The desire to return to nature is one shared by many, not least when it comes to post-funeral arrangements. Tapping into a growing trend, the Food & Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) has in recent years stepped up efforts to promote green burials, where remains are returned directly to the earth, or scattered at sea.
The department’s endeavours include organising tours of facilities such as the Tsang Tsui Columbarium & Garden of Remembrance in Tuen Mun. On one such tour recently, elderly participants shared their thoughts on green burials as an eco-friendly end-of-life choice.
Besides explore the facility and its services, the visit gave them the chance to reflect on their approach to life’s final journey. In fact, several remarked that they had already received the full support of their families in their wish for a green burial.
Tranquil setting
Visiting the Garden of Remembrance for the first time, 82-year-old Lee Yuk-sim described its seaside setting as open and tranquil. “The sound of waves lifts my spirits,” she said.
Ms Lee wishes to have her ashes scattered along the garden’s pebble path, however. Despite her love for the ocean, following a heart-to-heart conversation with her daughters she decided scattering at sea was not an option for her.
“I once told my daughters, ‘I love the sea.’ They replied, ‘The sea is full of swimmers, and every time we pass by it, we will think of you, and we don’t want that.’ Then they said, ‘The Garden of Remembrance is different. It is about dust returning to dust, earth to earth.”
Meanwhile, 87-year-old Choi Sau-ling, also on her first visit to the Garden of Remembrance, found it strikingly different from what she had expected.
“There were rumours that stray dogs and cats might disturb the ashes, but that is a complete misconception,” she said. “The truth is that the Garden of Remembrance is absolutely beautiful, with a sea view.”
Ms Choi highlighted that the garden’s peaceful atmosphere makes it both an ideal resting place and a convenient site for families to pay their respects.
“It is breezy and uncrowded, like wandering in a garden,” she commented. “It hits differently. Without the need to burn incense or make extra preparations, the experience feels lighter for everyone.”
Dignified farewell
Cheng Ting-fai, 87, had already made trips to the Gardens of Remembrance in Diamond Hill and Cape Collinson before visiting Tsang Tsui. He said he had also spoken to his children about his wish to have his ashes scattered.
“Placing ashes in an urn is almost like trapping them. There is no sense of freedom, and over time no-one may be around to look after them.”
Mr Cheng described scattering ashes in a Garden of Remembrance as a better option. “The ashes can bask in the sunshine, and experience the changing weather,” he explained.
He also expressed his hope that all 18 districts in Hong Kong can have a Garden of Remembrance. “Born here, raised here, and laid to rest here. How wonderful is that?”
At present, those choosing green burials can have their ashes scattered at either of three designated maritime areas or in one of the Gardens of Remembrance.
The department manages 13 Gardens of Remembrance, with Tsang Tsui being the largest. The site also features a ceremonial hall where simple memorial services can be held before the scattering of ashes.
The garden’s layout includes a boat-shaped wooden artwork, helping to create a symbolic space of transition. Visitors are invited to inscribe dedication cards with heartfelt messages, giving their loved ones a dignified farewell.
Meanwhile, a fourteenth garden – the Shek Mun Columbarium & Garden of Remembrance – is expected to open for use in the third quarter of this year.
Growing trend
Moving away from traditional funeral customs is no easy transition, but – thanks in no small part to the Government’s promotional efforts – green burial, as a sustainable means of handling ashes, has been gaining wider acceptance in society.
FEHD Senior Health Inspector Alan Li said that, as of the end of May, more than 15,800 names were registered in the Green Burial Central Register.
“About 70% of deceased registrants had their ashes disposed of in the form of green burial. Even if there is no prior registration, descendants can still adopt green burial for the deceased.”
The department stated that green burials accounted for a record-high 18.2% of disposals last year, with 8,522 individuals’ remains being scattered in Gardens of Remembrance and 1,032 at sea.
To enhance the sea burial experience, the FEHD has upgraded its free ferry service, available every Saturday, by introducing a new vessel design.
Public education
Meanwhile, in August of last year the department launched a large-scale “School of Life” programme that explores life’s closing chapters and sustainable options for being laid to rest.
The programme includes a “Life & Death Expo”, showcasing support services for ageing and end-of-life planning, as well as community walking tours that encourage reflection on life’s transitions. These initiatives have attracted around 5,000 participants so far, and people of all ages are welcome to take part.
The department also arranges green burial talks, guided tours to Gardens of Remembrance, and community tours, with these activities engaging more than 20,000 citizens to date.
FEHD Chief Health Inspector Daniel Lam said the department will continue to enhance green burial facilities, promote advance planning for after-death arrangements through the “School of Life” programme, and strengthen public education and publicity, in order to gradually establish green burial as the common practice for handling ashes.
ADVISORY – DAUPHIN COUNTY – DEP Launches New SPEED Program to Reduce Permit Wait Times
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Secretary Jessica Shirley will join Senator Kristin Phillips-Hill, Senator Greg Rothman, and Representative Elizabeth Fiedler to announce the opening of the new Streamlining Permits for Economic Expansion and Development (SPEED) Program at 11AM on Monday, June 30, in the Capitol Media Center.
SPEED is part of DEP’s ongoing permit modernization effort. Through SPEED, permit applicants for select permits will be able to use DEP-approved qualified contractors to conduct initial reviews of applications for expedited review. DEP staff will review recommendations from the qualified contractor and make the decision to approve or deny the permit or issue a technical deficiency letter to the applicant.
WHAT: DEP launches new SPEED program to reduce permit wait times
WHEN: Monday, June 30, 2025 at 11:00 AM
WHERE: Capitol Media Center State Capitol, Room 0East Wing, Harrisburg, PA 17126
MEDIA CONTACT: DEP Newsroom, RA-EPNEWS@pa.gov
For more information, visit the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s website, or follow DEP on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), or LinkedIn.
Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Alexander Richard Braczkowski, Research Fellow at the Centre for Planetary Health and Resilient Conservation Group, Griffith University
In the shadows of Python Cave, Uganda, a leopard leaps from a guano mound – formed by bat excrement – and sinks its teeth into a bat. But this is no ordinary bat colony. The thousands of Egyptian fruit bats (Rousettus aegyptiacus) found in this cave are known carriers of one of the world’s deadliest viruses: Marburg, a close cousin of Ebola.
I am a conservation scientist with over 17 years of experience in wildlife ecology, monitoring and human-wildlife conflict. I’m the co-founder of the Kyambura Lion Project, which made this discovery.
For years, scientists studying how diseases spread from animals to humans have hypothesised that zoonotic diseases jump from a wildlife reservoir (like a bat) to an intermediate host (monkey) and potentially to us, humans.
For past Marburg outbreaks in Uganda, two spillover pathways have been identified: the first, involves humans coming into contact with a fruit bat habitat (namely caves filled with bat guano). Indeed, fruit bats are thought to have infected two tourists at Python Cave in 2007 and 2008.
The second pathway involves humans and animals eating the same fruit that bats have fed upon or made contact with. This second spillover pathway was identified by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention scientists in 2023. They tracked bats from the cave entering cultivated gardens to feed.
But Atukwatse and the team of young Ugandan scientists (Yahaya Ssemakula, Johnson Muhereza, Orin Cornille and Winfred Nsabimana) have potentially found another pathway: predation by at least 14 species.
Such rich visual evidence of a viral interface – bats, predators and people – is virtually non-existent in the literature. Many theoretical depictions of this process exist, and there are isolated incidents of a monkey predating on a bat or wildlife feeding on bat guano, but Atukwatse’s discovery of this many different predators repeatedly feeding on a known Marburg virus reservoir is a first.
His discovery highlights two uncomfortable truths:
many potential zoonotic interfaces remain undocumented – often right under our noses
the people most likely to detect them first are those living closest to wild frontiers.
But the bigger message is this: global health institutions need to stop overlooking local scientists and start funding field-based detection systems across Africa and Asia.
If we want to detect the next outbreak early, we should be empowering more Atukwatses, not waiting for the next lab test.
Atukwatse had heard from nearby guides that a large bat cave lay close to the survey grid. That kind of site, he reasoned, could be perfect leopard territory: a place to hunt, rest or avoid the heat.
This is ecological attentiveness at its best – the field biology equivalent of a commodities trader spotting volatility in a geopolitical flashpoint.
Atukwatse had his radar on and acted on instinct, setting five camera traps at the cave’s entrance and along the surrounding animal trails. Just one week later, he got what he hoped for: three separate clips of a leopard hunting bats in broad daylight. He left the cameras in place in protective casing. He checked them every 7–10 days.
But that was just the beginning.
The scale of the discovery
When I first looked at Atukwatse’s videos, our joint excitement was around the leopard footage. We knew they were adaptable and could even eat small rodents , but no one had ever recorded them eating bats in Africa.
As more clips came in, we realised something bigger was unfolding. Blue monkeys were seen grabbing bats mid-roost. A crowned eagle and a Nile monitor fought over two bat carcasses. A fish eagle – typically a piscivore, which is a carnivorous species that primarily eats fish – was filmed clutching bats in its talons.
Over 304 trap-nights, Atukwatse’s traps recorded 261 independent predator events from at least 14 different species.
Then came the second shock: over 400 human visitors – many of them tourists – were filmed approaching the cave mouth without any protective gear. Some stood just metres from a known Marburg virus reservoir. Importantly, the Uganda Wildlife Authority has built a sanctioned viewing platform about 35 metres from the cave. However, tourists broke park rules and walked within two metres of the cave mouth.
It was only after I visited the cave myself to take stills of the team that we put this all together. Atukwatse had just found the first visual evidence, at a large scale in nature, of at least 14 predators feeding on a known wildlife virus reservoir harbouring one of Earth’s deadliest viruses.
This wasn’t the result of million-dollar pathogen surveillance. It wasn’t even the core aim of our leopard survey. This happened because a young Ugandan field scientist followed his ecological gut.
Why does the discovery matter?
For decades, disease ecologists have known that major outbreaks often originate in wildlife – swine flu, avian flu and even SARS-CoV-2 all trace back to animal hosts. But what’s often missing is direct observation of spillover interfaces – the exact moments when a virus jumps from a bat, goose, or other animal into new species like humans, livestock or other wildlife.
Atukwatse’s discovery may be the first large-scale visual record of such an interface in nature: a roost of Egyptian fruit bats known to harbour a deadly virus, actively predated upon by at least 14 species, with hundreds of humans visiting the same cave mouth unprotected.
This may be a Rosetta Stone moment for spillover ecology – shifting our understanding from hypothetical models to a real, observable interface.
These kinds of spillover sites exist in other places in nature: in a Chinese wet market where a civet meets a meat processor, or in a Gabonese village where a bat is butchered for bushmeat. The difference? Most of them go undocumented. Atukwatse just filmed one.
Alexander Richard Braczkowski is the scientific director of the Volcanoes Safaris Partnership Trust Kyambura Lion Project.
Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Alexander Richard Braczkowski, Research Fellow at the Centre for Planetary Health and Resilient Conservation Group, Griffith University
In the shadows of Python Cave, Uganda, a leopard leaps from a guano mound – formed by bat excrement – and sinks its teeth into a bat. But this is no ordinary bat colony. The thousands of Egyptian fruit bats (Rousettus aegyptiacus) found in this cave are known carriers of one of the world’s deadliest viruses: Marburg, a close cousin of Ebola.
I am a conservation scientist with over 17 years of experience in wildlife ecology, monitoring and human-wildlife conflict. I’m the co-founder of the Kyambura Lion Project, which made this discovery.
For years, scientists studying how diseases spread from animals to humans have hypothesised that zoonotic diseases jump from a wildlife reservoir (like a bat) to an intermediate host (monkey) and potentially to us, humans.
For past Marburg outbreaks in Uganda, two spillover pathways have been identified: the first, involves humans coming into contact with a fruit bat habitat (namely caves filled with bat guano). Indeed, fruit bats are thought to have infected two tourists at Python Cave in 2007 and 2008.
The second pathway involves humans and animals eating the same fruit that bats have fed upon or made contact with. This second spillover pathway was identified by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention scientists in 2023. They tracked bats from the cave entering cultivated gardens to feed.
But Atukwatse and the team of young Ugandan scientists (Yahaya Ssemakula, Johnson Muhereza, Orin Cornille and Winfred Nsabimana) have potentially found another pathway: predation by at least 14 species.
Such rich visual evidence of a viral interface – bats, predators and people – is virtually non-existent in the literature. Many theoretical depictions of this process exist, and there are isolated incidents of a monkey predating on a bat or wildlife feeding on bat guano, but Atukwatse’s discovery of this many different predators repeatedly feeding on a known Marburg virus reservoir is a first.
His discovery highlights two uncomfortable truths:
many potential zoonotic interfaces remain undocumented – often right under our noses
the people most likely to detect them first are those living closest to wild frontiers.
But the bigger message is this: global health institutions need to stop overlooking local scientists and start funding field-based detection systems across Africa and Asia.
If we want to detect the next outbreak early, we should be empowering more Atukwatses, not waiting for the next lab test.
Atukwatse had heard from nearby guides that a large bat cave lay close to the survey grid. That kind of site, he reasoned, could be perfect leopard territory: a place to hunt, rest or avoid the heat.
This is ecological attentiveness at its best – the field biology equivalent of a commodities trader spotting volatility in a geopolitical flashpoint.
Atukwatse had his radar on and acted on instinct, setting five camera traps at the cave’s entrance and along the surrounding animal trails. Just one week later, he got what he hoped for: three separate clips of a leopard hunting bats in broad daylight. He left the cameras in place in protective casing. He checked them every 7–10 days.
But that was just the beginning.
The scale of the discovery
When I first looked at Atukwatse’s videos, our joint excitement was around the leopard footage. We knew they were adaptable and could even eat small rodents , but no one had ever recorded them eating bats in Africa.
As more clips came in, we realised something bigger was unfolding. Blue monkeys were seen grabbing bats mid-roost. A crowned eagle and a Nile monitor fought over two bat carcasses. A fish eagle – typically a piscivore, which is a carnivorous species that primarily eats fish – was filmed clutching bats in its talons.
Over 304 trap-nights, Atukwatse’s traps recorded 261 independent predator events from at least 14 different species.
Then came the second shock: over 400 human visitors – many of them tourists – were filmed approaching the cave mouth without any protective gear. Some stood just metres from a known Marburg virus reservoir. Importantly, the Uganda Wildlife Authority has built a sanctioned viewing platform about 35 metres from the cave. However, tourists broke park rules and walked within two metres of the cave mouth.
It was only after I visited the cave myself to take stills of the team that we put this all together. Atukwatse had just found the first visual evidence, at a large scale in nature, of at least 14 predators feeding on a known wildlife virus reservoir harbouring one of Earth’s deadliest viruses.
This wasn’t the result of million-dollar pathogen surveillance. It wasn’t even the core aim of our leopard survey. This happened because a young Ugandan field scientist followed his ecological gut.
Why does the discovery matter?
For decades, disease ecologists have known that major outbreaks often originate in wildlife – swine flu, avian flu and even SARS-CoV-2 all trace back to animal hosts. But what’s often missing is direct observation of spillover interfaces – the exact moments when a virus jumps from a bat, goose, or other animal into new species like humans, livestock or other wildlife.
Atukwatse’s discovery may be the first large-scale visual record of such an interface in nature: a roost of Egyptian fruit bats known to harbour a deadly virus, actively predated upon by at least 14 species, with hundreds of humans visiting the same cave mouth unprotected.
This may be a Rosetta Stone moment for spillover ecology – shifting our understanding from hypothetical models to a real, observable interface.
These kinds of spillover sites exist in other places in nature: in a Chinese wet market where a civet meets a meat processor, or in a Gabonese village where a bat is butchered for bushmeat. The difference? Most of them go undocumented. Atukwatse just filmed one.
Alexander Richard Braczkowski is the scientific director of the Volcanoes Safaris Partnership Trust Kyambura Lion Project.
Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Alexander Richard Braczkowski, Research Fellow at the Centre for Planetary Health and Resilient Conservation Group, Griffith University
In the shadows of Python Cave, Uganda, a leopard leaps from a guano mound – formed by bat excrement – and sinks its teeth into a bat. But this is no ordinary bat colony. The thousands of Egyptian fruit bats (Rousettus aegyptiacus) found in this cave are known carriers of one of the world’s deadliest viruses: Marburg, a close cousin of Ebola.
I am a conservation scientist with over 17 years of experience in wildlife ecology, monitoring and human-wildlife conflict. I’m the co-founder of the Kyambura Lion Project, which made this discovery.
For years, scientists studying how diseases spread from animals to humans have hypothesised that zoonotic diseases jump from a wildlife reservoir (like a bat) to an intermediate host (monkey) and potentially to us, humans.
For past Marburg outbreaks in Uganda, two spillover pathways have been identified: the first, involves humans coming into contact with a fruit bat habitat (namely caves filled with bat guano). Indeed, fruit bats are thought to have infected two tourists at Python Cave in 2007 and 2008.
The second pathway involves humans and animals eating the same fruit that bats have fed upon or made contact with. This second spillover pathway was identified by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention scientists in 2023. They tracked bats from the cave entering cultivated gardens to feed.
But Atukwatse and the team of young Ugandan scientists (Yahaya Ssemakula, Johnson Muhereza, Orin Cornille and Winfred Nsabimana) have potentially found another pathway: predation by at least 14 species.
Such rich visual evidence of a viral interface – bats, predators and people – is virtually non-existent in the literature. Many theoretical depictions of this process exist, and there are isolated incidents of a monkey predating on a bat or wildlife feeding on bat guano, but Atukwatse’s discovery of this many different predators repeatedly feeding on a known Marburg virus reservoir is a first.
A leopard grabs a fruit bat at Uganda’s Python Cave.Bosco Atukwatse/Kyambura Lion Project
His discovery highlights two uncomfortable truths:
many potential zoonotic interfaces remain undocumented – often right under our noses
the people most likely to detect them first are those living closest to wild frontiers.
But the bigger message is this: global health institutions need to stop overlooking local scientists and start funding field-based detection systems across Africa and Asia.
If we want to detect the next outbreak early, we should be empowering more Atukwatses, not waiting for the next lab test.
Atukwatse had heard from nearby guides that a large bat cave lay close to the survey grid. That kind of site, he reasoned, could be perfect leopard territory: a place to hunt, rest or avoid the heat.
This is ecological attentiveness at its best – the field biology equivalent of a commodities trader spotting volatility in a geopolitical flashpoint.
A blue monkey with bat in hand at Python Cave.Bosco Atukwatse/Kyambura Lion Project
Atukwatse had his radar on and acted on instinct, setting five camera traps at the cave’s entrance and along the surrounding animal trails. Just one week later, he got what he hoped for: three separate clips of a leopard hunting bats in broad daylight. He left the cameras in place in protective casing. He checked them every 7–10 days.
But that was just the beginning.
The scale of the discovery
When I first looked at Atukwatse’s videos, our joint excitement was around the leopard footage. We knew they were adaptable and could even eat small rodents , but no one had ever recorded them eating bats in Africa.
As more clips came in, we realised something bigger was unfolding. Blue monkeys were seen grabbing bats mid-roost. A crowned eagle and a Nile monitor fought over two bat carcasses. A fish eagle – typically a piscivore, which is a carnivorous species that primarily eats fish – was filmed clutching bats in its talons.
Over 304 trap-nights, Atukwatse’s traps recorded 261 independent predator events from at least 14 different species.
Then came the second shock: over 400 human visitors – many of them tourists – were filmed approaching the cave mouth without any protective gear. Some stood just metres from a known Marburg virus reservoir. Importantly, the Uganda Wildlife Authority has built a sanctioned viewing platform about 35 metres from the cave. However, tourists broke park rules and walked within two metres of the cave mouth.
Bosco Atukwatse.
It was only after I visited the cave myself to take stills of the team that we put this all together. Atukwatse had just found the first visual evidence, at a large scale in nature, of at least 14 predators feeding on a known wildlife virus reservoir harbouring one of Earth’s deadliest viruses.
This wasn’t the result of million-dollar pathogen surveillance. It wasn’t even the core aim of our leopard survey. This happened because a young Ugandan field scientist followed his ecological gut.
Why does the discovery matter?
For decades, disease ecologists have known that major outbreaks often originate in wildlife – swine flu, avian flu and even SARS-CoV-2 all trace back to animal hosts. But what’s often missing is direct observation of spillover interfaces – the exact moments when a virus jumps from a bat, goose, or other animal into new species like humans, livestock or other wildlife.
Atukwatse’s discovery may be the first large-scale visual record of such an interface in nature: a roost of Egyptian fruit bats known to harbour a deadly virus, actively predated upon by at least 14 species, with hundreds of humans visiting the same cave mouth unprotected.
This may be a Rosetta Stone moment for spillover ecology – shifting our understanding from hypothetical models to a real, observable interface.
These kinds of spillover sites exist in other places in nature: in a Chinese wet market where a civet meets a meat processor, or in a Gabonese village where a bat is butchered for bushmeat. The difference? Most of them go undocumented. Atukwatse just filmed one.
– How does Marburg virus spread between species? Young Ugandan scientist’s photos give important clues – https://theconversation.com/how-does-marburg-virus-spread-between-species-young-ugandan-scientists-photos-give-important-clues-259806
Source: United States Senator for South Carolina Lindsey Graham
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, today released the Senate’s full legislative text of President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill.
“If you like higher taxes, open borders, a weak military and unchecked government spending, this bill is your nightmare.
“I am proud to present to the public the Big Beautiful Bill. By making the Trump tax cuts permanent, working families will avoid a four trillion-dollar tax increase. Our bill provides full funding to secure the border in perpetuity and injects a much-needed $150 billion into our military to keep our nation safe. In addition, the bill raises the debt ceiling so that we do not default and crash the economy.
“Equally important, our bill reforms Medicaid – which has grown by nearly 50 percent in five years. It eliminates waste, fraud and abuse – and requires able-bodied Medicaid recipients to work. This bill is the largest reduction in government spending in recent memory, and is a down payment on fiscal reform.
“The Big Beautiful Bill contains all of President Trump’s domestic economic priorities. By passing this bill now, we will make our nation more prosperous and secure.”
View the full text HERE.
View the one-pager HERE.
For more information on the:
Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee Title, click HERE for a section-by-section and HERE for a one-pager.
Senate Armed Services Committee Title, click HERE.
Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee Title, click HERE.
Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee Title, click HERE.
Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Title, click HERE for a section-by-section and HERE for a one-pager.
Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Title, click HERE for a section-by-section and HERE for a one-pager.
Senate Finance Committee Title, click HERE.
Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Title, click HERE for a section-by-section and HERE for a one-pager.
Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Title, click HERE for Homeland Security and HERE for Governmental Affairs.
Senate Judiciary Committee Title, click HERE for a section-by-section and HERE for a one-pager.
Oxfam condemns “private finance takeover” of development efforts, as over 3.7 billion people remain in poverty ten years after the Sustainable Development Goals were agreed.
New Oxfam analysis unveils “astronomical rise in private wealth”. Between 1995 and 2023, global private wealth grew by $342 trillion – 8 times more than public wealth.
Oxfam analysis also showsgovernments are making the largest cuts to life-saving aid since aid records began. Aid cuts could cause 2.9 million more children and adults to die by 2030, from HIV/AIDS causes alone.
Results of a new global survey show 9 out of 10 people support paying for public services and climate action through taxing the super-rich.
Oxfam urges new strategic alliances to address inequality; urgently revitalize aid and tax the super-rich; and assert new “public-first” approach over private finance.
The world’s richest 1% increased their wealth by more than $33.9 trillion in real terms since 2015, reveals new Oxfam analysis ahead of the world’s largest development financing talks in a decade, in Seville, Spain. This is more than enough to eliminate annual poverty 22 times over at the World Bank’s highest poverty line of $8.30 a day. The wealth of just 3,000 billionaires has surged $6.5 trillion in real terms since 2015, and now comprises the equivalent of 14.6% of global GDP.
Wealthy governments are making the largest cuts to life-saving development aid since aid records began in 1960. Oxfam analysis finds that G7 countries alone, who account for around three-quarters of all official aid, are cutting aid by 28% for 2026 compared to 2024. Whilst critical aid is cut, the debt crisis is bankrupting governments – 60% of low-income countries are at the edge of a debt crisis – with the poorest countries paying out far more to repay their rich creditors than they are able to spend on classrooms or clinics. Only 16% of the targets for the Global Goals are on track for 2030.
Oxfam’s new analysis examines the failures of a private investor-focused approach to funding development. A decade-long effort by major development actors to recast their mission as one of supporting powerful Global North financial actors has led in fact to a host of harms and at the same time only mobilized paltry sums. The analysis also looks at the role of private creditors, who now outpace bilateral lenders by five times and account for more than half the debt owed by low- and middle-income countries, in exacerbating the debt crisis with their refusal to negotiate and their punitive terms.
“Seville is the first major gathering of countries worldwide at a time that life-saving aid is being decimated, a trade war has started, and multilateralism being fractured – all in the backdrop of the second Trump administration. There is glaring evidence that global development is desperately failing because – as the last decade shows –the interests of a very wealthy few are put over those of everyone else,”said Amitabh Behar, Executive Director of Oxfam International.
What the World Bank described as a “billions to trillions” paradigm shift has been a boon for wealthy investors–the richest 1% own 43% of global assets–but now faces overwhelming evidence of failure, even according to former champions. Alarmingly, there is new momentum behind the idea of diverting the little aid that remains to private financial actors.
“Rich countries have put Wall Street in the driver’s seat of global development. It’s a global private finance takeover which has overrun the evidence-backed ways to tackle poverty through public investments and fair taxation. It is no wonder governments are abysmally off track, be it on fostering decent jobs, gender equality, or ending hunger. This much wealth concentration is choking efforts to end poverty”,said Behar.
New Oxfam analysis shows that between 1995 and 2023, global private wealth grew by $342 trillion – 8 times more than global public wealth, which grew by just $44 trillion. Global public wealth–as a share of total wealth–actually fell between 1995 and 2023.
Oxfam is urging governments to rally behind policy and political proposals that offer a change in course by tackling extreme inequality and transforming the development financing system:
New strategic alliances against inequality. Governments must band together in new coalitions to oppose extreme inequality. Countries such as Brazil, South Africa and Spain are offering leadership to do so internationally. A new ‘Global Alliance Against Inequality’ supported by Germany, Norway, Sierra Leone and others sets an example for nations to back.
Public-first approach – reject the Wall Street Consensus. Governments should reject private finance as the silver bullet to funding development. Instead, governments should invest in state-led development– to ensure universal high-quality healthcare, education and care services, and explore publicly-delivered goods in sectors from energy to transportation.
Total rethink of development financing – tax the ultra-rich, revitalize aid, reform debt architecture, and move beyond GDP indicators.Global North donors must urgently reverse catastrophic cuts to lifesaving aid and meet the 0.7% ODA target as minimum. Governments must back efforts for a new UN debt convention, and support the UN tax convention, building on Brazil’s G20 effort to tax high-net-worth-individuals.
“Trillions of dollars exist to meet the global goals, but they’re locked away in private accounts of the ultra-wealthy. It’s time we rejected the Wall Street Consensus and instead put the public in the driving seat. Governments should heed widespread demands to tax the rich – and match it with a vision to build public goods from healthcare to energy. It’s a hopeful sign that some governments are banding together to fight inequality – more should follow their lead, starting in Seville”,said Behar.
Oxfam’s media briefing note, “From Private Profit to Public Power: Financing Development, Not Oligarchy” can be downloadedhere.
Oxfam’s analysis of the historic cuts to development aid and their impact on the poorest can be foundhere. The modelling on HIV/AIDS deaths was published in the Lancet HIV.
The study that surveyed global opinion on taxing the super-rich was commissioned by Greenpeace and Oxfam International. The research was conducted by first party data companyDynatain May-June 2025, in Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Kenya, Italy, India, Mexico, the Philippines, South Africa, Spain, the UK and the US.The survey had approximately 1200 respondents per country, with a margin of error of +-2.83%.Together, these countries represent close to half the world’s population.See the results here.
The cost of ending poverty is based on the annual cost of ending poverty in 2024 for one year, for the over 3.7 billion people living below the $8.30 a day poverty line, according to World Bank data. The increase in wealth of the 1% since 2015 would be more than enough to meet this cost 22 times over. Another way of expressing this is that the total amount is more than enough to completely end poverty for 22 years. This is only indicative, as the cost of ending poverty would likely fall over the next 22 years anyway as the numbers living in poverty reduce, and the value of the wealth would increase as it would not be spent all at once. But nevertheless this comparison indicates the extent to which more wealth, which is being greatly concentrated in the hands of a few, could be directed to ending poverty instead of further inflating the fortunes of the richest. For further information on the calculations see themedia briefing paper.
Oxfam will be hosting a major high-level event together with Club de Madrid, at 7pm on July 1, 2025, in Seville, joined by high-level government representatives on the media briefing note. Journalists are invited to attend and will be prioritized for questions. Please registerhere.
Moreover, an official side event on inequality and tax reform will take place at 2.30pm on July 1, 2025, at the FIBES Exhibition Centre room 20 joined by high-level government representatives from Brazil, Spain and South Africa, international organizations and global experts. See notehere.
Aotearoa – Greenpeace Aotearoa activists have confronted a bottom trawler off the East Coast of New Zealand, writing “ocean killer” on the side of the ship, after bearing witness to it hauling in a net straining with marine life.
Launching from the Greenpeace vessel the Rainbow Warrior, activists came alongside the New Zealand-flagged vessel, Talley’s Amaltal Atlantis, on the Chatham Rise[1], an area of ocean floor to the east of New Zealand, and painted the message on its side using non-toxic paint. The vessel is owned by seafood group Talley’s.
Speaking from onboard the Rainbow Warrior, Greenpeace Aotearoa oceans campaigner Juan Parada says:
“Activists rebranded this Talley’s vessel today to expose the bottom trawling industry for what they are: ocean killers. When Talley’s drag their heavy trawl nets across the seafloor and over seamounts, they bulldoze everything in their path, including killing precious coral.
“Faced with a fishing industry that profits from trashing the ocean, and a government that condones bottom trawling, ocean defenders have taken peaceful action today to call out this destruction and demand that bottom trawling stop.
“The Amaltal Atlantis trawls extensively in the waters of Aotearoa and has previously received permits to trawl in the High Seas of the South Pacific. Their trail of destruction is wide and long-lasting,” says Parada.
Talley’s has a long history of carrying out bottom trawling destruction. In 2018, the Amaltal Apollo trawled in a protected area on the Lord Howe Rise, in the international waters of the Tasman Sea. The Amaltal Mariner was convicted of trawling in a marine reserve off Kaikōura in 2019.
The at-sea action comes just months after a deep sea expedition led by Greenpeace Aotearoa documented whole swathes of destroyed coral in areas of the Tasman Sea that have been intensively trawled by New Zealand bottom trawlers. This area has been earmarked for one of the first high seas ocean sanctuaries, using the Global Ocean Treaty.
New Zealand is the only country still bottom trawling in the High Seas of Tasman.
Parada says, “As the rest of the world moves towards more comprehensive ocean protection for international waters, New Zealand is standing in the way of progress by continuing to advocate for the bottom trawling industry.”
“From depleted fish numbers to smashed coral, dead sharks and seabirds, the cost of bottom trawling is too high. To protect the ocean for the future and safeguard the ocean we all love, bottom trawling must stop.”
In response to the activist’s painting activity, Talley’s responded saying they would seek legal action which “may include the arrest of the Rainbow Warrior.”
[1] The action took place in the Chatham Rise area, where it was recently revealed a New Zealand vessel dragged up six tonnes of coral in a single trawl.
Contacts:
Nick Young, Greenpace Aoteaora, Head of Communications, +64-21-707727, [email protected]
Source: United States Senator for Massachusetts Ed Markey
Lawmakers release data showing over 250 schools at risk of delayed projects and higher energy costs
Letter Text and Full Dataset (PDF)
Washington (June 27, 2025) – Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), member of the Environment and Public Works and Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committees, Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), and Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Ranking Member of the Finance Committee, today wrote to President Donald Trump, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (LA-04), about the risk to K-12 funding from the Republican budget reconciliation proposal to eliminate federal tax credits that fund solar infrastructure projects in schools.
Projects supported by tax credits have saved communities tens of thousands of dollars annually—including Wayne County Schools in West Virginia, which is projected to save the equivalent of three full-time teacher salaries over the course of their careers. Any cuts could delay or disrupt ongoing solar projects, prevent schools and school districts from accessing a tool to save on energy costs, and waste state and school district investments.
In the letter, the lawmakers write, “By cutting federal clean energy incentives, the Republican budget reconciliation bill would interfere with K-12 school funding across the United States. Clean energy projects can reduce monthly energy costs, allowing schools to spend more on supporting students, faculty, and staff. With its draconian cuts to solar energy incentives, the Republican reconciliation bill promises to stall ongoing state and school district solar projects, disrupt their investments, and eliminate an essential cost-saving tool. We urge you to reconsider cuts to clean energy incentives that provide cost saving benefits to schools.”
The lawmakers continue, “More school districts are planning solar projects that will help lower energy costs and prevent state budget cuts from impacting students, educators, and staff. But the proposed cuts in the Republican reconciliation bill threaten the delay, disruption, or cancellation of solar deployments. There are at least 251 school solar projects in 26 states in various stages of planning and construction. Projects that are not able to commence construction before proposed repeals take effect risk delay, wasted local and state investments in project development, higher energy costs, and increased burden on taxpayers. Among the identified projects are 74 school solar installations in Pennsylvania, 53 in Arizona, 15 in Texas, 12 in Kentucky, 5 in Utah, 4 in Iowa and Wisconsin, 2 in Indiana, and 1 in Idaho, Florida, Kansas, North Carolina and West Virginia.”
Several stakeholders joined the lawmakers in voicing their opposition to the proposed cuts.
“Over the last decade, schools across the country have turned to solar to reduce the cost of operating their facilities. In rural communities like Lawrence, Kansas and Greene County, Iowa, solar is how communities are able to maintain services for students in the face of rising costs and small or shrinking tax bases. Repealing these credits is one of a multitude of attacks on our public schools and the young people they serve in the disastrous budget reconciliation bill,” said Jonathan Klein, Chief Executive Officer of UndauntedK12.
“Across the country, school districts have been saving taxpayers money by taking advantage of clean energy tax credits through direct pay. These projects have created jobs, reduced energy costs, and opened up opportunities for school building improvements out of reach for too long. Rolling back the clean energy tax credits would stop that progress in its tracks and increase costs to local communities. It is critical that these important initiatives remain available to our schools,” said Jason Walsh, Executive Director of BlueGreen Alliance.
“School districts across the country have been using clean energy tax credits to lower their energy costs and upgrade their facilities. Investments in things like cleaner running buses and new HVAC systems are reducing both indoor and outdoor air pollution, all while creating good paying jobs. We urge Republican leaders to abandon their efforts to end these tax credits,” said Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers.
“School districts across the country are attempting to move forward on sorely needed repairs and update their school buildings, and solar energy contributes important cost stability and resilience,” said Ally Talcott, Executive Director of the BASIC Coalition. “Our school leaders do not need whiplash amid the important work to finance improvements to our schools; they need support and stability. The cuts to solar energy incentives pull one more resource away from school districts trying to provide safe, modern, and healthy school buildings for their communities.”
“Clean energy incentives help schools provide safer and healthier learning environments, lower energy costs, save taxpayer dollars, and redirect resources from paying expensive utility bills to supporting student success. We urge lawmakers to preserve these federal programs for local communities,” said James Rowan, CAE, SFO, Chief Executive Director of the Association of School Business Officials International (ASBO).
Albertans are frustrated after 10 years of punitive policies, enacted by the federal government, attacking Alberta’s economy and targeting its core industries.
Chaired by Premier Danielle Smith, the Alberta Next panel will bring together a broad mix of leaders, experts, and community voices to gather input, discuss solutions, and provide feedback to government on how Alberta can better protect its interests, defend its economy, and assert its place in Confederation.
The panel will consult across the province over the summer and early fall to ensure that those living, working, doing business and raising families are the ones to drive Alberta’s future forward. The work will include identifying solutions advanced by Albertans on how to make Alberta stronger and more sovereign within a united Canada that respects and empowers the province to achieve its full potential. It will also include making recommendations to the government on potential referendum questions for Albertans to vote on in 2026.
It will consider and hear from Albertans on the risks and benefits of ideas like a establishing an Alberta Pension Plan, using an Alberta Provincial Police Service rather than the RCMP for community policing, whether Albertans should consider pursuing constitutional changes, which (if any) changes to federal transfer payments and equalization Albertans should demand of the federal government, potential immigration reform that would give the provincial government more oversight into who comes to the province, and changes to how Alberta collects personal income tax. Albertans will also have the opportunity to put forward their own ideas for discussion.
“This isn’t just about talk. It’s about action. The Alberta Next Panel is giving everyday Albertans a direct say in the direction of our province. It’s time to stand up to Ottawa’s overreach and make sure decisions about Alberta’s future are made here, by the people who live and work here.”
“Right now, there is a need to restore fairness and functionality in the country. Years of problematic policy and decisions from Ottawa have hurt Albertan and Canadian prosperity. I am honoured to be asked by Premier Smith to participate in the Alberta Next Panel. This panel is about listening to Albertans on how we build a stronger Alberta within a united Canada, to which I, and the Business Council of Alberta, are firmly committed.”
Chaired by Premier Danielle Smith, the panel includes 13 additional members, including elected officials, academics, business leaders and community advocates:
Honourable Rebecca Schulz, Minister of Environment and Protected Areas of Alberta
Brandon Lunty, MLA for Leduc-Beaumont
Glenn van Dijken, MLA for Athabasca-Barrhead-Westlock
Tara Sawyer, MLA-elect for Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills
Bruce McDonald, former justice, Court of Appeal of Alberta
Trevor Tombe, director of fiscal and economic policy, the University of Calgary School of Public Policy
Adam Legge, president, Business Council of Alberta
Andrew Judson, vice chairman (prairies), Fraser Institute
Sumita Anand, vice president, Above and Beyond Care Services
Melody Garner-Skiba, business and agricultural advocate
Grant Fagerheim, president and CEO, Whitecap Resources Inc.
Dr. Akin Osakuade, physician and section chief, Didsbury Hospital
Dr. Benny Xu, community health expert
Michael Binnion, president, Questerre Energy
Albertans have a choice: let Ottawa continue calling the shots—or come together to chart our own course. What’s next? You decide.
Key facts:
Town hall dates and sites, along with other opportunities to participate in this engagement, are available online at Alberta.ca/Next. Exact locations will be posted in the weeks ahead of the event, and Albertans will be asked to RSVP online.
The panel’s recommendations will be submitted to government by Dec. 31, 2025.
It is anticipated that the panel will add additional members in the coming weeks.
Related information
Alberta.ca/Next
Panel member biographies
Related news
Alberta Next: Albertans to choose path forward (May 5, 2025)
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Listen to the news conference
Ce sont les Albertains, et non Ottawa, qui devraient façonner l’avenir de l’Alberta. Le groupe d’experts Alberta Next prend la route pour consulter directement les Albertains et tracer la voie à suivre pour la province.
Les Albertains sont frustrés après 10 ans de politiques punitives adoptées par le gouvernement fédéral qui s’en prennent à l’économie de la province et qui ciblent ses principales industries.
Le groupe d’experts Alberta Next, présidé par la première ministre Danielle Smith, réunira un large éventail de chefs de file, d’experts et de membres de la collectivité pour recueillir des commentaires, discuter de solutions et fournir une rétroaction au gouvernement sur la façon dont l’Alberta peut mieux protéger ses intérêts. défendre son économie et affirmer sa place dans la Confédération.
Le groupe d’experts tiendra des consultations dans toute la province au cours de l’été et au début de l’automne pour veiller à ce que les personnes qui vivent, travaillent, font des affaires et élèvent une famille soient celles qui conduiront l’avenir de l’Alberta. Le travail consistera notamment à trouver des solutions proposées par les Albertains pour rendre l’Alberta plus forte et plus souveraine au sein d’un Canada uni qui respecte la province et qui lui donne les moyens de réaliser son plein potentiel. Il s’agira également de formuler des recommandations au gouvernement sur les questions référendaires potentielles sur lesquelles les Albertains pourront se prononcer en 2026.
Il tiendra compte des risques et des avantages d’idées comme l’établissement d’un régime de retraite de l’Alberta, le recours à un service de police provincial de l’Alberta plutôt qu’à la Gendarmerie royale du Canada pour les services de police communautaires et entendra ce que les Albertains ont à dire à ce sujet. Il déterminera si les Albertains devraient envisager de modifier la Constitution, (s’il y a lieu) des changements aux paiements de transfert fédéraux et à la péréquation que les Albertains devraient exiger du gouvernement fédéral, une réforme potentielle de l’immigration qui donnerait au gouvernement provincial plus de contrôle sur ceux qui viennent dans la province, et des changements à la façon dont l’Alberta perçoit l’impôt sur le revenu des particuliers. Les Albertains auront également l’occasion de présenter leurs propres idées aux fins de discussion.
« Il ne s’agit pas seulement de paroles. Il s’agit d’agir. Le groupe d’experts Alberta Next donne aux Albertains ordinaires la chance d’experimer leur point de vue sur l’orientation de notre province. Il est temps de résister à l’excès d’Ottawa et de veiller à ce que les décisions concernant l’avenir de l’Alberta soient prises ici, par les gens qui vivent et travaillent ici. »
« Il est désormais nécessaire de rétablir l’équité et la fonctionnalité du pays. Des années de politiques et de décisions problématiques d’Ottawa ont nui à la prospérité de l’Alberta et du Canada. Je suis honoré d’avoir été invité par la première ministre Smith à participer au groupe d’experts Alberta Next. Ce groupe d’expers a pour objectif d’écouter les points de vue des Albertains sur la façonde bâtir une Alberta plus forte au sein d’un Canada uni, ce à quoi le Business Council of Alberta et moi-même tenons fermement. »
Le groupe d’experts, présidé par la première ministre Danielle Smith, comprend 13 autres membres, y compris des représentants élus, des universitaires, des chefs d’entreprise et des défenseurs de la collectivité :
L’honorable Rebecca Schulz, ministre de l’Environnement et des Aires protégées de l’Alberta
Brandon Lunty, député de Leduc-Beaumont
Glenn van Dijken, député d’Athabasca-Barrhead-Westlock
Bruce McDonald, ancien juge, Cour d’appel de l’Alberta
Trevor Tombe, directeur de la politique fiscale et économique, École de politique publique de l’Université de Calgary
Adam Legge, président, Business Council of Alberta
Andrew Judson, vice-président (Prairies), Institut Fraser
Sumita Anand, vice-présidente, Above and Beyond Care Services
Melody Garner-Skiba, défenseure des affaires et de l’agriculture
Grant Fagerheim, président-directeur général, Whitecap Resources Inc.
Dr Akin Osakuade, médecin et chef de section, Hôpital Didsbury
Dr Benny Xu, expert en santé communautaire
Michael Binnion, président, Questerre Energy
Les Albertains ont le choix : laisser Ottawa continuer à prendre les décisions ou s’unir pour tracer notre propre voie. Prochaines étapes? C’est vous qui décidez.
Faits saillants :
Les dates et les sites des assemblées publiques locales, ainsi que d’autres occasions de participer à cette consultation, sont disponibles en ligne à Alberta.ca/Next. Les lieux exacts seront publiés dans les semaines précédant l’événement et les Albertains seront invités à confirmer leur présence en ligne.
Les recommandations du groupe d’experts seront soumises au gouvernement d’ici le 31 décembre 2025.
On prévoit que le groupe d’experts ajoutera d’autres membres au cours des prochaines semaines.
Renseignements connexes
Alberta.ca/Next
Biographies des membres du groupe d’experts (en anglais seulement)
Nouvelles connexes
Alberta Next: Albertans to choose path forward (5 mai 2025)
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Visionnez la conférence de presse (en anglais seulement)
The Colorado River Basin is currently experiencing its worst drought in recorded history. Drought impacts include worsening habitat conditions for several threatened and endangered species, wildland fire risks, reduced snowpack, changes in water availability and agricultural production; reduced recreation opportunities at National Parks, Wildlife Refuges, and Conservation areas; and impacts to…
WASHINGTON— U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright today announced that the Department of Energy in coordination with the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), the Departments of Commerce and the Interior and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, has officially withdrawn from the Columbia River System Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). Today’s action follows President Trump’s Memorandum directing the federal government to halt the Biden Administration’s radical Columbia River basin policy and will ensure Americans living in the Pacific Northwest can continue to rely on affordable hydropower from the Lower Snake River dams to help meet their growing power needs.
“The Pacific Northwest deserves energy security, not energy scarcity. Dams in the Columbia River Basin have provided affordable and reliable electricity to millions of American families and businesses for decades,” said Energy Secretary Chris Wright. “Thanks to President Trump’s leadership, American taxpayer dollars will not be spent dismantling critical infrastructure, reducing our energy-generating capacity or on radical nonsense policies that dramatically raise prices on the American people. This Administration will continue to protect America’s critical energy infrastructure and ensure reliable, affordable power for all Americans.”
BACKGROUND:
On June 10, 2025, President Trump signed the Presidential Memorandum, Stopping Radical Environmentalism to Generate Power for the Columbia River Basin, revoking the prior Presidential Memorandum, Restoring Healthy and Abundant Salmon, Steelhead, and Other Native Fish Populations in the Columbia River Basin, part of the radical green energy agenda calling for “equitable treatment for fish.”
The Biden-era MOU required the federal government to spend over $1 billion and comply with 36 pages of costly, onerous commitments aimed at replacing services provided by the Lower Snake River Dams and advancing the possibility of breaching them. Breaching the dams would have doubled the region’s risk of power shortages, driven wholesale electricity rates up by as much as 50%, and cost as much as $31.3 billion to replace.
The plan would have devastated regional agriculture by reducing water supply to farmers, eliminated several shipping channels, raised transportation costs, and destroyed recreational opportunities across the Columbia River Basin.
The four dams on the Lower Snake River provide over 3,000 megawatts of secure, reliable and affordable hydroelectric generating capacity— enough generation to power 2.5 million American homes. The Trump administration is committed to protecting this critical infrastructure with lower energy costs, critical shipping channels, and vital water supply for local farmers.
overnor Kathy Hochul today announced six trustee appointments to the New York State Interest on Lawyer Account Fund (IOLA). IOLA helps low-income New Yorkers obtain civil legal services to protect their needs. Established in 1983, IOLA pools interest from lawyer trust accounts to provide civil legal aid and support justice system improvements at no cost to taxpayers, lawyers or their clients.
“I’m committed to helping New York’s most vulnerable secure legal resources in times of need, and the IOLA board helps bring those resources to bear — providing vital legal services to thousands of New Yorkers in need of legal assistance,” Governor Hochul said. “These appointees embody what it means to serve others. I am encouraged by their commitment to the law, civil legal services and the most vulnerable, and I am confident that with their leadership, IOLA will continue to fulfill its important mission.”
As Chair and Trustee:
Pei Pei Cheng de Castro
Pei Pei Cheng de Castro is a partner in Commercial Litigation & Complex Trials and White Collar & Government Investigations at Barclay Damon LLP. Previously, Cheng de Castro was a Deputy Counsel to Governor Kathy Hochul from 2021 to 2024.
Cheng de Castro obtained a J.D. from New York Law School in 2000 and a B.A. in Environmental Science and Economics from the University of California, Berkeley in 1997.
As Trustees:
Rahul Agarwal
Rahul Agarwal is a Partner in White Collar and Litigation at Friedman Kaplan Seiler Adelman & Robbins LLP, a position he began in 2024. Previously, Agarwal was a Deputy Chief Counsel in the office of the Mayor of the City of New York from 2022 to 2023.
Agarwal obtained a J.D. from Columbia Law School in 2006, and a B.A. from Brown University in 2001.
Darren J. Cohen
Darren J. Cohen is the Associate General Counsel for Clipboard Health, a position he has held since 2023. Previously, Cohen was the Senior Counsel for the Office of Governor Kathy Hochul in 2023.
Cohen obtained a J.D. from Yale Law School in 2004 and a B.A. in English from Columbia University in 2004.
Jason C. Hegt
Jason C. Hegt is a Partner in the Litigation and Trial Department at Latham & Watkins, a position he has held since 2018. Previously, Hegt was an Associate at Latham & Watkins from 2009 to 2017.
Hegt obtained his J.D. from American University Washington College of Law in 2009 and a B.A. in Political Science from Emory University in 2004.
Sylvia O. Hinds-Radix
Sylvia O. Hinds-Radix was most recently the Corporate Counsel for the City of New York from 2022 to 2024. Previously, Hinds-Radix was an Associate Justice of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, Second Department, from 2012 to 2022.
Hinds-Radix obtained a J.D. from Howard University School of Law in 1984, an M.A. in Political Science from Long Island University in 1978, and a B.S. in History from the University of Massachusetts in 1976.
Daniel M. Kummer
Daniel M. Kummer is the Principal at DKummer Photography, LLC, a position he began in 2023. Previously, Kummer was a Senior Vice President for Litigation at NBCUniversal Media LLC from 1997 to 2023.
Kummer obtained a J.D. from the New York University School of Law in 1987, and a B.A. from Wesleyan University in 1982.
Although the project is still in a planning phase, it is essential to ensure that all necessary assessments and evaluations are conducted to determine its potential impacts on the environment and local communities.
According to Article 4 of the Environmental Impact Assessment Directive[1], prior to granting a consent for such projects, it is up to Member States to determine whether an environmental impact assessment is necessary, based on a case-by-case analysis or by setting specific criteria (such as the location, size or type of project).
Such an assessment, if required, needs to take into account the impacts of the projects on cultural heritage and the environmental aspects as well as the opinion of the local community concerned.
In case a project impacts a Natura 2000 site, Article 6(3) of the Habitats Directive[2] applies[3].
Projects should be planned and implemented covering all aspects of sustainability[4], including ensuring environmental protection and the prevention and minimisation of adverse social or health effects.
Without prejudice to the Commission’s role as guardian of the Treaties, Member States are primarily responsible for ensuring compliance with EU law.
In line with its strategic approach on enforcement action[5], which focuses on cases of systemic non-compliance, the Commission considers that the means of redress available under national legislation would be the most appropriate mechanism to address individual cases of possible non-compliance.
[1] Environmental Impact Assessment Directive 2011/92/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 December 2011 on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment, OJ L 26, 28.1.2012, p. 1-21, as amended by Directive 2014/52/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014, OJ L 124, 25.4.2014, p. 1-18.
[2] Council Directive 92/43/EEC on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora, OJ L 206, 22.7.1992, p. 7-50.
[3] Article 6(3) requires that any plan or project likely to significantly impact the site, individually or combined with others, undergo an appropriate assessment of its implications, considering the site’s conservation objectives, and can only be approved if it does not adversely affect the site’s integrity. Exceptions are allowed under Article 6(4)’s conditions.
[4] As highlighted in the Commission’s publication ‘EU principles for sustainable raw materials https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/23e4b6a0-41da-11ec-89db-01aa75ed71a1/language-en.
[5] As set out in the communication of 19 January 2017 (EU law: Better results through better application — C/2016/8600, OJ C 18, 19.1.2017, p. 10-20) and in the communication of 13 October 2022 COM(2022) 518 final — Enforcing EU law for a Europe that delivers.
PACIFIC OCEAN, Saturday, 28 June 2025 – Greenpeace Aotearoa activists have confronted a bottom trawler in the South Pacific ocean, east of New Zealand, rebranding it “ocean killer”, after witnessing it haul in a net straining with marine life.
Launching from the Greenpeace vessel Rainbow Warrior, activists came alongside the New Zealand-flagged ship, Talley’s Amaltal Atlantis, on the Chatham Rise[1] on Friday afternoon, and painted the message on its hull with non-toxic paint.
Greenpeace Aotearoa activists confront the Talley’s bottom trawler Amatal Atlantis on the Chatham Rise, painting “ocean killer” on its hull to protest destructive bottom trawling. The Rainbow Warrior is off the coast of Aotearoa campaigning for an end to New Zealand’s destructive bottom trawling in New Zealand waters and the Tasman Sea.
Speaking from onboard the Rainbow Warrior, Greenpeace Aotearoa spokesperson Juan Parada says: “Appalled by the most recent evidence of destruction, people defending the oceans rebranded this Talley’s vessel today to expose the bottom trawling industry for what they are: ocean killers. When Talley’s bottom trawlers drag their heavy trawl nets across the seafloor and over seamounts, they bulldoze everything in their path, including killing precious marine life from coral to fur seals, dolphins and seabirds.
“We’ve all seen the shocking footage of bottom trawling in David Attenborough’s film Ocean, and it’s happening right here, right now.
“Faced with a fishing industry that profits from trashing the ocean, and a government that condones bottom trawling, we’re proud of the peaceful action taken today to call out this destruction and demand that bottom trawling stop.
The Amaltal Atlantis trawls in the waters of Aotearoa, and has previously received permits to trawl in the High Seas of the South Pacific. Their trail of destruction is wide and long-lasting,” says Parada.
New Zealand is the only country still bottom trawling in the high seas of the Tasman, between Australia and New Zealand.
The at-sea action comes just months after a deep sea expedition led by Greenpeace Aotearoa documented whole swathes of destroyed coral in areas of the Tasman Sea that have been intensively trawled by New Zealand bottom trawlers. This area has been earmarked for one of the first high seas ocean sanctuaries under the Global Ocean Treaty.
Talley’s vessels trawl in Australian waters; the Amaltal Explorer has been trawling for endangered orange roughy off Tasmania, after being allowed back in Australia’s waters last year. In 2018, the Amaltal Apollo trawled in a protected area on the Lord Howe Rise, in the international waters of the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand.
Greenpeace Aotearoa activists confront the Talley’s bottom trawler Amatal Atlantis on the Chatham Rise, painting “ocean killer” on its hull to protest destructive bottom trawling. The Rainbow Warrior is off the coast of Aotearoa campaigning for an end to New Zealand’s destructive bottom trawling in New Zealand waters and the Tasman Sea.
Greenpeace Australia Pacific is calling on the Australian government to ratify the Global Ocean Treaty and propose high seas marine protected areas, including large protected areas in the Tasman Sea.
In a statement responding to the protest, Talley’s said it would seek legal action which “may include the arrest of the Rainbow Warrior.”
—ENDS—
Contacts:
Nick Young, Greenpeace Aotearoa: +64-21-707-727
Kimberley Bernard, Greenpeace Australia Pacific: +61 407 581 404 or [email protected]
Photos and videos available for media on request Notes:
[1] The action took place in the Chatham Rise area, where it was recently revealed a New Zealand vessel dragged up six tonnes of coral in a single trawl.
The paint used to paint the hull is water based and non-toxic
In the period 1990 to 2004 the total area trawled in NZ waters was 465,100 square kilometres – almost double NZ’s land mass.
Headline: Notice of Availability: Draft Programmatic Agreement and Request for Public Comments
Notice of Availability: Draft Programmatic Agreement and Request for Public Comments
Annapolis City Dock Flood Mitigation UndertakingPHILADELPHIA– The City of Annapolis, Maryland has applied through the Maryland Department of Emergency Management to the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) and Pre-Disaster Mitigation (PDM) Grant Program for a flood resiliency and stormwater improvement undertaking in the downtown Annapolis area in Anne Arundel County, Maryland
The proposed undertaking consists of four separate, yet connected projects (HMGP-4491-0043-MD, LPDM-PJ-03-MD-2023-002, HMGP-4261-0013-MD, LPDM-PJ-03-MD-2024-003) that involve the design and construction of a comprehensive stormwater and flood mitigation system at the City Dock area
The overall undertaking includes storm drain realignment; construction of three pump stations including wet wells, electric control building, and backup generator; deployable flood barriers; and grading modifications
The purpose of this undertaking is to implement strategies to protect historic downtown Annapolis, the US Naval Academy, and surrounding areas against flooding to advance the City’s economy and safeguard the City’s cultural and historic heritage
The City Dock is a busy hub in the historic heart of Annapolis City that has served as an important port within Annapolis and the Chesapeake Bay region for at least 350 years
The project is needed because the City Dock is vulnerable to flooding, which threatens its structural integrity and functionality, importance to the local economy, and use by the community as well as the safety of those using the area
FEMA is considering the effects of this undertaking on historic properties pursuant to 36 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 800, the regulations implementing Section 106 of NHPA (Section 106) (54 U
S
C
§§ 300101-306108)
FEMA, consistent with Section 106 and 36 CFR § 800
16(d), has defined the undertaking’s Area of Potential Effects (APE)
The APE is the geographic area within which an undertaking may directly or indirectly cause alterations in the character or use of historic properties, if any such properties exist
A historic property is any prehistoric or historic district, site, building, structure, or object included on, or eligible for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP)
FEMA determined the undertaking has the potential to affect historic properties including National Historic Landmarks (NHL), which are historic properties that illustrate the heritage of the United States
In accordance with 36 CFR § 800
10 and Section 110(f) of the NHPA, FEMA must, to the maximum extent possible, undertake such planning and actions as may be necessary to minimize harm to any NHL that may be directly and adversely affected by an undertaking
The undertaking’s construction schedule and access constraints within the APE limit surveys to fully identify and evaluate historic and cultural resources to determine if they are historic properties, determine if the undertaking would have adverse effects on historic properties, or fully avoid, minimize, or mitigate adverse effects, prior to completing the appropriate NEPA documentation and FEMA’s approval of the undertaking
When completing the Section 106 process prior to making a final decision on a particular undertaking is not practical, the regulations allow an agency to pursue a “project” Programmatic Agreement (PA) under 36 CFR § 800
14(b)(1)(ii)
Accordingly, to outline the phased Section 106 process, account for inadvertent discoveries and effects, and to create a proposal to resolve potential adverse effects, FEMA intends to execute a PA in accordance with Stipulation II
C
6
c of the Maryland Statewide Programmatic Agreement
In accordance with the terms of the PA, studies shall be undertaken to identify both aboveground and belowground historic properties within the APE, evaluate the undertaking’s effects on these historic properties, and complete efforts to minimize or avoid adverse effects
The City of Annapolis or its contractors will complete further site identification and evaluation efforts for the undertaking and archaeological monitoring
The PA outlines consultation procedures for evaluating the NRHP eligibility of newly identified historic properties including archaeological sites, assessing the undertaking’s effects on all historic properties, and resolving adverse effects, if needed
FEMA seeks to notify the public of this undertaking and involve potential consulting parties in the Section 106 process, including implementation of the PA
According to 36 CFR § 800
2, the following parties have consultative roles in the Section 106 process for undertakings not on tribal lands: the State Historic Preservation Officer (and the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO)), Indian Tribes (Tribes) and Native Hawaiian organizations, representatives of local governments with jurisdiction over the area in which the effects of an undertaking may occur, applicants for federal assistance, and additional consulting parties (individuals and organizations with a demonstrated interest in the undertaking)
Individuals or organizations with a demonstrated interest in this undertaking should contact FEMA using the instructions below
The Draft PA is available for review and comment, and can be viewed on and/or downloaded here or from the City of Annapolis website
The comment period on the Draft PA will conclude 30 days from today, June 27, 2025
Written comments on the Draft PA, or Section 106 comments on potential effects to historic properties can be mailed or emailed to the contact listed below
If no substantive comments are received, FEMA will seek to execute the Draft PA
Contact Information:ATTENTION: Annapolis City Dock Section 106 CommentsFEMA Region 3 Environmental and Historic Preservation615 Chestnut Street, 6th FloorPhiladelphia, PA 19106Email: FEMA-R3-EHP-PublicComment@fema
dhs
govSelect documents are included in the Draft PA exhibits
FEMA will provide additional documents upon request; please contact us by email at FEMA-R3-EHP-PublicComment@fema
dhs
gov
###FEMA’s mission is helping people before, during, and after disasters
FEMA Region 3’s jurisdiction includes Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia
Follow us on X at @femaregion3 and on LinkedIn at linkedin
June 27, 2025 Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada Border Services Agency
Today, Robert Ripcik, a 57-year-old resident of Beausejour, Manitoba, was sentenced to five years imprisonment for firearms-related offences along with a 10-year firearm prohibition and ordered to provide a DNA sample.
Ripcik, who has been in custody since his arrest on March 12, 2024, pleaded guilty in Selkirk Provincial Court to the following charges:
False statements, contrary to section 153(a) of the Customs Act
Possession of illegally imported goods, contrary to section 155 of the Customs Act
Unauthorized possession of firearms, contrary to section 91(1) of the Criminal Code
Possession of prohibited devices, contrary to section 91(2) of the Criminal Code
Possession of a prohibited firearm with readily accessible ammunition, contrary to section 95(1) of the Criminal Code
The investigation into Ripcik began in April 2023 after CBSA officers at the Winnipeg Land Commercial office examined a shipment that was found to contain items related to the manufacture of firearms without serial numbers. A firearm with no serial number is also known as a “ghost gun” and is untraceable.
In March and April 2024, CBSA officers, with the assistance of the RCMP Emergency Response Team, executed search warrants at a rural property near Chatfield, Manitoba. Among the items seized were:
Nine long guns with serial numbers (two prohibited firearms, seven non-restricted firearms)
Two Polymer 80 pistol receiver blanks for Glock pattern handguns (restricted firearms) and other handgun parts without serial numbers
One Ghost Gunner Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machine and one 3D printer
One lower receiver for an AR pattern rifle without serial number (a prohibited firearm)
Fully automatic parts for an AR pattern rifle (prohibited devices) and other AR parts
Multiple overcapacity magazines (prohibited devices) and ammunition
One fully automatic AR-15 pattern rifle (prohibited firearm)
One automatic switch for a Glock handgun (prohibited device)
The CBSA Integrated Firearm Enforcement Team (IFET), with assistance from the Winnipeg Police Service, the RCMP and Manitoba Conservation, led the complex investigation that resulted in today’s conviction.
Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region
“Tang Vogue Beyond the Horizons: A Golden Era of Multicultural Integration and Openness” exhibition opens Speaking at the opening ceremony, the Secretary for Development, Ms Bernadette Linn, said that, as one of the celebration activities of the 28th anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to the motherland, this is the largest joint exhibition, in terms of profile, scale and quantity of artefacts on display, since the signing of the Framework Agreement on Deepening Exchange and Cooperation in the Field of Heritage Architecture and Archaeology between the DEVB and the National Cultural Heritage Administration in 2022. The exhibition marks a move towards a higher level of mutual co-operation. Hong Kong is an East-meets-West centre for international cultural exchange. She is eagerly anticipating that the exhibition can showcase the culture of the majestic Tang dynasty to members of the public and friends from all over the world.
Other officiating guests at the ceremony were Deputy Administrator of the National Cultural Heritage Administration Mr Qiao Yunfei; the Secretary General of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Mr Wang Songmiao; the Permanent Secretary for Development (Works), Mr Ricky Lau; the Director of Art Exhibitions China, Mr Tan Ping; the Chairman of the Antiquities Advisory Board, Professor Desmond Hui; and the Chairman of the Advisory Committee on Built Heritage Conservation, Professor Douglas So.
The exhibition is divided into eight sections on the administrative system and governance of the Tang dynasty, the planning of Chang’an city, the life of people, religious beliefs, literati elegance, craftsmanship, prosperous scenes along the Silk Road and Maritime Silk Road, and Hong Kong’s role as a node on the Maritime Silk Road in the Tang dynasty. It features 269 significant pieces/sets of artefacts from 28 museums and cultural institutions in 10 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities on the Mainland (including 49 pieces/sets of grade-one cultural relics) and 29 pieces/sets of important artefacts unearthed in Hong Kong and dated to the Tang dynasty.
Among the key exhibits are two paintings, namely the “Scroll depicting Emperor Minghuang playing polo”, which is a Song dynasty depiction of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang (Minghuang) playing polo with his concubines on horseback; and the hanging scroll of Li Bai’s “Chun Ye Yan Tao Li Yuan Xu” (preface to the spring night banquet in the peach and plum garden) on kesi (cut silk) depicting the refined life of Tang dynasty literati. These paintings will only be displayed during the first two months (June 28 to August 27). Other key exhibits include a sancai teaware set with a seated figurine revealing the image of Lu Yu, China’s sage of tea; a gold jie comb (hair comb accessory) carved in openwork from a thin piece of gold; a painted figurine of a dancing black man with exotic charm; the “Lun Yu Zheng Xuan Zhu” (the Analects with annotation by Zheng Xuan) copied by Bu Tianshou, which has been included in the first batch of the National Catalogue of Precious Ancient Books; and a crimson gold walking dragon used in ritual ceremonies, which will be displayed throughout the entire exhibition period.
The exhibition also displays significant Tang dynasty artefacts unearthed at Chek Lap Kok, Tung Chung and San Tau on Lantau Island in Hong Kong, including ceramic ware, iron weapons, bronze belt ornaments, silver chai hairpin, glass ring, fragment of silver piece, Kai Yuan Tong Bao (circulating treasure from a new era) and Qian Yuan Zhong Bao (heavy treasure of Qian Yuan reign) bronze coins, to illustrate the role of Hong Kong in the Maritime Silk Road.
The exhibition will run at the Hong Kong Heritage Discovery Centre in Kowloon Park, Haiphong Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, from tomorrow to December 31 with free admission. For details and a short video on the preparation of the exhibition, please visit the websiteIssued at HKT 19:42
overnor Kathy Hochul announced today that June 28-29 is a free fishing weekend in New York State, encouraging New Yorkers to get offline and get outside to enjoy opportunities for affordable outdoor recreation across the state. During free fishing days, the fishing license requirement is waived for freshwater fishing on New York’s waters. The weekend is one of six designated Free Fishing Days that take place each year in New York State.
“There’s no better time for aspiring anglers to try freshwater fishing than a free fishing weekend,” Governor Hochul said. “New York is home to numerous freshwater lakes, ponds, streams and rivers, allowing for memorable fishing experiences for angler experts and novices, as well as friends and family.”
No rod? No problem. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) partners with libraries across the state to provide a fishing rod lending program. Instead of borrowing a book, library patrons can sign out a fishing rod. This affordable program provides an opportunity for people to try fishing before deciding to purchase their own gear. For more information on the program and a list of participating libraries visit DEC’S website.
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Amanda Lefton said, “Whether anglers are spending time with family and friends outside in nature or experiencing the thrill of catching a fish, there are plenty of reasons to enjoy fishing. I encourage participating anglers to share their love of fishing by introducing someone new to the sport during New York’s Free Fishing Weekend.”
DEC also offers a host of resources for those interested in getting started in fishing. The I FISH NY Beginners’ Guide to Freshwater Fishing provides information on everything from rigging up a fishing rod, to identifying your catch, and understanding fishing regulations. A video series on DEC’s YouTube channel is also available that complements the Beginners’ Guide.
For those looking for a spot to fish during Free Fishing Weekend, publicly accessible locations can be found on DEC’s Places to Fish site. The DECinfo Locator Map or Tackle Box feature in the HuntFishNY mobile app also offers options to find a fishing spot near you, along with information on parking, boat launches and more. Anglers can also access their sporting license information, which serves as valid proof of possessing a fishing license.
Free Fishing Days further support Governor Hochul’s “Get Offline, Get Outside” initiative that promotes physical and mental health by helping encourage New York’s children and families to put down their phones and computers, take a break from social media, and enjoy recreation and outdoor social gatherings.
The New York State Department of Health (DOH) provides advice to anglers about what fish are safe to eat and how often. Visit DOH’s website to search by waterbody location.
Outside of free fishing days, anglers over the age of 16 must have a valid fishing license. For more information on purchasing a license visit the DEC website.
Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (12th District of Michigan)
Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (MI-06) today shared a letter from Republic Services in response to questions raised at her June 18 Western Wayne Community Town Hall regarding hazardous waste and safety at Wayne Disposal Inc.
In the letter, Russ Knocke, Vice President of Public and Government Affairs for Republic, writes:
“Per our recent telephone conversation, we would like to provide some answers to questions we believe were raised by participants at your Western Wayne Town Hall event on Wednesday, June 18, 2025. Specifically, we would like to provide details regarding the testing and characterization procedures in place for all waste being shipped to WDI for disposal by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) as part of its Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (“FUSRAP”).”
Excerpts from the letter:
“WDI is not permitted to accept waste any more radioactive than a traditional non-hazardous solid waste landfill in Michigan- USACE simply chooses to dispose of this material at WDI because of its highly engineered construction and robust environmental monitoring programs.”
“WDI has an approved Radiological Monitoring Plan for the collection of data specifically designed to ensure the safe management and disposal of radiological waste. As part of that plan, the site monitors worker exposure, perimeter air samples, leachate, surface water, radon and groundwater data for radionuclides. All data collected is submitted to EGLE for its review. Site worker exposure has always been well below occupational safety levels, all monitoring results are consistent with natural background concentrations and below established action levels, and landfill leachate meets drinking water standards for radioactivity even before it is treated. In summary, WDI has a robust radiological monitoring program and makes the data publicly available via submission to EGLE as part of its regular compliance reporting cadence.”
“WDI remains firmly committed to transparency, active community engagement, and the responsible management of all materials accepted at the facility. We are confident in the strength and rigor of our environmental monitoring programs, which are designed to ensure that site operations remain protective of human health and the environment, with no adverse offsite impacts.”
View the full text of the letter here.
In addition to the information provided in the letter, Republic informed Dingell they are sending two of their team members to a nuclear training program at Harvard University in August and offered for someone from VBT Fire to join them. They also stated that if there’s ever a similar program with the University of Michigan, they would be open to such a training in state.
In addition, at Rep. Dingell’s request, Republic agreed to create a website for the landfill for transparency and community engagement.
The letter comes ahead of the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) public information session on Republic Services’ application to expand operations at Wayne Disposal.
In both of the recent elections pro-European forces scraped to victory, thanks to a strong turnout among Moldovan diaspora voters, primarily in western Europe and north America. And in both elections, Russian interference was a significant factor. This is unlikely to change in the upcoming parliamentary vote. Moldova is too important a battleground in Russia’s campaign to rebuild a Soviet-style sphere of influence in eastern Europe.
Wedged between EU and Nato member Romania to the west and Ukraine to the east, Moldova has its own aspirations for EU accession. But with a breakaway region in Transnistria, which is host to a Russian military base and “peacekeeping force” and whose population is leaning heavily towards Russia, this will not be a straightforward path to membership.
What’s more, a Euro-sceptic and Moscow-friendly government after the next elections might allow the Kremlin to increase its military presence in the region and thereby pose a threat not only to Ukraine but also to Romania. While not quite equivalent to Russia’s unsinkable aircraft carrier of Kaliningrad, a more Russia-friendly Moldovan government would be a major strategic asset for Moscow.
Unsurprisingly, Moldova’s president, Maia Sandu, and her Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky have little doubt that further destabilisation is at the top of Russia’s agenda. Fears about a Russian escalation in the months before the elections are neither new nor unfounded.
There were worries that Moldova and Transnistria might be next on the Kremlin’s agenda as far back as the aftermath of Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014. These worries resurfaced when Moscow, rather prematurely, announced the beginning of stage two of its war against Ukraine in late April, 2022.
Knife-edge elections are nothing new in Moldova. The country is not only physically divided along the river Nistru, but even in the territory controlled by the government, opinions over its future geopolitical orientation remain split.
With no pre-1991 history of independent statehood, parts of Moldova were part of Ukraine, Romania and the Soviet Union. Russian is widely spoken and, while declining in number, Moldovan labour migrants to Russia remain important contributors of remittances, which accounted for over 12 percent of the country’s GDP in 2023.
A large number of Moldovans are, therefore, not keen on severing all ties with Russia. This does not mean they are supporters of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine or opponents of closer relations with the European Union. But as the referendum and presidential elections in October 2024, if pushed to make a choice between Russia and Europe and manipulated by Russian fear-mongering and vote buying, pro-European majorities remain slim.
This is despite the significant support that the EU has provided to Moldova, including €1.9 billion (£1.6 billion) in financial support to facilitate reforms as part of the country’s efforts to join the EU. And there’s also nearly €200 million in military assistance over the past four years, including a €20 million package for improved air defences announced in April.
Russian interference in the 2024 election was well documented.
The EU has also provided several emergency aid packages to assist the country’s population during repeated energy crises triggered by Russia. Since then, the Moldovans and Brussels have agreed on comprehensive energy strategy that will make the country immune to Russian blackmail.
This pattern of competitive influence seeking by Russia and the EU is long-standing and has not produced any decisive, lasting breakthroughs for either side.
When the current president of Moldova, Maia Sandu, won in 2020, she defeated her opponent, Igor Dodon, by a decisive 58% to 42% margin, equivalent to some 250,000 votes that separated the candidates in the second round. Sandu’s Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) obtained almost 53% of votes in the 2021 parliamentary elections and gained 63 seats in the 101-seat parliament. Not since the 2005 elections, won by the communist party under then-president Vladimir Voronin, had there been a a majority single-party government in Moldova. According to current opinion polls, PAS remains the strongest party with levels of support between 27% and 37%.
In a crowded field of political parties and their leaders in which disappointment and doubt are the prevailing negative emotions among the electorate, Sandu and PAS remain the least unpopular choices. They have weathered the fall-out from the war in Ukraine well so far – managing the influx of refugees, keeping relations with Transnistria stable, and steering Moldova through a near-constant cost-of-living and energy crisis. Anti-government protests in 2022-23 eventually fizzled out.
Russia’s election interference in 2024 was ultimately not successful in cheating pro-European voters out of their victories in the presidential elections and the referendum on future EU membership. But this is unlikely to stop the Kremlin from trying again in the run-up to parliamentary elections in September.
Moscow will try to disrupt and delay Moldova’s already bumpy road to EU membership. A weakened pro-European government after parliamentary elections would be a very useful tool for Russia. Moldova and its European allies are in for an unusually hot summer.
Stefan Wolff is a past recipient of grant funding from the Natural Environment Research Council of the UK, the United States Institute of Peace, the Economic and Social Research Council of the UK, the British Academy, the NATO Science for Peace Programme, the EU Framework Programmes 6 and 7 and Horizon 2020, as well as the EU’s Jean Monnet Programme. He is a Trustee and Honorary Treasurer of the Political Studies Association of the UK and a Senior Research Fellow at the Foreign Policy Centre in London.
Headline: Windows Resiliency Initiative: Making environments touched by Microsoft products more secure
Resilience isn’t optional—it’s a strategic imperative.
In today’s threat landscape, organizations can’t afford to treat resilience as a reactive measure. It must be built into the foundation of how systems are designed, secured and managed. That’s why Microsoft launched the Windows Resiliency Initiative (WRI)—a focused effort to embed resilience and security into the Windows platform itself.
Announced at Ignite, WRI is an initiative designed to make all digital environments touched by Microsoft products more secure and resilient. WRI prioritizes preventing, managing and recovering from security and reliability incidents, mitigating issues swiftly and providing seamless recovery across the Windows platform.
WRI outlines Microsoft’s commitment to helping organizations prevent, withstand and recover from disruptions. This includes three core areas: ecosystem collaboration, actionable guidance and product innovation.
Ecosystem collaboration and learning with partners to evolve the Windows ecosystem
In September 2024, we hosted the Windows Endpoint Security Ecosystem Summit (WESES), bringing together a diverse group of endpoint security vendors and global government officials to discuss strategies for improving resiliency and protecting our mutual customers.
We recognized our shared responsibility to enhance resilience by openly sharing information about how our products function, handle updates and manage disruptions. Since the summit, we’ve continued this close collaboration with Microsoft Virus Initiative (MVI) partners to gather feedback and iterate on Windows platform capabilities to achieve the goal of enhanced reliability without sacrificing security.
As a part of this evolution, our MVI 3.0 program requires partners to commit to taking specific actions to improve the security and reliability of Windows. Requirements include testing incident response processes and following safe deployment practices (SDP) for updates to Windows endpoints. Security product updates must be gradual, leverage deployment rings and leverage monitoring to minimize negative impacts. These practices complement our platform investments, enabling us to deliver greater stability, faster recovery and reduced operational risk for enterprise customers who rely on a secure and reliable Windows environment.
Next month, we will deliver a private preview of the Windows endpoint security platform to a set of MVI partners. The new Windows capabilities will allow them to start building their solutions to run outside the Windows kernel. This means security products like anti-virus and endpoint protection solutions can run in user mode just as apps do. This change will help security developers provide a high level of reliability and easier recovery resulting in less impact on Windows devices in the event of unexpected issues. We will continue to collaborate deeply with our MVI partners throughout the private preview.
Here are some insights from MVI partners that provide further perspective:
Bitdefender:“Bitdefender is pleased to collaborate with Microsoft to redefine how security is delivered to Windows users. Through the Windows Resiliency Initiative and development of the Windows endpoint security platform, our teams have worked together to modernize the security architecture—creating a resilient, forward-looking foundation that enhances protection against evolving threats while maintaining a seamless user experience. This initiative reflects our shared commitment to advancing industry standards and delivering secure, high-performing Windows environments for customers everywhere.” — Florin Virlan, SVP, Product and Engineering at Bitdefender Customer Solutions Group.
CrowdStrike:“We spoke at WESES last year to emphasize the importance of our industry coming together and, since then, have seen significant customer interest in the progress toward greater platform resiliency. Through this collaboration, we’ve driven substantial improvements to the planned capabilities for the Windows endpoint security platform, paving the way for a more integrated high-performing security solution. With the introduction of MVI 3.0, we’ve successfully met all the new standards and recognize how these rigorous requirements strengthen the overall ecosystem. We remain fully committed to developing a Windows endpoint security platform-ready product and look forward to leveraging these new capabilities as Microsoft releases them.” —Alex Ionescu, Chief Technology Innovation Officer, CrowdStrike.
ESET:“The collaboration between ESET and Microsoft technology teams on the proposed Windows endpoint security platform changes continue to be productive with open and ongoing dialogue. Delivering a stable and resilient operating system environment is extremely important for our joint customers, and the ESET team continue to provide detailed feedback to help ensure there is no degradation in the security or performance currently enjoyed by our customers. The increased requirements to maintain MVI membership complement the Windows endpoint security platform, requiring the documentation and adoption of resilient processes to help ensure any incident is either avoided or managed both efficiently and expediently. ESET are committed to the important evolution of both the MVI partnership and the engineering collaboration with Microsoft, something we have valued for several decades.”—Juraj Malcho, Chief Technology Officer, ESET
SentinelOne: “SentinelOne is pleased to be collaborating with Microsoft to drive a more resilient approach to delivering endpoint protection products on Windows. As a security-first company, we understand that every vendor must live up to stringent engineering, testing and deployment standards and follow software development and deployment best practices. SentinelOne has followed these processes for years and we appreciate the opportunity to provide input to Microsoft and shape changes that can drive better outcomes for our shared customers.”— Stefan Krantz, SVP and Head of Engineering, SentinelOne
Sophos: “Sophos has been a close collaborator with Microsoft on the Windows endpoint security platform since the Windows Endpoint Security Ecosystem Summit last September, and we’re enthusiastic about the advancements introduced with MVI 3.0. This evolution underscores Microsoft’s thoughtful approach to equity among its security partners and its ongoing commitment to a resilient and secure ecosystem, which aligns perfectly with Sophos’ dedication to responsible multi-stage software release practices. By establishing MVI 3.0 as a standard for the Windows security ecosystem, we believe the entire industry, vendors and customers alike, will benefit from stronger, more stable protection. We look forward to deepening our partnership with Microsoft and continuing to deliver advanced endpoint security capabilities to protect our shared customers.”— John Peterson, Chief Development Officer, Sophos
Trellix:“We have a long and trusted partnership with Microsoft, and will keep working closely with the Windows endpoint security platform program as it is nurtured and scaled. Over the last year, we have worked with Microsoft to ensure that our processes and products continue to meet stringent requirements and have engaged with feedback and recommendations to improve operational resilience. Safe deployment practices and transparency advance our entire industry and strengthen cybersecurity outcomes for all.”— Jim Treinen, SVP, Engineering, Trellix
Trend Micro:“Our collaboration with Microsoft on the Windows endpoint security platform reflects a shared commitment to more resilient enterprise security. We’ve contributed across technical validation and MVI 3.0 alignment, ensuring the platform is ready for real-world deployment. Just as important, we see the Windows endpoint security platform supporting a more integrated and resilient security model, where platform and protection work together to meet the evolving needs of modern enterprise.” — Rachel Jin, Chief Enterprise Platform Officer, Trend Micro
WithSecure:“WithSecure is proud to be part of Microsoft’s Windows Resiliency Initiative, a collaborative effort to strengthen the Windows ecosystem. Our team has worked diligently to help meet the MVI 3.0 requirements, including improving our safe deployment practices resulting in reduced risk for our customers and partners. Through deep technical collaboration with Microsoft, we’re making Windows more secure, resilient and easier for security vendors to integrate with. As new Windows endpoint security platform capabilities emerge, WithSecure is excited to leverage them to help our customers stay ahead of evolving threats. We look forward to the many security-enhancing opportunities this collaboration will bring.” — Johannes Rave, Lead Architect of XDR at WithSecure
Actionable guidance to build organizational resilience: Introducing the Windows Resiliency Initiative e-book
Today, we are happy to introduce the Windows Resiliency Initiative e-book, one result of our commitment to provide guidance for others building organizational resiliency. The e-book is a resource that helps organizations understand how Windows provides foundational practices, strategies and tools to build resilience and embrace a resilience-focused strategy across their IT platform.
Product innovation to support resiliency on the Windows platform
As an outcome of WRI, organizations can look forward to several new Windows product innovations to support them in their journeys to build infrastructures that can rapidly adapt as needed while maintaining a foundation of resilience. Consider adding these capabilities to your digital repertoire.
Now it’s easier than ever to navigate unexpected restarts and recover faster
A key trait of a resilient organization is the ability to maintain productivity and minimize disruptions. But when unexpected restarts occur, they can cause delays and impact business continuity. This is why we are streamlining the unexpected restart experience. We are also adding quick machine recovery, a recovery mechanism for PCs that cannot restart successfully. This change is part of a larger continued effort to reduce disruption in the event of an unexpected restart.
The Windows 11 24H2 release included improvements to crash dump collection which reduced downtime during an unexpected restart to about two seconds for most users. We’re introducing a simplified user interface (UI) that pairs with the shortened experience. The updated UI improves readability and aligns better with Windows 11 design principles, while preserving the technical information on the screen for when it is needed.
The new Windows 11 unexpected restart screen
The simplified UI for unexpected restarts will be available starting later this summer on all Windows 11, version 24H2 devices.
In the case of consecutive unexpected restarts, devices can get stuck in the Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE), impacting productivity and often requiring IT teams to spend significant time troubleshooting and restoring affected devices. This is where quick machine recovery (QMR) can help. When a widespread outage affects devices from starting properly, Microsoft can broadly deploy targeted remediations to affected devices via Windows RE—automating fixes with QMR and quickly getting users to a productive state without requiring complex manual intervention from IT.
We are excited to announce QMR will be generally available later this summer together with the renewed unexpected restart functionality. QMR supports all editions of Windows 11, version 24H2 devices. It is enabled by default for Windows 11 Home devices; IT admins will be in full control and can enable it on devices running Windows 11 Pro and Enterprise. Later this year, Microsoft will release additional capabilities for IT teams to customize QMR.
Microsoft Connected Cache saves internet bandwidth
With today’s interconnected work ecosystems, reliable internet bandwidth has become essential for organizations seeking resiliency through a cloud-native approach to device management. Case in point: When all devices in a system simultaneously attempt to download updates, an organization’s network bandwidth, especially in branch offices, can be negatively impacted.
Microsoft Connected Cache can help organizations improve their bandwidth when performing upgrades to Windows 11, Windows Autopilot device provisioning, Microsoft Intune application installations and Windows Autopatch monthly updates. Connected Cache will be generally available in the coming weeks.
Internet bandwidth is saved when Connected Cache nodes transparently and dynamically cache the Microsoft-published content that downstream Windows devices need to download. Using this solution, content requests from Delivery Optimization can be served by the locally deployed Connected Cache node instead of the cloud. This results in fast, bandwidth-efficient delivery across connected devices.
Introducing Universal Print anywhere: Print securely, flexibly and confidentially
Organizational resilience is a holistic concept that extends to printer systems, including third-party drivers that, while often essential to operations, can be an exposure point. Universal Print anywhere, also known as “pull print,” enables users to securely release their printing request from anywhere in the organization to any authorized printer.
Building on the existing secure release with QR code functionality (enabled with the Microsoft 365 mobile app), users can print using the Windows Protected Print infrastructure, without having to choose a printer in advance. This sequence helps ensure that confidential documents aren’t left on the printer for unauthorized viewing and minimizes toner and paper waste from uncollected print jobs.
This Universal Print update provides additional IT control with a feature that allows administrators to configure print options for a printer share. This means end users will only be able to view options selected by the administrator.
Get updates without interruption, thanks to hotpatching
A hotpatch update installs important Windows security updates once a month without needing to restart—quickly securing without disrupting workflow. It’s simple to use and included with Windows Autopatch.
If your devices meet the prerequisites, you can opt devices in (or out) for automated deployment through Windows Autopatch. To learn more, visit the hotpatch blog. Devices that don’t qualify will still receive regular security updates to help ensure protection.
Windows 365 Reserve: Maintain business continuity with instant Cloud PC access
Device disruptions, due to loss, theft, delays or malfunctions, can be inconvenient and disruptive to productivity. That’s why Microsoft just announced Windows 365 Reserve, a new offer to help organizations mitigate the risk of downtime. Windows 365 Reserve provides easy, secure access to a temporary, pre-configured Cloud PC, which can be accessed across devices when a user’s primary device is not available.
With Windows 365 Reserve, organizations can build a more resilient and secure IT infrastructure, especially in the case of a security incident, lost or stolen devices, or an inability to access your physical device, for whatever reason. Windows 365 Reserve will soon be available for preview. Complete this form or contact your Microsoft account team to express interest in participating in the preview of Windows 365 Reserve.
Prepare for a digital future with resiliency as the foundation
Building organizational resilience is a necessary strategic imperative as we move into a new age of digital capabilities—and risk. Organizations equipped with strategies, best practices and tools that will support their ability to maintain operations as they anticipate, prepare for, respond to and recover from disruptions are more likely to thrive and remain competitive within today’s complex and interconnected digital ecosystems.
Microsoft is here to support you as you build resilience in your security strategy with our WRI commitment to helping organizations prepare for uncertainty, minimize risk and emerge stronger from any challenge.
Consider these helpful links:
Disclaimer: This blog post is for informational purposes only and outlines Microsoft’s current product direction and plans. Product availability, licensing terms and capabilities may vary by region and are subject to change. All third-party trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Editor’s note – June 27, 2025 –A quote from Sophos was added.
MAN’s claim that the plastics ban would harm Nigeria’s petrochemical and manufacturing sectors, increase unemployment, and worsen poverty is not only misleading, it ignores the environmental urgency and economic opportunity that such a policy presents. MAN has made suggestions on recycling” and “waste management” as alternatives to the ban. We state clearly: that is corporate greenwashing.
This is not an attack on business, it is a call to evolve. The proposed ban is a necessary intervention to protect public health, restore ecosystems, and unlock new opportunities through innovation and sustainable production. Manufacturers now stand at a crossroads: the chance to pioneer sustainable innovation or risk being left behind in a rapidly evolving global market.
Nigeria generates an estimated 2.5 million tonnes of plastic waste every year. Less than 10 percent of this is recycled. For decades, plastic production in Nigeria has operated under the veil of “industrial progress.” But progress for who? While a few manufacturers celebrate quarterly profits, millions of Nigerians are forced to live with the aftermath.
The rest clogs drainage systems, pollutes coastlines, poisons food chains, litters communities, and contributes to flooding and disease outbreaks. Most single-use plastics, such as carrier bags and styrofoam, are not designed to be recycled and often end up in landfills, oceans, or incinerated—releasing toxic chemicals into the environment.
Plastic pollution is not just an environmental crisis. It is a human rights issue. You cannot recycle your way out of a problem you are actively expanding.
Communities located near petrochemical plants and waste disposal sites are exposed to dangerous pollutants that increase the risk of cancer, respiratory diseases, and developmental disorders. These health burdens fall disproportionately on low-income and marginalised communities. Continuing with business-as-usual is no longer an option.
MAN’s assertion that bans devastate industries is contradicted by real-world evidence. In Kenya, the 2017 plastic bag ban led to the growth of new businesses in the production of reusable bags and packaging. It did not result in mass layoffs, but rather a wave of job creation and local innovation. In Lagos, the 2024 ban on styrofoam and selected single-use plastics has already encouraged entrepreneurs to explore safer alternatives.
Greenpeace Africa calls on the Lagos State Government to maintain its leadership and accelerate the implementation of the proposed ban. The state can support a just transition by offering incentives to manufacturers that invest in safe, affordable, and scalable alternatives. This will help build local industries, reduce production costs over time, and ensure accessible solutions for informal traders and everyday consumers.
The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria must recognise that the future of business lies in sustainability. We reject the tired narrative that environmental regulation threatens livelihoods. The trope has been weaponised for decades by fossil fuel lobbyists and polluters worldwide.
Reuse and refill systems, biodegradable packaging, and circular economy models offer pathways for growth that align with both market trends and public expectations. It is time to move beyond outdated arguments and embrace innovation that benefits people and the planet.
As Nigeria plays a key role in global negotiations for a binding plastics treaty and holds significant influence within ECOWAS, it must lead by example. Domestic policies must reflect the ambition the country presents on the international stage.
You cannot call for global action on plastic pollution while resisting local change. Nigeria’s credibility and leadership depend on what we do at home. This ban is a vital step in the right direction.
Signed by;
1. BluerAfrica
2. African Research Centre for Climate and Environmental Justice (ARCCEJ)
3. Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA)
4. Centre for Blue Economy Research and Development Ltd/Gte
Source: American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Union
Trump’s union-busting executive order was retaliation against labor unions for challenging administration’s illegal workplace actions, judge finds
WASHINGTON – A federal judge has granted a preliminary injunction after ruling that the Trump administration likely violated the law by stripping nearly a million federal government employees of their union rights.
Six unions filed a lawsuit on April 3 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, challenging President Trump’s March 27 executive order that removed collective bargaining rights from about 950,000 federal employees the unions collectively represent. Trump cited national security as the reason for the executive action, but the unions, led by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), argue that the executive order was unconstitutional retaliation meant to punish them for engaging in activity protected by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, including vocal opposition and legal challenges to the administration.
The unions also argued that the administration violated the Fifth Amendment when it voided collective bargaining agreements it had properly entered into without due process of law. The unions further contend that the administration acted in excess of its authority by applying the national security exemption to employees whose primary functions are clearly unrelated to national security. These include workers at the Department of Veterans Affairs, Environmental Protection Agency, Food Safety and Inspection Service, and several other departments and agencies.
The lawsuit was filed by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), National Association of Government Employees (NAGE-SEIU), National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE-IAM), National Nurses United (NNU), and Service Employees International Union (SEIU). The parties were represented by Bredhoff and Kaiser PLLC. and Feinberg, Jackson, Worthman & Wasow LLP.
“President Trump revoked our members’ union rights in retaliation for our advocacy on behalf of federal workers and the American people, and we are grateful that Judge Donato saw through his disingenuous ‘national security’ justification and has ordered the immediate restoration of their rights,” said AFGE National President Everett Kelley. “Federal employees have had the right to join a union and bargain collectively for decades, including during President Trump’s first term, and at no time have employees’ union rights caused concern for our nation’s national security. Revoking these rights was clearly a retaliatory attempt to bust federal unions and wreak havoc on our nation’s workforce and the services they provide to the American people.”
“This is justice for the federal workers who were unfairly retaliated against and had their freedom to collectively bargain ripped away for standing up to illegal executive actions,” said AFSCME President Lee Saunders. “This executive order is a direct effort to silence federal workers’ voice on the job — an essential freedom that helps maintain the integrity of our democracy. Federal workers serve every community, and targeting them through political retribution threatens the freedom of all working people to fight for fair treatment. We applaud this ruling as a critical defense of our communities and our rights at work.”
“Judge Donato’s ruling is a resounding rejection of the Trump administration’s authoritarian tactics and its sham invocation of national security as a cover for union busting,” said NAGE National President David J. Holway. “This executive order isn’t about national security. President Trump is punishing NAGE and other unions for protecting the rights of workers and standing up to the administration’s unlawful actions. The court made it clear: national security cannot be used as a smokescreen to silence federal workers. No president is above the law.”
“America’s public service workers don’t work for profits, politics, or for glory – they serve our nation,” said SEIU President April Verrett. “The President’s unlawful executive order attacking federal unions is not an attack on a million federal workers, but is a direct attack on all workers who seek a collective voice to bargain for a better future. This is blatant retaliation against brave workers who dared to exercise their First Amendment rights to criticize this administration’s authoritarian overreach. The labor movement stands in solidarity, and we will not let this administration’s union-busting tactics silence us.”
“Collective bargaining rights are critical for union nurses so we can advocate for our veterans and ensure they get the care they deserve. We appreciate Judge Donato ruling in favor of our lawsuit, which challenges the executive order that threatens our bargaining rights. We will fight for our veterans who put their lives on the line for us. All federal workers deserve collective bargaining rights,” said Irma Westmoreland, a registered nurse and the chair of National Nurses United’s VA Division.
“The right of federal employees to join a union is protected by the Constitution and has been supported by Presidents of both parties for decades,” said NFFE National President Randy Erwin. “We believe the Trump Administration is blatantly violating both the Constitution and federal law in a misguided attempt to bust federal unions. In our view, this is the most anti-worker and anti-union action this country has ever seen. NFFE and our allies are pleased to see the rule of law upheld and the critical rights of working people protected by Judge Donato.”
Source: The Conversation – UK – By Ruth H. Thurstan, Associate Professor in Marine and Historical Ecology, University of Exeter
Ruth Thurstan holds the Piscatorial AtlasCredit: Lee Raby, CC BY-NC-ND
What stands out most about the book I’m carrying under my arm, as I meander through the exhibits at the National Maritime Museum Cornwall in Falmouth, is its awkwardly large size. The Piscatorial Atlas, authored by Ole Theodor Olsen and published in 1883, contains 50 beautifully illustrated charts of the seas around Great Britain. These show the locations exploited at that time for a variety of fish species, alongside the typical vessels or fishing gear used. This information was collated from fishermen in the decade before the atlas was published.
The atlas isn’t a book made for travel. Luckily, it can be readily admired online. But leafing through its carefully curated pages, which contain the collective knowledge of so many people who have long since passed away, feels special, and is why I chose it to show to the programme producers today.
I’ve always loved old books, but I never imagined they would become such an integral part of my work. My interest in marine historical ecology – the use of historical archives to make sense of how our ocean ecosystems are changing – started 18 years ago when I read The Unnatural History of the Sea by Professor Callum Roberts. Within its pages it details how historical perspectives provide critical insights into the deteriorating health of our seas.
Local science, global stories.
This article is part of a series, Secrets of the Sea, exploring how marine scientists are developing climate solutions.
In collaboration with the BBC, Anna Turns travels around the West Country coastline to meet ocean experts making exciting discoveries beneath the waves.
In recent decades, fishery declines, degradation of coastal habitats and the loss of large predators show that exploitation, coastal development, pollution and climate change are exacting their toll on marine ecosystems.
Yet information extracted from old books, reports, and even newspaper articles, show us that many of these issues started long ago. We have exploited the seas for thousands of years, but in Britain, the 19th-century introduction of steam power was a watershed moment. A point in time when our ability to exploit the seas abruptly and dramatically increased. My research aims to uncover how our use of this technological advance – and those that followed – have affected the functioning of marine ecosystems and their continued ability to support our needs.
Transformation of the seas
These negative effects are profound. Towards the end of the Piscatorial Atlas is a page dedicated to the native oyster (Ostrea edulis). It is my favourite of the charts. A gradation of colour indicates where oysters were found in abundance at this time. Colour surrounds the coastal seas of Britain and further afield. Strikingly, there is an enormous area of oyster ground delineated in the southern North Sea.
Today, the native oyster ecosystem is defined as collapsed. The decline of nearshore oyster reefs was well underway by the time the Piscatorial Atlas was published, and the loss of the large North Sea oyster ground – so clear on Olsen’s chart – swiftly followed. As those with the knowledge of these once prolific grounds passed away, the memory of the once vast oyster habitats was lost. This problem was further compounded by science. In the late 19th century, studies of oyster grounds were rare, and scientific surveys almost always occurred after the habitat had been destroyed. Low densities of oysters became the scientific norm.
Recent research I was involved in with a team of experts used historical sources from across Europe to show just how much change has occurred. We showed that reported native oyster habitat once covered tens of thousands of square kilometres and was a dominant feature of some coastal ecosystems. Multiple layers of old oyster shell, consolidated by a layer of living oysters, provided raised reefs that supported a diverse range of species.
The economic and cultural significance of oysters created a more visible historical record than many other species. Yet, the history of marine declines is not limited to oysters. Historical sources quote fishermen concerned about the expansion of trawling and fishing effort. They described the efficiency with which sail trawlers and early steam-powered vessels extracted fish and non-target species from the seafloor.
The impact of land-based activities, such as sediment and pollutant run-off and coastal development, also increased as societies industrialised. These placed marine ecosystems under further pressure, yet regulations governing sustainable management of our seas failed to keep up. These influences, coupled with a collective societal amnesia regarding what we have lost, facilitated the hidden transformation of marine ecosystems.
Using old books and other deep-time approaches, researchers are increasingly making these transformations visible. Reading the words of people from centuries ago, we learn that their experiences of marine ecosystems were often fundamentally different from our own. Understanding the scale of this difference, where species and habitats existed, and in what abundances, can help make the case for their conservation and restoration.
People have always made use of the seas. For me, looking to the past isn’t just about understanding what we have lost, it is also about taking positive lessons from the past, such as the myriad ways in which societies benefited from the presence of healthy marine ecosystems. Heeding these lessons from history helps us visualise the full range of possible futures available to us, including the many benefits that more ambitious conservation and restoration of our ocean ecosystems could bring, should we choose this path.
Ruth H. Thurstan works for The University of Exeter. She receives funding from the Convex Seascape Survey and the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement no. 856488).
Source: The Conversation – UK – By Ruth H. Thurstan, Associate Professor in Marine and Historical Ecology, University of Exeter
Ruth Thurstan holds the Piscatorial AtlasCredit: Lee Raby, CC BY-NC-ND
What stands out most about the book I’m carrying under my arm, as I meander through the exhibits at the National Maritime Museum Cornwall in Falmouth, is its awkwardly large size. The Piscatorial Atlas, authored by Ole Theodor Olsen and published in 1883, contains 50 beautifully illustrated charts of the seas around Great Britain. These show the locations exploited at that time for a variety of fish species, alongside the typical vessels or fishing gear used. This information was collated from fishermen in the decade before the atlas was published.
The atlas isn’t a book made for travel. Luckily, it can be readily admired online. But leafing through its carefully curated pages, which contain the collective knowledge of so many people who have long since passed away, feels special, and is why I chose it to show to the programme producers today.
I’ve always loved old books, but I never imagined they would become such an integral part of my work. My interest in marine historical ecology – the use of historical archives to make sense of how our ocean ecosystems are changing – started 18 years ago when I read The Unnatural History of the Sea by Professor Callum Roberts. Within its pages it details how historical perspectives provide critical insights into the deteriorating health of our seas.
Local science, global stories.
This article is part of a series, Secrets of the Sea, exploring how marine scientists are developing climate solutions.
In collaboration with the BBC, Anna Turns travels around the West Country coastline to meet ocean experts making exciting discoveries beneath the waves.
In recent decades, fishery declines, degradation of coastal habitats and the loss of large predators show that exploitation, coastal development, pollution and climate change are exacting their toll on marine ecosystems.
Yet information extracted from old books, reports, and even newspaper articles, show us that many of these issues started long ago. We have exploited the seas for thousands of years, but in Britain, the 19th-century introduction of steam power was a watershed moment. A point in time when our ability to exploit the seas abruptly and dramatically increased. My research aims to uncover how our use of this technological advance – and those that followed – have affected the functioning of marine ecosystems and their continued ability to support our needs.
Transformation of the seas
These negative effects are profound. Towards the end of the Piscatorial Atlas is a page dedicated to the native oyster (Ostrea edulis). It is my favourite of the charts. A gradation of colour indicates where oysters were found in abundance at this time. Colour surrounds the coastal seas of Britain and further afield. Strikingly, there is an enormous area of oyster ground delineated in the southern North Sea.
Today, the native oyster ecosystem is defined as collapsed. The decline of nearshore oyster reefs was well underway by the time the Piscatorial Atlas was published, and the loss of the large North Sea oyster ground – so clear on Olsen’s chart – swiftly followed. As those with the knowledge of these once prolific grounds passed away, the memory of the once vast oyster habitats was lost. This problem was further compounded by science. In the late 19th century, studies of oyster grounds were rare, and scientific surveys almost always occurred after the habitat had been destroyed. Low densities of oysters became the scientific norm.
Recent research I was involved in with a team of experts used historical sources from across Europe to show just how much change has occurred. We showed that reported native oyster habitat once covered tens of thousands of square kilometres and was a dominant feature of some coastal ecosystems. Multiple layers of old oyster shell, consolidated by a layer of living oysters, provided raised reefs that supported a diverse range of species.
The economic and cultural significance of oysters created a more visible historical record than many other species. Yet, the history of marine declines is not limited to oysters. Historical sources quote fishermen concerned about the expansion of trawling and fishing effort. They described the efficiency with which sail trawlers and early steam-powered vessels extracted fish and non-target species from the seafloor.
The impact of land-based activities, such as sediment and pollutant run-off and coastal development, also increased as societies industrialised. These placed marine ecosystems under further pressure, yet regulations governing sustainable management of our seas failed to keep up. These influences, coupled with a collective societal amnesia regarding what we have lost, facilitated the hidden transformation of marine ecosystems.
Using old books and other deep-time approaches, researchers are increasingly making these transformations visible. Reading the words of people from centuries ago, we learn that their experiences of marine ecosystems were often fundamentally different from our own. Understanding the scale of this difference, where species and habitats existed, and in what abundances, can help make the case for their conservation and restoration.
People have always made use of the seas. For me, looking to the past isn’t just about understanding what we have lost, it is also about taking positive lessons from the past, such as the myriad ways in which societies benefited from the presence of healthy marine ecosystems. Heeding these lessons from history helps us visualise the full range of possible futures available to us, including the many benefits that more ambitious conservation and restoration of our ocean ecosystems could bring, should we choose this path.
Ruth H. Thurstan works for The University of Exeter. She receives funding from the Convex Seascape Survey and the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement no. 856488).
Source: The Conversation – UK – By Ruth H. Thurstan, Associate Professor in Marine and Historical Ecology, University of Exeter
Ruth Thurstan holds the Piscatorial AtlasCredit: Lee Raby, CC BY-NC-ND
What stands out most about the book I’m carrying under my arm, as I meander through the exhibits at the National Maritime Museum Cornwall in Falmouth, is its awkwardly large size. The Piscatorial Atlas, authored by Ole Theodor Olsen and published in 1883, contains 50 beautifully illustrated charts of the seas around Great Britain. These show the locations exploited at that time for a variety of fish species, alongside the typical vessels or fishing gear used. This information was collated from fishermen in the decade before the atlas was published.
The atlas isn’t a book made for travel. Luckily, it can be readily admired online. But leafing through its carefully curated pages, which contain the collective knowledge of so many people who have long since passed away, feels special, and is why I chose it to show to the programme producers today.
I’ve always loved old books, but I never imagined they would become such an integral part of my work. My interest in marine historical ecology – the use of historical archives to make sense of how our ocean ecosystems are changing – started 18 years ago when I read The Unnatural History of the Sea by Professor Callum Roberts. Within its pages it details how historical perspectives provide critical insights into the deteriorating health of our seas.
Local science, global stories.
This article is part of a series, Secrets of the Sea, exploring how marine scientists are developing climate solutions.
In collaboration with the BBC, Anna Turns travels around the West Country coastline to meet ocean experts making exciting discoveries beneath the waves.
In recent decades, fishery declines, degradation of coastal habitats and the loss of large predators show that exploitation, coastal development, pollution and climate change are exacting their toll on marine ecosystems.
Yet information extracted from old books, reports, and even newspaper articles, show us that many of these issues started long ago. We have exploited the seas for thousands of years, but in Britain, the 19th-century introduction of steam power was a watershed moment. A point in time when our ability to exploit the seas abruptly and dramatically increased. My research aims to uncover how our use of this technological advance – and those that followed – have affected the functioning of marine ecosystems and their continued ability to support our needs.
Transformation of the seas
These negative effects are profound. Towards the end of the Piscatorial Atlas is a page dedicated to the native oyster (Ostrea edulis). It is my favourite of the charts. A gradation of colour indicates where oysters were found in abundance at this time. Colour surrounds the coastal seas of Britain and further afield. Strikingly, there is an enormous area of oyster ground delineated in the southern North Sea.
Today, the native oyster ecosystem is defined as collapsed. The decline of nearshore oyster reefs was well underway by the time the Piscatorial Atlas was published, and the loss of the large North Sea oyster ground – so clear on Olsen’s chart – swiftly followed. As those with the knowledge of these once prolific grounds passed away, the memory of the once vast oyster habitats was lost. This problem was further compounded by science. In the late 19th century, studies of oyster grounds were rare, and scientific surveys almost always occurred after the habitat had been destroyed. Low densities of oysters became the scientific norm.
Recent research I was involved in with a team of experts used historical sources from across Europe to show just how much change has occurred. We showed that reported native oyster habitat once covered tens of thousands of square kilometres and was a dominant feature of some coastal ecosystems. Multiple layers of old oyster shell, consolidated by a layer of living oysters, provided raised reefs that supported a diverse range of species.
The economic and cultural significance of oysters created a more visible historical record than many other species. Yet, the history of marine declines is not limited to oysters. Historical sources quote fishermen concerned about the expansion of trawling and fishing effort. They described the efficiency with which sail trawlers and early steam-powered vessels extracted fish and non-target species from the seafloor.
The impact of land-based activities, such as sediment and pollutant run-off and coastal development, also increased as societies industrialised. These placed marine ecosystems under further pressure, yet regulations governing sustainable management of our seas failed to keep up. These influences, coupled with a collective societal amnesia regarding what we have lost, facilitated the hidden transformation of marine ecosystems.
Using old books and other deep-time approaches, researchers are increasingly making these transformations visible. Reading the words of people from centuries ago, we learn that their experiences of marine ecosystems were often fundamentally different from our own. Understanding the scale of this difference, where species and habitats existed, and in what abundances, can help make the case for their conservation and restoration.
People have always made use of the seas. For me, looking to the past isn’t just about understanding what we have lost, it is also about taking positive lessons from the past, such as the myriad ways in which societies benefited from the presence of healthy marine ecosystems. Heeding these lessons from history helps us visualise the full range of possible futures available to us, including the many benefits that more ambitious conservation and restoration of our ocean ecosystems could bring, should we choose this path.
Ruth H. Thurstan works for The University of Exeter. She receives funding from the Convex Seascape Survey and the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement no. 856488).
Source: The Conversation – UK – By Florian Steig, DPhil Student, Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford
In the Danish TV drama Families Like Ours, one melancholic line from high-school student Laura captures the emotional toll of climate displacement: “Soon we will vanish like bubbles in a creek.” This seven-part series imagines a near future in which Denmark is being evacuated due to rising sea levels – a government-mandated relocation of an entire population.
The series challenges the fantasy that wealthy western countries are immune to the far-reaching effects of climate change. Rather than focusing on catastrophic storylines, Families Like Ours portrays the mundane, bureaucratic and affective aspects of relocating a population in anticipation of a creeping crisis: the scramble for visas, the fractures that appear between families, and the inequalities in social and economic capital that shape people’s chances for a new life.
Yet, the idea that Denmark could soon get submerged is not grounded in science. More worryingly, the narrative of the unavoidable uninhabitability of entire nations and millions of international migrants flooding Europe is misleading, dangerous, and sidelines deeply political questions about adaptation to sea level rise that should be dealt with now.
The trailer for Families Like Ours.
Sea levels are rising by a few millimetres a year. That pace is accelerating. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts that, by 2100, sea levels could rise by up to one metre on average. Beyond 2100, sea levels could rise by several metres, although these long-term scenarios are highly uncertain.
Even in extreme scenarios, these developments would unfold over several decades and centuries. It’s unlikely that permanent submergence of large areas of land will make Denmark uninhabitable.
Still, sea level rise poses a serious risk to the livelihoods of millions of people living in coastal zones. In the UK, many homes in Norfolk and Fairbourne, Wales, are already at risk from coastal erosion, for instance.
These changes are subtle. They do not warrant the evacuation of an entire nation, but degrade coastal livelihoods over time. Houses in high-risk areas like these may become uninsurable, devalued or too risky to live in. This will force people to move.
In addition, sea level rise makes coastal flooding more likely. In European high-income countries, including Denmark, rising waters already threaten coastal communities. Without adaptation, hundreds of thousands of homes in cities such as Copenhagen could be at risk.
The danger of mass migration narratives
However, depicting climate change as a driver of uncontrolled mass migration is misleading. Sea level rise will contribute to coastal migration, and state-led relocation is already a reality especially in Africa and Asia. But climate migration predominantly occurs within countries or regions. International migration from climate change impacts is the exception, not the norm.
To capture these complexities, some researchers prefer the term “climate mobility”. Mobility can be forced or voluntary, permanent or temporary, even seasonal. Some communities and people resist relocation plans and stay put.
Families Like Ours reinforces longstanding narratives that frame certain parts of the world as destined to become uninhabitable. Even UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned of a “mass exodus of entire populations on a biblical scale” due to sea level rise.
Scientists have warned that creative storylines highlighting the “uninhabitability” of low-lying countries and regions, such as the Pacific, are not helpful. The mass migration narrative can be used by governments to justify extreme protectionist action and sideline urgent adaptation debates.
States are not helpless in the face of sea level rise and submergence is not inevitable. As geographer Carol Farbotko and colleagues suggest, “habitability is mediated by human actions and is not a direct consequence of environmental change”. People often develop their own ways of living with rising waters, resisting narratives of submergence. State-led adaptation is possible, but depends on finance, which is unequally distributed.
People’s migration decisions can seldomly be attributed to just climate impact. A community’s capacity to respond hinges on social, political, economic and demographic factors. Adaptation measures are costly. This raises deeply political questions over who gets to be protected, who is left behind, and how managed retreat can benefit the most affected people and places in a fair way. We need to overcome mass migration myths and start a serious and justice-focused debate about the future of our shorelines.
Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?
Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Jack Bergman (MI-1)
Reps. Jack Bergman (MI-01) and Kristen McDonald Rivet (MI-08) introduced the bipartisan Military PFAS Transparency Act to shine a light on PFAS cleanup efforts by the Department of Defense (DoD), and get more answers for over 600 communities across the country that have been contaminated by “forever chemicals.”
“Our government owes the communities and people affected by PFAS clarity and answers,”said Congresswoman McDonald Rivet.“The Military PFAS Transparency Act will help Michigan families by requiring regular updates from DoD on their PFAS cleanup efforts, making the process more responsive and accountable. Congressman Bergman has been a terrific partner, and I won’t stop fighting to get communities in Michigan and across the country the answers they deserve.”
“I’m proud to introduce this important bipartisan legislation alongside Rep. McDonald Rivet as we push federal bureaucracies to take real, meaningful action on PFAS cleanup. The problem has been studied extensively—it’s time to act,”said Congressman Bergman.“This bill is about turning analysis into accountability and moving the Pentagon from paperwork to real-world cleanup.”
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), also known as “forever chemicals,” are used in a wide array of products like firefighting foams, food packaging, cosmetics, and fabrics. Their widespread use has contaminated soil, surface water, groundwater, and food across the country. These forever chemicals have also contaminated hundreds of military installations and surrounding communities across the country, including over a dozen in Michigan. Some PFAS can cause harmful health effects and have been linked to health complications, including damage to the immune system and an increased risk of developing certain cancers.
The Military PFAS Transparency Act would:
Require Annual Reporting on DoD PFAS Cleanup Efforts: The bill requires DoD to submit annual reports detailing site-specific funding, progress, and barriers for all interim PFAS remediation and cleanup efforts. This includes timelines, performance metrics, and the status of the actions.
Establish Better Cleanup Strategies: The bill requires DoD to commit to more efficient cleanup strategies. These strategies will prioritize cleanup based on risk, increase lab testing capacity, and set standards for evaluating cleanup efforts.
Improve Transparency through a Public Dashboard: The bill requires DoD to create a public online dashboard within one year to display updated PFAS cleanup data, funding, timelines, and community points of contact.
The Military PFAS Transparency Act is endorsed by the Great Lakes PFAS Action Network, the Michigan League of Conservation Voters, and the Great Lakes Commission.
“This bipartisan bill is an important step to put impacted communities at the center of Pentagon PFAS cleanups and to encourage real collaboration with people on the ground who best understand what needs to be done,”said Tony Spaniola, Co-Chair of the Great Lakes PFAS Action Network.“The Pentagon’s interim action policy, which was developed by community experts in Oscoda, Michigan, is designed to strategically cut off PFAS exposures and make every federal dollar count. I commend Representatives McDonald Rivet and Bergman for their critical work to ensure that the policy actually brings results for the people and communities it is supposed to protect.”
“For far too long, people living near military bases exposed to toxic PFAS chemicals have been in the dark in terms of Department of Defense cleanup efforts, which puts our water and our health in danger,”said Bentley Johnson, federal government affairs director for the Michigan League of Conservation Voters.“The Military PFAS Transparency Act will make sure that impacted residents and the general public know the status of the military PFAS remediation, which can help reduce exposure to contamination. Better transparency and improved cleanup strategies will save lives, and so we applaud the bill’s sponsors and urge that Congress enact this critical legislation into law.”
“PFAS pose a grave threat to drinking water and public health – a threat that is felt acutely in the Great Lakes. It is critical, then, that residents of the Great Lakes region and beyond know how their government is responding, in order to improve outcomes for all affected communities,”said Dr. Michael J. Goff, President and CEO of the Northeast-Midwest Institute.“We thank Congresswoman McDonald Rivet and Congressman Bergman for their leadership on this important issue.”
This legislation is also supported by the other co-chairs of the bipartisan Congressional PFAS Task Force: Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (MI-12), Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-01), and Congresswoman Jen Kiggans (VA-02).
Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Adam Smith (9th District of Washington)
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Last week, U.S. Representatives Adam Smith (WA-09), and Val Hoyle (OR-04), and U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) introduced The Wall Street Tax Act (H.R. 4035), which would deliver hundreds of billions of dollars back to the American people by making Wall Street pay its fair share. The bill would create a progressive tax aimed at reducing the risky trading practices that threaten our economic stability while generating revenues that can be reinvested towards services for working people. Once fully implemented, the bill is projected to raise $750 billion over 10 years.
“It’s past time for the wealthiest to pay their fair share, which is why I’m proud to support the Wall Street Tax Act, which targets high-risk trades that create high volatility and instability in the markets,” said Rep. Smith. “I’ll continue to fight for a fairer economy that works for everyone and reflects the values of the communities I serve.”
“While Republicans push another tax break for billionaires that would blow up the deficit, we’re offering a smarter path. The Wall Street Tax Act puts a price on the risky, high-speed trading that benefits Wall Street and leaves working families behind,” said Rep. Hoyle. “This small, targeted tax will raise hundreds of billions from those who can afford it and reinvest it in things that actually help people—like schools, housing, and infrastructure. Working families shouldn’t have to pay for Wall Street’s gambling.”
“Wall Street routinely cashes in on high-risk trades that add no real value to our economy. It’s long past time we curbed this dangerous trading to reduce market volatility and encourage investment that actually helps our economy grow,” said Senator Schatz. “Republicans are racing to enrich billionaires and corporations by ripping regular people off. We’re doing the opposite: raising new revenue from Wall Street to reinvest in our communities.”
“Instead of the proposed heartless cuts to services that help vulnerable communities and everyday people—like Medicaid and nutrition assistance—that Congress is currently debating, there is another route that lawmakers can and must pursue: raising taxes on corporations and the super-rich—including Wall Street high rollers,” said Susan Harley, managing director of Public Citizen’s Congress Watch division. “The Wall Street Tax Act would generate hundreds of billions of dollars that could be used to expand programs that improve the lives of Americans and it has the simultaneous benefit of reducing harmful high-speed trading that hurts investors and increases risk in our markets.”
This bill is cosponsored by U.S. Representatives Frost (D-FL), Jayapal (D-CA), McGovern (D-MA), Pingree (D-MN), Schakowsky (D-IL), Tlaib (D-MI), Watson Coleman (D-NJ) and by U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), John Fetterman (D-Pa.), and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.).
The Wall Street Tax Act is currently endorsed by 32 organizations, including:Affordable Homeownership Foundation, AFL-CIO, American Family Voices, American Federation of Teachers, Americans for Financial Reform, Americans for Tax Fairness (ATF), Blue Future, Chicago Political Economy Group, Child Labor Coalition, Citizens for Tax Justice, Coalition on Human Needs, Communications Workers of America (CWA), Consumer Action, Food & Water Watch, Greenpeace USA. Groundwork Collaborative, Institute for Policy Studies, Global Economy Project, Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy Medical Mission Sisters(Unit North America), National Consumers League, NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice, Our Revolution, Oxfam America, Public Citizen, Public Justice Center, Responsible Wealth, RootsAction, Take on Wall Street, Unitarian Universalists for Social Justice, United for a Fair Economy, United Church of Christ, and United Steelworkers International Union (USW).
The Bill
The Wall Street Tax Act will levy a 0.1% tax – phased in over five years–on the sale of stocks, bonds, and derivatives to discourage risky and unproductive trading practices and gives those profits back to the people. The tax would apply to the fair market value of assets. Initial public offerings (IPOs) and short-term debt would be exempted from the tax.
Background
High frequency trading (HFT) is a type of asset trading that uses supercomputers and specialized algorithms to make large, high-volume trades in a fraction of a second. HFT allows corporations and the ultra-wealthy to benefit from minor fluctuations in stock prices by allowing them to buy and sell in large volumes to make larger profits off of small differences. These practices create undue market volatility, which overwhelmingly hurts everyday investors who are unable to trade as quickly.
In addition, these speculative, high-volume trading practices add little to no real value to the U.S. economy because the gains from them are centralized within the hands of a wealthy few. However, these high stakes games do have a real impact, as their asset prices react to the trades. The volatility these trades can even lead to a “Flash Crash,” where such volatility prompts mass selloffs across the stock market. This volatility can affect the retirements, pensions, and investments of working people.
The Wall Street Tax Act is considered a progressive tax, meaning lower income earners pay a lesser percentage of their income in taxes compared to those with higher incomes.
