 60,000 acres of Florida habitat are lost each year.

Florida’s development was initially concentrated along the coasts, especially in areas with extensive beaches. With the opening of tourist attractions such as Disney World near Orlando in 1971, central Florida also became a hub of rapid growth.

It became clear to concerned Floridians that virtually all land not protected by permanent conservation designations could eventually be lost to urban and suburban sprawl.

Responding to these concerns, Florida became a leader in land protection, which has generally been popular and bipartisan in the Sunshine State.

Since the 1970s, Florida has protected millions of acres of conservation lands through programs including the Florida Preservation 2000 Act of 1990, the Florida Forever acquisition program that replaced it in 2001, and the Rural and Family Lands Protection Program, also created in 2001.

The authors estimate that approximately 60,000 acres of Florida habitat are lost each year to development.
Carlton Ward Jr./Wildpath

Scientists identify key areas to protect

Wildlife biologists since the 1930s have observed how birds and mammals use wooded fencerows, hedgerows, streamsides and other natural corridors to travel through agricultural regions in the U.S. and Canada.

When corridors are protected, they allow animals to travel safely across landscapes and they can save animals from extinction. They also provide people with ecosystem services such as clean water and flood protection.

Since 1995, the Florida Ecological Greenways Network, or FEGN, has identified a statewide system of large, intact natural areas and connecting green spaces. It is now part of the state-legislated Florida Greenways and Trails System, a statewide network of recreational trails and ecological corridors.

As conservation scientists who are deeply involved with the FEGN, we were able to make use of the state’s early investment in geographic information systems. GIS produces digital maps and other high-quality data on the locations of wildlife habitat and other conservation priorities.

The Florida Wildlife Corridor covers nearly 18 million acres of Florida. A little over half of the acres, pictured in dark green, are conserved lands while the rest, pictured in light green, are considered opportunity areas for future conservation.
University of Florida Center for Landscape Conservation Planning

We continue to work with state agencies and other partners to continually update the FEGN as land use changes and as better data and tools become available to identify conservation priority areas.

Getting the public on board

While the FEGN proved fundamental for supporting state conservation programs, it was not widely known by Floridians or visitors to the state.

In 2010, conservation photographer Carlton Ward and colleagues proposed a simple, unified map and a public campaign to promote protection of the top-priority lands in the Florida Ecological Greenways Network.

Ward called it the Florida Wildlife Corridor.

He organized a team of photographers, videographers and scientists who trekked across large swaths of the corridor to document Florida’s natural ecosystems and native species that were threatened by development.

The expeditioners highlighted species like the Florida panther, Florida black bear and Florida grasshopper sparrow. They raised awareness about the corridor’s connection to water conservation, lands managed by ranchers and foresters, and recreational opportunities. And they produced documentary films, media and social media coverage, and public talks and events to educate the public on the importance of protecting the corridor.

Photographer Carlton Ward Jr. paddles to set up cameras at a site in the Fakahatchee Strand in southwest Florida.
Carlton Ward Jr./Wildpath

Bipartisan support continues

In June 2021, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the Florida Wildlife Corridor Act into law. The legislation, which had unanimous support from the state Legislature, officially recognized the corridor’s critical role in Florida’s economy, cultural and natural heritage, and protection of imperiled species and ecosystems.

The law also reenergized legislative support and funding to acquire land directly for conservation and to establish conservation easements on private lands.

Ranchers with the Seminole Tribe of Florida steer cattle through wooden sorting pens at the Big Cypress Reservation in southern Florida.
Carlton Ward Jr./Wildpath

The 2025-2026 Florida budget, which is still under negotiation, earmarks US$300 million to $450 million for land protection programs.

And on April 23, 2025, the Florida Senate passed a resolution to proclaim April 22 as Florida Wildlife Corridor Day. The resolution affirmed the corridor’s importance as “a unique natural resource” that is essential for “preserving the green infrastructure that is the foundation of this state’s economy and quality of life.”

There is a lot of land protection work left to be done in a race against a burgeoning human population. But Florida has proved ready to implement science-based strategies and work with willing landowners to protect a statewide wildlife corridor as a key element of Florida’s future.

The Florida Wildlife Corridor is also a potential model for other states and regions that want to protect viable wildlife populations and ecosystem services.

Uplands and wetlands east of Fort Myers, in the core of Florida panther territory, are part of the Florida Wildlife Corridor.
Carlton Ward Jr./Wildpath

Thomas Hoctor receives funding from state government related to working on the science and planning associated with the Florida Wildlife Corridor.

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

– ref. Florida panthers and black bears need a literal path for survival – here’s how the Florida Wildlife Corridor provides it in one of the fastest-growing US states – https://theconversation.com/florida-panthers-and-black-bears-need-a-literal-path-for-survival-heres-how-the-florida-wildlife-corridor-provides-it-in-one-of-the-fastest-growing-us-states-251790

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

April 30, 2025

Date:	Friday, May 9, 2025
Time:	8:30 a.m. ET
Participant Access:	[Link Here]

Category: Environment

Senitra Nathan-Marsh

Source: Greenpeace

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