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Category: Weather

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Work starts on £27 million Comrie Flood Protection Scheme

    Source: Scotland – City of Perth

    The Comrie Flood Protection Scheme will protect nearly 200 homes from the threat of flooding once it is completed next year. 

    Work on the scheme is being carried out by Balfour Beatty and will provide defences along the Water of Ruchill, River Earn and River Lednock – areas all historically prone to flooding. 

    The defences include the construction of flood walls and embankments, incorporating innovative natural flood management techniques such as root wad revetment bank protection measures, which all told will offer protection against a 1 in 200 year magnitude flood event. 

    Comrie has experienced major flood events in recent years, including January 1993, February 1997, December 2006, and August and November 2012. 

    Previous flood protection works undertaken by Perth and Kinross Council in 2013 significantly reduced the flooding risk to the Dalginross area.  

    However, residual flood risks from the River Earn and River Lednock remained. The detailed design of the flood scheme to address these was completed in 2023, with main construction works now underway and completion targeted for Autumn 2026.  

    Led by principal designer Sweco, the scheme will provide improvements to flood resilience for the community of Comrie through increased flood defence levels while also providing a high-level finish with the use of locally sourced natural stone materials and high-quality landscaping, including compensatory tree planting, with three trees planted for every one felled during construction. 

    The project is funded through a collaboration between the Scottish Government, providing 80% of the costs, and Perth and Kinross Council, contributing the remaining 20%.  

    Councillor Eric Drysdale, Convener of Perth and Kinross Council’s Economy and Infrastructure Committee said: “It is fantastic to see construction underway on this vital flood protection scheme in Comrie. 

    “Flooding is sadly becoming a more frequent occurrence due to climate change, so this scheme is hugely important for residents and businesses in the area.” 

    Perth and Kinross Council leader Councillor Grant Laing said: “As a Council we are committed to working with our communities and this will make a real difference to the lives of people who live and work in Comrie.”  

    Keith MacDonald, Portfolio Director at Balfour Beatty said: “We are delighted to have commenced construction on the Comrie Flood Protection Scheme, helping to safeguard hundreds of homes and businesses from the risk of flooding.

     “Our focus remains on carrying out the works safely and sustainably, using innovative natural flood management techniques to enhance resilience while minimising environmental impact.”

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: President Lai meets Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy

    Source: Republic of China Taiwan

    Details
    2025-03-20
    President Lai attends AmCham Taiwan 2025 Hsieh Nien Fan
    On the evening of March 20, President Lai Ching-te attended the annual Hsieh Nien Fan (謝年飯) banquet hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce in Taiwan (AmCham Taiwan). In remarks, President Lai pointed out that the United States is now a major source of investment in Taiwan, adding that last year US investment accounted for 11.5 percent of total foreign investment in Taiwan. The president also pointed out that the US has become Taiwan’s largest investment destination, as Taiwan’s direct and indirect investment in the US accounted for more than 40 percent of its total outbound investment last year. President Lai expressed hope that AmCham will continue to offer support in quickly resolving the issue of double taxation, further enhancing the mutually beneficial Taiwan-US economic and trade partnership. He also emphasized that one essential element for our economic prosperity is maintaining security and stability, both regionally and globally. The president expressed his belief that, so long as we coordinate our efforts, we can achieve more in our respective defense industries and build non-red supply chains, advancing peace, stability, and prosperity. A transcript of President Lai’s remarks follows: I’m delighted to be here tonight. I want to wish everyone and their families a happy, healthy, and prosperous year ahead. For many years now, AmCham has acted as a bridge between Taiwan and the US. It not only advocates for Taiwan to various sectors in the US, but also offers advice for the development of Taiwan’s industries. So tonight, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to all our friends from the American business community. The 2025 Business Climate Survey, published by AmCham this January, demonstrates the confidence foreign businesses have in the Taiwan market. We are happy to see that over 80 percent of survey respondents reported stable or increased revenue last year, and around 80 percent expressed confidence in Taiwan’s economic prospects for the coming year. Moreover, 90 percent of businesses surveyed are planning to maintain or expand their investments in Taiwan. The positive developments in Taiwan made by our American friends here tonight, their outlook for the future, and their confidence in Taiwan, are further proof of Taiwan’s ideal environment for investment. The US is now a major source of investment in Taiwan. Last year, US investment accounted for 11.5 percent of total foreign investment in Taiwan. In 2023, Entegris opened a new manufacturing facility in Kaohsiung and Micron launched a new facility in Taichung. Last year, Google further solidified Taiwan as its biggest R&D hub outside of the US by opening a new office here. AMD, Nvidia, and major cloud computing companies from the US have also been choosing Taiwan to expand their presence. Over the past several years, the US has also become Taiwan’s largest investment destination. Taiwan’s direct and indirect investment in the US accounted for more than 40 percent of our total outbound investment last year. Four years ago, TSMC’s [Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company] investment in facilities in Arizona became the biggest FDI [foreign direct investment] in a greenfield project in US history. And this month, TSMC announced it would expand that investment, breaking another record and highlighting the enduring prosperity shared by Taiwan and the US. In addition to TSMC, Taiwan’s GlobalWafers has built a 12-inch silicon wafer factory in Texas, the biggest in the US. This will be followed by many other industries. These companies are confidently expanding their global presence across the Pacific and eastward into the Americas. The US is moving to reindustrialize its manufacturing industry and consolidate high-tech leadership, as it moves to become a global AI hub. In these efforts, Taiwan is an indispensable partner for the US. While the US is a leader in chip design, Taiwan’s semiconductor manufacturing plays an irreplaceable part in the supply chain. Adapting to the changing geopolitical landscape and the coming era of smart technology, Taiwan will continue to promote its Five Trusted Industry Sectors of semiconductors, AI, military, next-gen communications, and security and surveillance. This will drive the next stage in our economic development. A great time to invest in Taiwan is now. We will continue to better connect relevant government agencies and align with international standards to foster a friendlier investment environment. And I am confident that Taiwanese and American companies can leverage their respective high-tech expertise and invest in each other, boosting growth in industrial innovation and development for both our economies. At the same time, we hope to continue deepening Taiwan-US trade relations. Last year, Taiwan was the seventh largest trading partner of the US, up one spot from the previous year, and bilateral trade grew by 24.2 percent. Taiwan is going to expand procurement from the US of industrial and agricultural products, as well as natural gas. I am very happy to welcome Governor [Mike] Dunleavy of Alaska, who has specially come all the way to Taiwan. Alaska is a source of high-quality natural gas, and its relatively short distance from Taiwan facilitates transportation. So we are very interested in buying Alaskan natural gas because it can meet our needs and ensure our energy security. We hope that AmCham will continue to offer support in quickly resolving the issue of double taxation and removing tax barriers to bilateral investment and trade, further enhancing the mutually beneficial Taiwan-US economic and trade partnership. One essential element for our economic prosperity is maintaining security and stability, both regionally and globally. So we are grateful for the joint leaders’ statement issued by [US] President [Donald] Trump and Japan’s Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru, in which they expressed their solid support for maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. As we face growing authoritarianism, Taiwan will continue to uphold our values of freedom and democracy and will be a responsible actor in regional and global security. Currently, Taiwan’s defense budget stands at about 2.5 percent of GDP. Going forward, the government will prioritize special budget allocations to ensure that our defense budget exceeds 3 percent of GDP. At the same time, we will continue to reform national defense, further enhancing Taiwan’s self-defense capabilities. And we will advance our cooperation with the US and other democracies in upholding regional stability and prosperity. We also welcome continued Taiwan-US cooperation in the defense sector. I believe that, so long as we coordinate our efforts, we can achieve more in our respective defense industries and build non-red supply chains, advancing peace, stability, and prosperity. In closing, I look forward to seeing even greater achievements from Taiwan-US economic and trade cooperation. Thank you. After remarks, President Lai, AmCham Chairperson Dan Silver, American Institute in Taiwan Taipei Office Director Raymond Greene, and Governor Dunleavy raised their glasses in recognition of the strong Taiwan-US friendship.  

    Details
    2025-03-18
    President Lai meets Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs  
    On the afternoon of March 18, President Lai Ching-te met with a delegation led by Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs. In remarks, President Lai said that Taiwan and Arizona enjoy close economic and trade relations, and expressed hope that through our joint efforts, Arizona will become a shining example for Taiwan-United States high-tech collaboration and the creation of non-red supply chains. The president indicated that the next goal for Taiwan and the US is the signing of an agreement for the avoidance of double taxation, which would provide greater incentives for Taiwanese businesses to invest in the US, facilitate the establishment of more comprehensive industry clusters, and generate more job opportunities, representing a win-win outcome for Taiwan-US relations. A translation of President Lai’s remarks follows: I warmly welcome you all to the Presidential Office. Governor Hobbs previously visited Taiwan after taking office in 2023. Her leading a delegation to Taiwan once again demonstrates Arizona’s continued friendship and the importance Arizona attaches to Taiwan. For this, I express my sincerest gratitude, and I welcome you again. In recent years, ties between Taiwan and Arizona have continued to expand and progress. For example, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC)’s investment in Arizona is the largest greenfield investment in US history. This month, TSMC announced that it would increase its investment in the US by US$100 billion. It plans to build more semiconductor fabrication and research and development facilities in greater Phoenix, transforming the area into a US semiconductor hub. Due to our close industrial engagement, we now have more than 30,000 Taiwanese living in Arizona. I would like to thank Governor Hobbs for taking care of Taiwanese businesses and people. I believe that through our joint efforts, Arizona will become a shining example for Taiwan-US high-tech collaboration and the creation of non-red supply chains. Taiwan and Arizona also enjoy close economic and trade relations. Taiwan is Arizona’s eighth largest export market and fifth largest source of imports. Last December, the first agreement under the Taiwan-US Initiative on 21st-Century Trade officially came into effect. I believe this will help further deepen our trade and economic ties. At present, the next goal for Taiwan and the US is the signing of an agreement for the avoidance of double taxation. I hope that we can work together to achieve this goal as soon as possible. This would provide greater incentives for Taiwanese businesses to invest in the US, facilitate the establishment of more comprehensive local industry clusters, and generate more job opportunities, representing a win-win outcome. With Governor Hobbs’s support, we look forward to continuing to advance Taiwan-US relations and promoting further cooperation and exchanges between Taiwan and Arizona across all domains. I understand that during this visit, you have visited many important companies and exchanged opinions with government agencies on how to strengthen bilateral relations. These efforts all go toward building an even more solid foundation for future Taiwan-US cooperation. Once again, I thank you all for supporting Taiwan and welcome you to visit us often in the future. Governor Hobbs then delivered remarks, stating that under President Lai’s leadership, Taiwan continues to thrive as a global hub for technology, innovation, and advanced manufacturing. She said that she is proud to be back in Taiwan alongside her secretary of commerce, Sandra Watson, as part of a diplomatic and economic delegation from Arizona. Since arriving, she said, they’ve hit the ground running, meeting with key partners, businesses, and leaders, noting that the takeaway from their meetings has been incredibly positive, and that they underscore the strong and enduring partnership between Arizona and Taiwan. Adding that our partnership that is built on shared values, mutual cultural appreciation, and commitment to innovation and economic growth, Governor Hobbs indicated that Arizona and Taiwan’s partnership extends back decades, as Taiwanese fighter pilots have been training at Luke Air Force Base in Phoenix since 1996. She said that we have built a strong base of collaboration across many areas, including technology, workforce, and cultural exchange, and that Arizona is even slated to get its own Din Tai Fung (鼎泰豐), which she expressed she is very thrilled about. Governor Hobbs went on to say that Arizona’s relationship with Taiwan is anchored by its ongoing partnership with TSMC and many Taiwan-based companies in semiconductor and other industries, and that TSMC’s US$165 billion investment in Arizona will help power development of the world’s most advanced technology, such as AI, and promises to cement an unbreakable bond between our two economies.  She stated that as governor, she can say with confidence that her administration is fully committed to strengthening this relationship in every way possible, because when Arizona and Taiwan succeed, we all succeed. Lastly, Governor Hobbs once again expressed gratitude to President Lai and the people of Taiwan for their warm hospitality. She then invited President Lai to Arizona to continue their productive conversations and further strengthen ties between our people and our economies, adding that she knows there is no limit to what we can achieve together, and that she is looking forward to what is to come. The delegation was accompanied to the Presidential Office by American Institute in Taiwan Taipei Office Director Raymond Greene.

    Details
    2025-03-18
    President Lai meets delegation led by Minister of Foreign Affairs Denzil Douglas of Saint Christopher and Nevis
    On the afternoon of March 18, President Lai Ching-te met with a delegation led by Minister of Foreign Affairs Denzil Douglas of the Federation of Saint Christopher and Nevis. In remarks, President Lai thanked St. Kitts and Nevis for speaking up for Taiwan at major international venues and supporting Taiwan’s international participation. The president expressed hope that our two countries continue to achieve remarkable results through cooperation in such fields as education and training, agricultural development, women’s empowerment, and environmental sustainability, and create even greater well-being for our peoples. A translation of President Lai’s remarks follows: I welcome Minister Douglas and our esteemed guests to Taiwan. Last June, Minister Douglas accompanied Prime Minister Terrance Drew and his wife on their trip to Taiwan. I am delighted to be able to meet and exchange views with Minister Douglas again less than one year later. Your presence fully demonstrates the profound bond between Taiwan and St. Kitts and Nevis. I look forward to the further deepening of our partnership through our exchanges during this visit. Although our two nations are separated by a great distance, we share such universal values as democracy, freedom, and respect for human rights. We also continue to achieve remarkable results through cooperation in such fields as education and training, agricultural development, women’s empowerment, and environmental sustainability. Given that Prime Minister Drew, Minister Douglas, and I all share medical backgrounds, we deeply understand the importance of people’s health. I thus look forward to St. Kitts and Nevis’s climate-smart JNF General Hospital commencing operations as soon as possible thanks to our cooperation. The provision of even higher-quality public health and medical services will yield benefits for many more people. I also believe that by having Taiwan share its experiences in renewable energy and energy-saving technologies, our two countries will jointly drive green industrial transformation and stimulate sustainable development together. I would like to take this opportunity to thank St. Kitts and Nevis for actively speaking up for Taiwan and supporting Taiwan’s participation at such major international venues and organizations as the United Nations General Assembly, the World Health Organization, and the International Civil Aviation Organization. In the future, Taiwan will continue to make critical contributions to the international community. With the support of Minister Douglas and our guests, I look forward to our two countries backing each other on the global stage and continuing to build an even stronger foundation for bilateral cooperation. Let us work together to address the various challenges we face and create even greater well-being for our peoples. Minister Douglas then delivered remarks, first conveying greetings from Prime Minister Drew to President Lai, the government, and the people of Taiwan. He then stated that over the last 41 years since the dawn of their nationhood, the Republic of China Taiwan has steadfastly walked beside St. Kitts and Nevis as a strong and immovable partner. As we reflect on four decades of our journey together, he said, we recognize the unswerving and unwavering spirit that has guided both our nations through trials and challenges. The minister then acknowledged the generous support of Taiwan’s government that has helped St. Kitts and Nevis in its own economic and social development. He went on to say that Taiwan’s partnership with St. Kitts and Nevis has been instrumental in helping them achieve the goals of their sustainable island state agenda. Whether in enhancing food security through the diversification of their agricultural sector, fostering clean energy solutions through the solar PV farm, or advancing healthcare through assistance in building their smart hospital, he said, Taiwan has been a steadfast partner in shaping a much more resilient and sustainable future for the people of their federation. In the spirit of reciprocity and solidarity, Minister Douglas said, St. Kitts and Nevis continues to leverage opportunities on the global stage to request incessantly that Taiwan be given its rightful place in international organizations, where it can make a meaningful contribution to resolving the world’s most critical issues. Minister Douglas indicated that the global challenges we face today demand collective action, and that Taiwan has the innovation, the technology, the knowledge, and the expertise to make a tremendous positive impact on some of the world’s most urgent issues. He said that St. Kitts and Nevis will never grow weary in their own support, but shall continue to sound the clarion call of “let Taiwan in,” as well as advocate for peace to be maintained in the Taiwan Strait. To close, Minister Douglas expressed gratitude for the warm hospitality bestowed upon him and his delegation by Taiwan’s government, remarking that the engagements they had thus far were pregnant with promise, and that they are confident in witnessing a fruitful outcome as we work together to build a prosperous and sustainable future for our peoples. The delegation also included Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Kaye Bass, Permanent Secretary of Economic Development and Investment Adina Richards, and Director in the Ministry of International Trade Sean Lawrence. The delegation was accompanied to the Presidential Office by St. Kitts and Nevis Ambassador Donya L. Francis.

    Details
    2025-03-18
    President Lai meets 2025 Yushan Forum participants
    On the afternoon of March 18, President Lai Ching-te met with participants in the 2025 Yushan Forum. In remarks, President Lai thanked the guests for gathering here in Taiwan and discussing ways to enhance regional cooperation, demonstrating that our democratic allies and friends are standing together as we take on the challenges of a new world and a new era. The president reiterated that Taiwan will continue to engage with the world, and we welcome the world to come closer to Taiwan. He stated that Taiwan will continue to work with international partners to deepen cooperation, exchanges, and partnership in various domains and resist the expansion of authoritarianism. Together, the president emphasized, we can pursue regional peace and security and realize a new vision for a free and open, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific. A translation of President Lai’s remarks follows: I would like to begin by thanking Anders Fogh Rasmussen, former prime minister of Denmark and chairman of the Alliance of Democracies Foundation, for inviting then-President Tsai Ing-wen to address the Copenhagen Democracy Summit via video over five consecutive years since 2020, and for inviting myself to give remarks via video last year. Those opportunities allowed Taiwan to share with the world our motivation for, and our work toward, safeguarding freedom and democracy. I would also like to thank Mr. Janez Janša, former prime minister of the Republic of Slovenia, who has visited Taiwan many times already, for actively elevating the cordial ties between Taiwan and Slovenia during his term as prime minister, helping expand friendship for Taiwan throughout Europe. Today’s guests have traveled a long way to show their strong backing for Taiwan. For this, I express my deepest gratitude. Yesterday was my first time attending the Yushan Forum as president. I saw political leaders and representatives gather here in Taiwan and discuss ways to enhance regional cooperation. The event demonstrated that our democratic allies and friends are standing together as we take on the challenges of a new world and a new era. It was truly moving. As I stated at the opening ceremony, Taiwan will continue to engage with the world, and we welcome the world to come closer to Taiwan. Our government will help guide Taiwanese small- and medium-sized enterprises as they expand into the international market and extend Taiwan’s economic power. I hope that during this visit, our guests will be able to explore more opportunities for cooperation in such fields as AI, smart healthcare, and advanced technologies, and join hands in contributing to the prosperity and development of our democratic allies and friends. Taiwan will continue to work with international partners, building upon the shared values of freedom and democracy, to deepen cooperation, exchanges, and partnership in various domains and resist the expansion of authoritarianism. Together, we can pursue regional peace and security and realize a new vision for a free and open, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific. And I hope, with the assistance of our guests here today, that we can further strengthen the ties between Taiwan and Europe so that we can all take up the work of maintaining global peace and stability. Once again, I welcome our guests to Taiwan. I look forward to hearing your thoughts in a few moments. I also hope you will visit Taiwan often in the future and continue to experience our vibrant democratic society and culture. Chairman Rasmussen then delivered remarks, saying that it is a great pleasure to be back here in Taipei after meeting with President Lai in 2023. He then thanked President Lai for the Taiwanese hospitality on behalf of the Yushan Forum international visitors and participants, who represent four continents and very different political parties but who are united by one thing – the commitment to democracy. Chairman Rasmussen mentioned that over the past few days, they have met with members of the government, legislature, and civil society in Taiwan. He said that he is more convinced than ever that in a very uncertain world, Taiwan continues to stand as a beacon of democracy, from which people in Europe and in the rest of the world have a lot to learn. Over the past eight years, he has been proud to step up his engagement with Taiwan, he said, as he has always subscribed to the view that freedom must advance everywhere, or else it is in decline everywhere. Chairman Rasmussen noted that they have many interests in making sure Taiwan remains free and that we must always stand up for freedom when it is under assault by a dictator. This is why Ukraine’s fight is also everyone’s fight, he explained. He then praised Taiwan for all of the support it has given to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion and honored the two Taiwanese volunteer soldiers who gave their lives for freedom in Ukraine. Chairman Rasmussen remarked that Taiwan is a strong feature of the Copenhagen Democracy Summit that he convenes each year. His foundation, the Alliance of Democracies, has even been sanctioned by the Chinese government due to its support of Taiwan, he said, which is something he takes as a badge of honor. He added that this year’s Copenhagen Democracy Summit in May will be no different, as they plan to focus on the new world order, urgent measures to strengthen Europe’s military, and the situation in Ukraine. But as the United States pulls back from the transatlantic alliance and Europe focuses more on its own defense, he said, Europe should not retreat from the world. He added that to ensure European security, we need more Europe in the Indo-Pacific, and that is why he has been making the argument for more political and economic cooperation with Taiwan. Chairman Rasmussen praised President Lai’s recent decision to increase Taiwan’s national defense budget to more than 3 percent of GDP, adding that it is important that each nation does what it can for its own defense. The chairman once again thanked President Lai for meeting with them today and for the opportunity to visit Taiwan, a beacon of democracy and liberty in Asia. Also in attendance at the meeting were Chairman of the Czech Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Security Pavel Fischer; Member of the National Security Advisory Board to India’s National Security Council Anshuman Tripathi; former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland Anna Fotyga; former Minister of Health of Canada Tony Clement; and former Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania and current Secretary General of the Polish-based Community of Democracies Mantas Adomėnas.

    Details
    2025-03-17
    President Lai meets Japan-ROC Diet Members’ Consultative Council Chairman Furuya Keiji
    On the afternoon of March 17, President Lai Ching-te met with a delegation led by Japanese House of Representatives Member and Japan-ROC Diet Members’ Consultative Council Chairman Furuya Keiji. In remarks, President Lai thanked the Consultative Council for doing its utmost to strengthen the relationship between Taiwan and Japan. He also stated that Taiwan and Japan are both part of the first island chain’s key line of defense, and in addition to continuing to bolster its economic strength and enhance its self-defense capabilities, Taiwan will work together with Japan and other like-minded countries to promote regional and global democracy, peace, and prosperity. A translation of President Lai’s remarks follows: I would like to extend a warm welcome to Chairman Furuya, who is visiting us once again. I am also delighted to meet House of Councillors Member Yamamoto Junzo and House of Representatives Member Hiranuma Shojiro today. Although the Japanese Diet is currently in session, our distinguished guests overcame many hurdles and organized a delegation to attend the 2025 Yushan Forum and deliver speeches, providing valuable insights into issues of mutual concern in the Indo-Pacific region and demonstrating the support for Taiwan in the Diet. Here, I would like to express my deepest gratitude. During the Yushan Forum, it was especially inspiring when Chairman Furuya spoke Taiwanese when he emphasized that “if Taiwan has a problem, then Japan has a problem.” Over the past few years under Chairman Furuya’s leadership, the Consultative Council has done its utmost to strengthen the relationship between Taiwan and Japan. In addition to passing resolutions every year supporting Taiwan’s participation in the World Health Organization and Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), the council has established four internal research groups regarding the CPTPP, exchanges for women legislators, encouraging local-level exchanges, and the Taiwan Relations Act, using an issue-oriented approach to deepen Taiwan-Japan relations. Thanks to the Consultative Council’s long-term assistance and promotional efforts, the Japanese Ministry of Justice has announced that beginning this May, members of the Taiwanese overseas community in Japan included in the country’s family registry system may list “Taiwan” in the field designating their nationality or region of origin. This demonstrates the friendly relations between Taiwan and Japan, and the Taiwanese people will always remember the council’s continued concrete actions in support of Taiwan. In his remarks at the Yushan Forum today, Chairman Furuya mentioned that there are many areas in which Taiwan and Japan can engage in industrial cooperation. We can continue to deepen our partnership in semiconductors, energy, AI, unmanned aerial vehicles, and other areas related to economic security and supply chain resilience, all of which have significant room for cooperation, creating win-win situations for both Taiwan and Japan. As authoritarianism consolidates, democratic nations must come closer in solidarity. Taiwan and Japan are both part of the first island chain’s key line of defense. In addition to bolstering our economic strength and enhancing our self-defense capabilities, Taiwan will also work with Japan and other like-minded countries to promote regional and global democracy, peace, and prosperity. All of our distinguished guests are good friends of Taiwan, and are very familiar with Taiwan. I hope to continue working together with you all to carry Taiwan-Japan relations to an even higher level. Chairman Furuya then delivered remarks, first thanking President Lai for taking time out of his busy schedule to see them. He then noted that Japan, Taiwan, and quite a few other nations around the world changed leaders last year, and conditions around the world are becoming increasingly unstable. One cannot see what the world will be like a few years from now, he said, which is why he is counting so heavily on the strong leadership of President Lai. Chairman Furuya said that, in addition to collaboration in foreign affairs and security matters, economic cooperation between Taiwan and Japan is also very important. He mentioned new technologies, and said he had spoken quite a bit on the topic that very morning at the Yushan Forum. The clearest example, he said, is the establishment by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company of a wafer plant in Japan’s Kumamoto Prefecture, which has sparked robust economic activity. He added that cooperation addressing such matters as cyberattacks and supply chain resilience is also very important. Chairman Furuya noted that President Lai had mentioned in his remarks that beginning from May, Taiwanese overseas community members in Japan will be able to list “Taiwan” on their family registers. The chairman expressed his view that this is not a foreign affairs issue, but rather a human rights issue for the Taiwanese people, and an excellent way to show respect for Taiwan. He further noted President Lai’s mentioning of the four research groups that the Consultative Council has established, and said that these groups will ramp up their work. He also expressed hope that Taiwan and Japan will work together to address challenges that face both countries, such as issues pertaining to democracy and peace in the Taiwan Strait, so that they can together push for international peace and stability. Chairman Furuya stated that reciprocal visits by Taiwanese and Japanese people reached an all-time high last year. He said that in the future, in addition to further promoting local exchanges between the two countries, he also hopes that Japanese middle school and high school students planning to go on overseas study trips will choose Taiwan as their destination, because he feels that any student who visits Taiwan will become a fan of this place. Also in attendance was Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association Taipei Office Chief Representative Katayama Kazuyuki.

    Details
    2025-03-13
    President Lai holds press conference following high-level national security meeting
    On the afternoon of March 13, President Lai Ching-te convened a high-level national security meeting, following which he held a press conference. In remarks, President Lai introduced 17 major strategies to respond to five major national security and united front threats Taiwan now faces: China’s threat to national sovereignty, its threats from infiltration and espionage activities targeting Taiwan’s military, its threats aimed at obscuring the national identity of the people of Taiwan, its threats from united front infiltration into Taiwanese society through cross-strait exchanges, and its threats from using “integrated development” to attract Taiwanese businesspeople and youth. President Lai emphasized that in the face of increasingly severe threats, the government will not stop doing its utmost to ensure that our national sovereignty is not infringed upon, and expressed hope that all citizens unite in solidarity to resist being divided. The president also expressed hope that citizens work together to increase media literacy, organize and participate in civic education activities, promptly expose concerted united front efforts, and refuse to participate in any activities that sacrifice national interests. As long as every citizen plays their part toward our nation’s goals for prosperity and security, he said, and as long as we work together, nothing can defeat us. A translation of President Lai’s remarks follows: At many venues recently, a number of citizens have expressed similar concerns to me. They have noticed cases in which members of the military, both active-duty and retired, have been bought out by China, sold intelligence, or even organized armed forces with plans to harm their own nation and its citizens. They have noticed cases in which entertainers willingly followed instructions from Beijing to claim that their country is not a country, all for the sake of personal career interests. They have noticed how messaging used by Chinese state media to stir up internal opposition in Taiwan is always quickly spread by specific channels. There have even been individuals making careers out of helping Chinese state media record united front content, spreading a message that democracy is useless and promoting skepticism toward the United States and the military to sow division and opposition. Many people worry that our country, as well as our hard-won freedom and democracy and the prosperity and progress we achieved together, are being washed away bit by bit due to these united front tactics. In an analysis of China’s united front, renowned strategic scholar Kerry K. Gershaneck expressed that China plans to divide and conquer us through subversion, infiltration, and acquisition of media, and by launching media warfare, psychological warfare, and legal warfare. What they are trying to do is to sow seeds of discord in our society, keep us occupied with internal conflicts, and cause us to ignore the real threat from outside. China’s ambition over the past several decades to annex Taiwan and stamp out the Republic of China has not changed for even a day. It continues to pursue political and military intimidation, and its united front infiltration of Taiwan’s society grows ever more serious. In 2005, China promulgated its so-called “Anti-Secession Law,” which makes using military force to annex Taiwan a national undertaking. Last June, China issued a 22-point set of “guidelines for punishing Taiwan independence separatists,” which regards all those who do not accept that “Taiwan is part of the People’s Republic of China” as targets for punishment, creating excuses to harm the people of Taiwan. China has also recently been distorting United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2758, showing in all aspects China’s increasingly urgent threat against Taiwan’s sovereignty. Lately, China has been taking advantage of democratic Taiwan’s freedom, diversity, and openness to recruit gangs, the media, commentators, political parties, and even active-duty and retired members of the armed forces and police to carry out actions to divide, destroy, and subvert us from within. A report from the National Security Bureau indicates that 64 persons were charged last year with suspicion of spying for China, which was three times the number of persons charged for the same offense in 2021. Among them, the Unionist Party, Rehabilitation Alliance Party, and Republic of China Taiwan Military Government formed treasonous organizations to deploy armed forces for China. In a democratic and free society, such cases are appalling. But this is something that actually exists within Taiwan’s society today. China also actively plots ways to infiltrate and spy on our military. Last year, 28 active-duty and 15 retired members of the armed forces were charged with suspicion of involvement in spying for China, respectively comprising 43 percent and 23 percent of all of such cases – 66 percent in total. We are also alert to the fact that China has recently used widespread issuance of Chinese passports to entice Taiwanese citizens to apply for the Residence Permit for Taiwan Residents, permanent residency, or the Resident Identity Card, in an attempt to muddle Taiwanese people’s sense of national identity. China also views cross-strait exchanges as a channel for its united front against Taiwan, marking enemies in Taiwan internally, creating internal divisions, and weakening our sense of who the enemy really is. It intends to weaken public authority and create the illusion that China is “governing” Taiwan, thereby expanding its influence within Taiwan. We are also aware that China has continued to expand its strategy of integrated development with Taiwan. It employs various methods to demand and coerce Taiwanese businesses to increase their investments in China, entice Taiwanese youth to develop their careers in China, and unscrupulously seeks to poach Taiwan’s talent and steal key technologies. Such methods impact our economic security and greatly increase the risk of our young people heading to China. By its actions, China already satisfies the definition of a “foreign hostile force” as provided in the Anti-Infiltration Act. We have no choice but to take even more proactive measures, which is my purpose in convening this high-level national security meeting today. It is time we adopt proper preventive measures, enhance our democratic resilience and national security, and protect our cherished free and democratic way of life. Next, I will be giving a detailed account of the five major national security and united front threats Taiwan now faces and the 17 major strategies we have prepared in response. I. Responding to China’s threats to our national sovereignty We have a nation insofar as we have sovereignty, and we have the Republic of China insofar as we have Taiwan. Just as I said during my inaugural address last May, and in my National Day address last October: The moment when Taiwan’s first democratically elected president took the oath of office in 1996 sent a message to the international community, that Taiwan is a sovereign, independent, democratic nation. Among people here and in the international community, some call this land the Republic of China, some call it Taiwan, and some, the Republic of China Taiwan. The Republic of China and the People’s Republic of China are not subordinate to each other, and Taiwan resists any annexation or encroachment upon our sovereignty. The future of the Republic of China Taiwan must be decided by its 23 million people. This is the status quo that we must maintain. The broadest consensus in Taiwanese society is that we must defend our sovereignty, uphold our free and democratic way of life, and resolutely oppose annexation of Taiwan by China. (1) I request that the National Security Council (NSC), the Ministry of National Defense (MND), and the administrative team do their utmost to promote the Four Pillars of Peace action plan to demonstrate the people’s broad consensus and firm resolve, consistent across the entirety of our nation, to oppose annexation of Taiwan by China. (2) I request that the NSC and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs draft an action plan that will, through collaboration with our friends and allies, convey to the world our national will and broad social consensus in opposing annexation of Taiwan by China and in countering China’s efforts to erase Taiwan from the international community and downgrade Taiwan’s sovereignty. II. Responding to China’s threats from infiltration and espionage activities targeting our military (1) Comprehensively review and amend our Law of Military Trial to restore the military trial system, allowing military judges to return to the frontline and collaborate with prosecutorial, investigative, and judicial authorities in the handling of criminal cases in which active-duty military personnel are suspected of involvement in such military crimes as sedition, aiding the enemy, leaking confidential information, dereliction of duty, or disobedience. In the future, criminal cases involving active-duty military personnel who are suspected of violating the Criminal Code of the Armed Forces will be tried by a military court. (2) Implement supporting reforms, including the establishment of a personnel management act for military judges and separate organization acts for military courts and military prosecutors’ offices. Once planning and discussion are completed, the MND will fully explain to and communicate with the public to ensure that the restoration of the military trial system gains the trust and full support of society. (3) To deter the various types of controversial rhetoric and behavior exhibited by active-duty as well as retired military personnel that severely damage the morale of our national military, the MND must discuss and propose an addition to the Criminal Code of the Armed Forces on penalties for expressions of loyalty to the enemy as well as revise the regulations for military personnel and their families receiving retirement benefits, so as to uphold military discipline. III. Responding to China’s threats aimed at obscuring the national identity of the people of Taiwan (1) I request that the Ministry of the Interior (MOI), Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), and other relevant agencies, wherever necessary, carry out inspections and management of the documents involving identification that Taiwanese citizens apply for in China, including: passports, ID cards, permanent residence certificates, and residence certificates, especially when the applicants are military personnel, civil servants, or public school educators, who have an obligation of loyalty to Taiwan. This will be done to strictly prevent and deter united front operations, which are performed by China under the guise of “integrated development,” that attempt to distort our people’s national identity. (2) With respect to naturalization and integration of individuals from China, Hong Kong, and Macau into Taiwanese society, more national security considerations must be taken into account while also attending to Taiwan’s social development and individual rights: Chinese nationals applying for permanent residency in Taiwan must, in accordance with the law of Taiwan, relinquish their existing household registration and passport and may not hold dual identity status. As for the systems in place to process individuals from Hong Kong or Macau applying for residency or permanent residency in Taiwan, there will be additional provisions for long-term residency to meet practical needs. IV. Responding to China’s threats from united front infiltration into Taiwanese society through cross-strait exchanges  (1) There are increasing risks involved with travel to China. (From January 1, 2024 to today, the MAC has received reports of 71 Taiwanese nationals who went missing, were detained, interrogated, or imprisoned in China; the number of unreported people who have been subjected to such treatment may be several times that. Of those, three elderly I-Kuan Tao members were detained in China in December of last year and have not yet been released.) In light of this, relevant agencies must raise public awareness of those risks, continue enhancing public communication, and implement various registration systems to reduce the potential for accidents and the risks associated with traveling to China. (2) Implement a disclosure system for exchanges with China involving public officials at all levels of the central and local government. This includes everyone from administrative officials to elected representatives, from legislators to village and neighborhood chiefs, all of whom should make the information related to such exchanges both public and transparent so that they can be accountable to the people. The MOI should also establish a disclosure system for exchanges with China involving public welfare organizations, such as religious groups, in order to prevent China’s interference and united front activities at their outset. (3) Manage the risks associated with individuals from China engaging in exchanges with Taiwan: Review and approval of Chinese individuals coming to Taiwan should be limited to normal cross-strait exchanges and official interactions under the principles of parity and dignity, and relevant factors such as changes in the cross-strait situation should be taken into consideration. Strict restrictions should be placed on Chinese individuals who have histories with the united front coming to Taiwan, and Chinese individuals should be prohibited from coming to Taiwan to conduct activities related in any way to the united front. (4) Political interference from China and the resulting risks to national security should be avoided in cross-strait exchanges. This includes the review and management of religious, cultural, academic, and education exchanges, which should in principle be depoliticized and de-risked so as to simplify people-to-people exchanges and promote healthy and orderly exchanges. (5) To deter the united front tactics of a cultural nature employed by Chinese nationals to undermine Taiwan’s sovereignty, the Executive Yuan must formulate a solution to make our local cultural industries more competitive, including enhanced support and incentives for our film, television, and cultural and creative industries to boost their strengths in democratic cultural creation, raise international competitiveness, and encourage research in Taiwan’s own history and culture. (6) Strengthen guidance and management for entertainers developing their careers in China. The competent authorities should provide entertainers with guidelines on conduct while working in China, and make clear the scope of investigation and response to conduct that endangers national dignity. This will help prevent China from pressuring Taiwanese entertainers to make statements or act in ways that endanger national dignity. (7) The relevant authorities must adopt proactive, effective measures to prevent China from engaging in cognitive warfare against Taiwan or endangering cybersecurity through the internet, applications, AI, and other such tools. (8) To implement these measures, each competent authority must run a comprehensive review of the relevant administrative ordinances, measures, and interpretations, and complete the relevant regulations for legal enforcement. Should there be any shortcomings, the legal framework for national security should be strengthened and amendments to the National Security Act, Anti-Infiltration Act, Act Governing Relations between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area, Laws and Regulations Regarding Hong Kong & Macao Affairs, or Cyber Security Management Act should be proposed. Communication with the public should also be increased so that implementation can happen as soon as possible. V. Responding to threats from China using “integrated development” to attract Taiwanese businesspeople and youth (1) I request that the NSC and administrative agencies work together to carry out strategic structural adjustments to the economic and trade relations between Taiwan and China based on the strategies of putting Taiwan first and expanding our global presence while staying rooted in Taiwan. In addition, they should carry out necessary, orderly adjustments to the flow of talent, goods, money, and skills involved in cross-strait economic and trade relations based on the principle of strengthening Taiwan’s foundations to better manage risk. This will help boost economic security and give us more power to respond to China’s economic and trade united front and economic coercion against Taiwan. (2) I request that the Ministry of Education, MAC, Ministry of Economic Affairs, and other relevant agencies work together to comprehensively strengthen young students’ literacy education on China and deepen their understanding of cross-strait exchanges. I also request these agencies to widely publicize mechanisms for employment and entrepreneurship for Taiwan’s youth and provide ample information and assistance so that young students have more confidence in the nation’s future and more actively invest in building up and developing Taiwan. My fellow citizens, this year marks the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. History tells us that any authoritarian act of aggression or annexation will ultimately end in failure. The only way we can safeguard freedom and prevail against authoritarian aggression is through solidarity. As we face increasingly severe threats, the government will not stop doing its utmost to ensure that our national sovereignty is not infringed upon, and to ensure that the freedom, democracy, and way of life of Taiwan’s 23 million people continues on as normal. But relying solely on the power of the government is not enough. What we need even more is for all citizens to stay vigilant and take action. Every citizen stands on the frontline of the defense of democracy and freedom. Here is what we can do together: First, we can increase our media literacy, and refrain from spreading and passing on united front messaging from the Chinese state. Second, we can organize and participate in civic education activities to increase our knowledge about united front operations and build up whole-of-society defense resilience. Third, we can promptly expose concerted united front efforts so that all malicious attempts are difficult to carry out. Fourth, we must refuse to participate in any activities that sacrifice national interests. The vigilance and action of every citizen forms the strongest line of defense against united front infiltration. Only through solidarity can we resist being divided. As long as every citizen plays their part toward our nation’s goals for prosperity and security, and as long as we work together, nothing can defeat us.

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: Tse Chin-wan kicks off Beijing visit

    Source: Hong Kong Information Services

    Secretary for Environment & Ecology Tse Chin-wan today kicked off a visit to Beijing by visiting agricultural facilities and meeting officials.

    In the morning, Mr Tse visited the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and toured various facilities to learn about national developments in agro-technology.

    In the afternoon, he paid a courtesy call on the General Administration of Customs (GACC) and met GACC Vice Minister Zhao Zenglian. 

    Mr Tse expressed gratitude to the GACC for its support in safeguarding food supplies to Hong Kong and its assistance in the implementation of a customs clearance facilitation arrangement in relation to Hong Kong food exports.

    He said that the facilitation arrangement, which launched in May last year, is operating smoothly and has significantly shortened the time required for customs clearance. He added that its introduction is appreciated by Hong Kong food manufacturers.

    Both sides expressed the hope that the arrangement can be applied to more food categories in the future.

    Afterwards, Mr Tse met representatives from the Ministry of Ecology & Environment (MEE), the National Center for Climate Change Strategy & International Cooperation, and the BRI International Green Development Coalition to exchange views on topics such as co-operation on ecological and environmental matters and combating climate change.

    He said that with the MEE’s strong support, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government was involved in a successful Side Event at the China Pavilion during the 29th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29) last year.

    The environment chief added that he hopes to continue telling good stories about Hong Kong’s and China’s efforts to combat climate change at COP30 this year.

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

  • MIL-OSI New Zealand: Save the Children – Young ocean champions off to France for Global Summit

    Source: Save the Children

    Six young Kiwi ocean advocates, alongside representatives from WWF-New Zealand and Save the Children New Zealand, will travel to France this week to attend a global Ocean Citizen Summit aimed at exploring solutions to better protect our ocean and accelerate youth-led ocean action.
    The global forum, hosted at Nausicaá, Centre National de la Mer in Boulogne sur Mer, France, brings together more than 60 youth representatives from around the world to share the insights and solutions from their regions.
    Together, with senior experts in marine science and advocacy, they will identify individual and collective responses to five key challenges of the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development: changing humanity’s relationship with the ocean; unlocking ocean-based solutions to climate change, protecting and restoring marine ecosystems and biodiversity, developing a sustainable and equitable ocean economy and understanding and beating marine pollution from source to sea.
    The world’s oceans and seas are critical to our planet’s health, covering 71% of the Earth’s surface, producing 50% of our oxygen, feeding over 3 billion people, and absorbing 1/3 of global CO2 emissions. However, they face severe threats from climate change, pollution, overfishing, and ocean acidification. The Ocean Citizen Summit aims to empower young people to address these pressing challenges at both local and global levels.
    “Young people have the most to lose from climate and ocean degradation, as they will experience the long-term consequences,” says Save the Children Advocacy Director Jacqui Southey.
    “That’s why youth voices are crucial in these global conversations, particularly Pacific youth who are experiencing the impact of the world’s changing climate first hand. Here in Aotearoa, our marine environment is an important part of our lives and national and cultural identities, but sadly it is facing many threats, with unsustainable fishing, plastic pollution and climate change pushing our marine species and habitats to the brink of extinction.”
    WWF-New Zealand’s CEO Dr Kayla Kingdon-Bebb says the global summit is an amazing opportunity for the New Zealand group to meet other ocean youth champions from around the world.
    “I’m so proud that our rangatahi will be representing us on the world stage in France. This is a chance for these talented ocean conservation advocates to discuss global ocean conservation issues, share a Pacific perspective, and help shape the United Nations’ Ocean Citizen Charter.”
    The six youth advocates were selected following a series of ocean workshops held by WWF-New Zealand and Save the Children New Zealand in late 2024.
    Alongside Save the Children Youth Engagement Coordinator Vira Paky and WWF New Zealand’s Conservation Impact Advisor Carolyn Aguilar, the six youth delegates are:
    Quack Pirihi (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Wai, Ngāti Whātua ki Kaipara, Patuharakeke) is a takatāpui activist, storyteller, and community organiser from Aotearoa, working at the intersection of indigenous sovereignty, climate justice, and queer liberation. Their mahi centres on rangatahi takatāpui empowerment, kaupapa Māori, and resisting environmental destruction. As the Founder and Director of Mana Āniwaniwa, Quack uplifts takatāpui and rangatahi Māori voices in decolonial and climate movements. A staunch opponent of deep-sea mining, Quack has spoken internationally, advocating for moana as an extension of whakapapa. In 2023, they joined the Pacific delegation to the International Seabed Authority conference, challenging corporate and colonial interests. Through storytelling and activism, Quack amplifies indigenous resistance to extractivism, pushing for solutions grounded in mātauranga Māori and a future where whenua, moana, and tangata thrive.
    Lottie Stevenson was born in Westport/Kawatiri on the West Coast of Te Waipounamu, and has lived close to the ocean her whole life. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Geography, studying at universities in Wellington/Te Whanganui-a-Tara and The Netherlands. Her recently completed Master’s thesis examines Antarctic paleoclimate and glaciology, including a chapter advocating for decolonising Antarctic research. She aims to foster collaboration across borders, ultimately driving collective action for Papatūānuku (Earth Mother). Lottie largely splits her time between mountains and sea, being an avid tramper, beach-cleaner, and aspiring environmental activist.
    Kat Cooper’s background is in marine biology and geography with a special interest in sharks, the deep sea, and queer ecology. Having just submitted their Master’s in marine biology they spend their time baking, annoying their flatmates, and volunteering. Love of the ocean began for Kat with their dad in the big blue backyard of Tāmaki Makaurau, with summers spent camping by the beach or snorkelling. To Kat, the way forward for ocean conservation is taking a holistic view of ocean ecosystems that acknowledges the place of people within the ecosystem, and emphasises the importance of indigenous knowledge. The Citizens of the Ocean Summit is Kat’s first international event, and they’re excited to explore the varied perspectives of the other delegates, and work together to create change.
    Maia Horn Nō hea Whāngārā Mai Tawhiti ahau. Spending my childhood summers in Whāngārā fostered my deep love and connection to the ocean and there has never been any doubt in my mind about the career I have dreamt of. Growing up with the tale of the Whale rider, Paikea also meant that I aspire to study tohorā as they are not only ecologically significant, but also culturally significant to Māori.
    Wei Heng Pok (卜炜衡) is a Climate & Sustainability consultant based in Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland) at Edge Impact. An advocate for indigenous solidarity, climate policy, and justice, Pok has contributed to prominent forums such as the Nobel Prize Dialogue, the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, COP26, and TIME Magazine. Outside of work, he serves on the Strategic Council of Climate Catalyst and was a former Climate Justice Design Partner for the World Economic Forum. Constantly unlearning and unlearning, he hopes to find his way home as he works on decolonising his identity. His most recent projects are building on regenerative soil practice within community-supported agriculture, alongside tracing his genealogy back to China.
    Veronica Rotman is a marine scientist, tertiary lecturer, science communicator and doctoral student. Her entire life revolves around the ocean, for work, for play and for kaimoana gathering, having grown up freediving and spearfishing in the frosty water of Te Waipounamu. Veronica is a TEDx speaker, has delivered many public talks and university lectures, and sat on the Sustainable Seas National Science Challenge Stakeholder Panel for five years. Her proudest mahi has been setting up and delivering the first remote tertiary training in sustainable aquaculture and marine science to Mana Whenua of the Muriwhenua in Kaitaia. The purpose of this was to empower students with knowledge and skills to get jobs and set up their own ventures. Veronica is in the final year of her PhD titled: Ki uta ki tai (mountains to sea): microplastics in Southern Aotearoa, that hopes to highlight the interconnectedness of terrestrial, freshwater and marine environments and to promote mountains to sea management. Her previous research looked into the physiological impacts of microplastics on snapper, incidence of microplastics in wild fish, and microplastics in aquaculture systems.
    The Citizen of the Ocean Youth-led Summit is being held March 25-28 2025. It aligns youth advocacy with global agreements like the Paris Agreement, the UN Sustainable Development Goal 14 (Life Below Water), the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development and the European Union’s Mission “Restore our Ocean and Waters” 
    About Save the Children NZ:
    Save the Children works in 120 countries across the world. The organisation responds to emergencies and works with children and their communities to ensure they survive, learn and are protected.
    Save the Children NZ currently supports international programmes in Fiji, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Laos, Nepal, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea. Areas of work include child protection, education and literacy, disaster risk reduction and climate adaptation, and alleviating child poverty.

    MIL OSI New Zealand News –

  • MIL-OSI New Zealand: Slip repairs 98% complete on north rural roads

    Source: Auckland Council

    Two years on from the devastating Auckland Anniversary Weekend floods and Cyclone Gabrielle, Auckland Transport (AT)’s flood recovery team has now repaired 98 per cent of the slips that occurred on local roads in the ‘north rural’ area.

    Across the Auckland region, more than 2000 slips on local roads were reported to AT after the weather events. This included 1200 smaller slips which were fixed fairly quickly. But more than 800 bigger slips required extensive investigation to inform sustainable and resilient engineering designs before any construction repair works could begin.

    In the north rural area 323 of these complex slips needed repairing:

    • 256 minor (less than $250,000 to repair)
    • 67 major (more than $250,000 to repair).

    By the end of February 2025, all minor slips and 62 major slips in the area had been repaired with two under construction and three more to go.

    “It’s been a massive job, and we thank the people of Rodney for their continued patience, especially those communities dealing with long road closures,” said Alan Wallace, GM Road Asset Maintenance and Renewals at AT.

    “A number of roads like Ahuroa Road, Krippner Road and Matakana Valley Road slipped in multiple places and required some pretty complex engineering solutions before construction could even begin. Then when our contractors did get on site they were often in tricky terrain and working in variable weather conditions.”

    Mr Wallace says the north rural flood recovery programme is ahead of schedule and he’s confident the remaining slips will be repaired by mid-2025.

    The three remaining north rural slip sites are:

    • Pinchgut Road, Kaukapakapa (two sites)
    • Dairy Flat Road, Dairy Flat (one site).

    MIL OSI New Zealand News –

  • MIL-OSI China: Chinese satellites to enhance global early warning systems

    Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News

    China will launch three Fengyun geostationary meteorological satellites over the next two years to enhance global early warning systems, supporting the United Nations’ Early Warnings for All initiative and helping billions fight climate change, a senior official said.

    Chen Zhenlin, head of the China Meteorological Administration, said the satellites — one optical over the Indian Ocean, and one optical and one microwave over the western Pacific Ocean — are in their final phases of integration testing and are scheduled for launch between 2025 and 2026.

    The deployment of these satellites will bring groundbreaking development to global early warning systems, Chen told China Daily in an exclusive interview ahead of World Meteorological Day, which falls on Sunday and is themed “Closing the Early Warning Gap Together”.

    “Their high-frequency monitoring capabilities will allow these satellites to take advantage of the window for disaster prevention,” Chen said.

    The Indian Ocean and the western Pacific regions are vulnerable to extreme weather events, including typhoons and torrential rainfall. Real-time monitoring by the Fengyun satellites will enable early detection of disaster precursors, buying crucial response time.

    The microwave satellite, which is capable of penetrating cloud cover, will provide precise analysis of typhoon structures, improving the accuracy of their path and intensity forecasts. “This will give nations across Asia and the Pacific advance warnings ranging from hours to days,” Chen said.

    The optical satellites are capable of detecting heat waves and smoke from wildfires, while the microwave satellite can monitor changes in atmospheric moisture, helping in flood prediction. Together, they can track drought trends in Africa and conduct 3D observations of severe rainstorms in Southeast Asia, supporting climate resilience in countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative.

    Each of the optical satellites features a rapid scanning mode, providing minute-specific data for high-risk areas. “For instance, Pacific island nations will be able to predict the landfall of a severe cyclone 72 hours in advance,” Chen said.

    In line with global efforts to strengthen climate adaptation, China unveiled its Action Plan on Early Warning for Climate Change Adaptation (2025-27) during the COP29 UN climate conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, in November.

    The action plan focuses on sharing China’s expertise and technological prowess with developing economies to enhance disaster preparedness, minimize economic losses and reduce casualties from extreme weather events.

    Under the plan, China will provide and co-develop cloud-based early warning systems, alongside capacity-building programs, Chen said, adding that a key feature is integrating satellite data, global numerical forecasting and AI-powered meteorological models to improve prediction accuracy and accessibility.

    Multi-hazard monitoring will extend across meteorology, hydrology and marine fields, providing digital tools and interactive platforms to developing economies to close the technological gap.

    “A cloud-based early warning system has already been deployed in Pakistan, the Solomon Islands and several other countries involved in the BRI, significantly enhancing their ability to respond to climate threats,” Chen said.

    The action plan also prioritizes the development of local expertise.

    China will train 2,000 specialists, offer 100 scholarships and provide 50 visiting scholar positions over the next two years to help partner nations build independent meteorological and disaster response teams.

    The plan was well received when it was unveiled last year, Chen noted.

    Selwin Hart, special adviser to the UN secretary-general on climate action, called it the first national action plan directly supporting the UN’s Early Warnings for All initiative, which was launched by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in March 2022. The initiative called for every person on Earth to be protected by early warning systems by 2027.

    Celeste Saulo, secretary-general of the World Meteorological Organization, highlighted the critical role of China’s upcoming satellite launch in advancing global early warning capabilities.

    Chen, from the China Meteorological Administration, said the country plans to expand cloud-based early warning platforms, with a focus on supporting African nations in building meteorological early warning systems. AI models and numerical forecasting technology will improve the accuracy of global meteorological disaster predictions, he said.

    China will establish data service hubs in high-risk regions such as Africa, ASEAN countries and South Asia, aiming to bolster African drought and flood responses through cross-border meteorological disaster coordination.

    “China is exploring trilateral cooperation with developed economies, including the United States and European nations, to expand the reach of early warning services,” Chen said.

    The country will continue implementing capacity-building programs for developing economies, including setting up joint laboratories and fostering international research collaborations to equip vulnerable countries with technical expertise, he added.

    Beyond meteorology, China seeks to integrate early warning systems with UN sustainable development goals, using climate data to enhance food security in Africa and improve urban infrastructure resilience worldwide.

    “The combination of Chinese technology and international cooperation will directly benefit billions of people, making a tangible contribution to global climate resilience,” Chen said.

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-Evening Report: The search for missing plane MH370 is back on. An underwater robotics expert explains what’s involved

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stefan B. Williams, Professor of Marine Robotics, Australian Centre for Robotics, University of Sydney

    Armada 7805, similar to the 7806 vessel that will support the new MH370 search. Ocean Infinity

    More than 11 years after the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, the Malaysian government has approved a new search for the missing debris of the aircraft.

    Malaysia announced the push for a renewed search last year, ten years after the tragedy that claimed the lives of 239 people.

    Seabed exploration firm Ocean Infinity, which conducted an unsuccessful search in 2018, prepared a new proposal to which Malaysia’s government agreed in principle in December last year.

    Now, the company has returned to the southern Indian Ocean 1,500 kilometres west of Perth – with a suite of new high-tech tools.

    A search area the size of Sydney

    Ocean Infinity is involved in projects surveying for offshore oil and gas reserves, and for suitable locations for offshore renewable energy projects.

    But it has also proved it is capable of locating underwater wreckage in the past. For example, in 2018, the company found a missing Argentinian navy submarine nearly 1,000 metres underwater in the Atlantic Ocean. And last October, it found the wreck of a US Navy ship that had been underwater for 78 years.

    The new search area for MH370 is roughly the size of metropolitan Sydney. It was identified in collaboration with experts based on refined analysis of information received after the aircraft disappeared. This information included weather, satellite data and the location of debris attributed to the aircraft which washed up along the coast of Africa and islands in the Indian Ocean.

    For this search, Ocean Infinity will be using a new 78 metre offshore support vessel, the Armada 7806. It was built by Norwegian shipbuilder Vard in 2023.

    Advanced sonar technology

    The Armada 7806 is equipped with a fleet of autonomous underwater vehicles manufactured by the Norwegian firm Kongsberg.

    These 6.2m long vehicles are capable of operating independently of the support vessel at depths of up to 6,000m for up to 100 hours at a time. They are equipped with advanced sonar technology, including sidescan, synthetic aperture, multibeam and sub-bottom profiling sonar.

    Sonar systems are essential for underwater mapping and object detection surveys. They use acoustic pulses to look for echoes from the seafloor.

    Sidescan sonar captures high-resolution images of the seafloor by sending out pulses of sound and detecting objects that reflect the sound pulses back.

    Synthetic aperture sonar is a technique for combining the results from multiple “pings” to effectively make the scanner bigger and more powerful, seeing further, and producing more detailed images.

    Multibeam sonar, in contrast, maps the seafloor topography by emitting multiple sonar beams in a fan-shaped pattern below the platform.

    Finally, sub-bottom profiling sonar operates at lower frequencies and penetrates the seabed to reveal underlying geological structures. This is useful for archaeological studies, sediment analysis and identifying buried objects.

    Together, these sonar technologies provide complementary data for underwater exploration, search and recovery, and geological assessments.

    Camera systems and lights on the vehicles may be used to confirm potential targets. Once a target of interest is detected using sonar, the vehicles would be programmed with missions designed to operate significantly closer to the seafloor. This would allow them to capture imagery of the search area with which to identify the targets.

    Such a search would only be conducted once a target of interest is identified, as the area covered by each image is significantly smaller than that covered by sonar, therefore requiring much denser survey tracks.

    Significant advancements in robotics

    Since its previous search in 2018, Ocean Infinity has made significant advancements in its marine robotics and data analytics capabilities. It has demonstrated its capacity to simultaneously deploy multiple vehicles at depths of up to 6,000m.

    This significantly increases the coverage area, as each vehicle covers its own patch of seafloor. This will allow for a more efficient and comprehensive survey of the designated search zone.

    The data being collected by the vehicles will be downloaded once the vehicles are brought back onboard, and stitched together to provide detailed maps of the search areas.

    Difficult conditions, above and below the surface

    Conditions in the search region are expected to be difficult. Weather on the surface will likely provide challenges for the support vessel and the crew. Underwater vehicles will have to contend with complex conditions on the seafloor, including steep slopes and rough terrain.

    The operation is expected to take up to 18 months. Weather conditions are most likely to be favourable between January and April.

    If Ocean Infinity succeeds in finding the wreckage of MH370, the Malaysian government will pay it US$70 million.

    The next steps would be trying to retrieve the plane’s black boxes, which would enable investigators to piece together what happened in the final moments before the plane plunged into the ocean. The Armada 7806 is likely to have remotely operated vehicles onboard equipped with cameras and manipulator systems, which may be used to verify the wreck site and in any future salvage operations.

    If Ocean Infinity fails, it will receive no payment. And the investigation into the location of the plane will essentially be back to square one.

    Stefan B. Williams receives funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC), Australian Economic Accelerator (AEA) program and the Inkfish Foundation.

    – ref. The search for missing plane MH370 is back on. An underwater robotics expert explains what’s involved – https://theconversation.com/the-search-for-missing-plane-mh370-is-back-on-an-underwater-robotics-expert-explains-whats-involved-252732

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Special Public Avalanche Warning in place for central Rockies

    Source: Government of Canada regional news

    From Avalanche Canada: https://avalanche.ca/news/20250320-spaw

    Avalanche Canada, in partnership with Parks Canada, Alberta Parks, and the Province of British Columbia, has issued a Special Public Avalanche Warning for recreational backcountry users across the central Rockies. The warning applies to Banff, Yoho, Kootenay, and Jasper National Parks, Kananaskis Country, and areas immediately adjacent to those parks. It is in effect immediately and remains in place through Monday, March 24.

    Recent storm snow overlies a weak snowpack structure and has produced numerous very large avalanches over the last two weeks. Avalanches triggered on this layer have propagated widely, even through forested areas, and may involve the entire depth of the snowpack. There have been several serious avalanche incidents in this time, including two fatal incidents, and the snowpack is dangerous and unpredictable. Avalanches may also be triggered remotely, meaning they could be initiated from a distance. Warming, sun, and stormy weather will all increase the likelihood of triggering an avalanche.

    “While natural avalanche activity is beginning to taper off, the snowpack remains primed for human-triggering,” says Stephen Holeczi, Visitor Safety Specialist at Banff, Yoho, and Kootenay National Parks. “This is an unstable and highly volatile situation,” Holeczi cautions, because “Weak layers are buried under up to 90 cm of storm snow, and more snow expected by the weekend will add to slabs over those weak layers.” He adds, “the complex snowpack in the central Rockies continues to demand caution, conservative decision-making, and careful terrain choices.”

    It is important that backcountry recreationists remain alert to the dangerous avalanche conditions and don’t become complacent as the natural avalanche activity declines. It is essential to choose low-angle terrain without overhead hazard or terrain traps. Avalanches on this layer may run far and release unpredictably, and slopes with tracks on them should not be considered safe. 

    To reduce risk, Avalanche Canada, Parks Canada, and Alberta Parks recommend: 

    • Sticking to lower-angle slopes (less than 30 degrees)
    • Avoid terrain with exposure to overhead hazard, terrain traps, or runout zones
    • Avoiding avalanche terrain
    • Avoiding sun-exposed slopes during warm and/or sunny conditions 

    “With a special public avalanche warning in effect for Kananaskis Country, we want to make sure anyone heading to the mountains exercise extreme caution,” said Todd Loewen, Alberta Minister of Forestry and Parks. “All backcountry users should educate themselves on avalanche terrain, avalanche safety equipment and companion rescue, and stay up to date on advisories and warnings in the area. Taking the time to fully prepare yourself and avoid dangerous avalanche conditions will help keep you and those around you safe.”

    “The snowpack in the Rockies is complex and highly unstable at the moment, posing a significant avalanche risk,” said Kelly Greene, BC Minister of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness. “If you were considering going into the backcountry this weekend, I strongly urge you to put your safety first. Now is the time to exercise extreme caution, follow the advice and guidance of Avalanche Canada, and make well-informed decisions.”

    Backcountry users should always check the avalanche forecast at https://avalanche.ca. Everyone in a backcountry group must carry essential rescue gear—an avalanche transceiver, probe, and shovel — and have the training to use it. 

    For a map of the SPAW regions, click: https://asset.cloudinary.com/avalanche-ca/5179b632436737b18001e0033028f487  

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: End of eternal ice: Many glaciers will not survive this century, climate scientists say

    Source: United Nations MIL OSI b

    Climate and Environment

    Glaciers in many regions will not survive the 21st century if they keep melting at the current rate, potentially jeopardising hundreds of millions of people living downstream, UN climate experts said on the first World Day for Glaciers.

    Together with ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica, glaciers lock up about 70 per cent of the world’s freshwater reserves. They are striking indicators of climate change as they typically remain about the same size in a stable climate.

    But, with rising temperatures and global warming triggered by human-induced climate change, they are melting at unprecedented speed, said Sulagna Mishra, a scientific officer at the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

    Hundreds of millions of livelihoods at risk

    Last year, glaciers in Scandinavia, the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard and North Asia experienced the largest annual loss of overall mass on record. Glaciologists determine the state of a glacier by measuring how much snow falls on it and how much melt occurs every year, according to UN partner the World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS) at the University of Zurich.

    In the 500-mile-long Hindu Kush mountain range, located in the western Himalayas and stretching from Afghanistan to Pakistan, the livelihoods of more than 120 million farmers are under threat from glacial loss, Ms. Mishra explained.

    The mountain range has been dubbed the “third pole” because of the extraordinary water resources it holds, she noted.

    ‘Irreversible’ retreat

    Despite these vast freshwater reserves, it may already be too late to save them for future generations.

    Large masses of perennial ice are disappearing quickly, with five out of the past six years seeing the most rapid glacier retreat on record, according to WMO.

    The period from 2022 to 2024 also experienced the largest-ever three-year loss.

    “We are seeing an unprecedented change in the glaciers,” which in many cases may be irreversible, said Ms. Mishra.

    Ice melt the size of Germany

    WGMS estimates that glaciers, which do not include the Greenland and Antarctica ice sheets, have lost more than 9,000 billion tonnes of mass since 1975.

    “This is equivalent to a huge ice block of the size of Germany with a thickness of 25 metres,” said WGMS director Michael Zemp. The world has lost 273 billion tonnes of ice on average every year since 2000, he added, highlighting the findings of a new international study into glacier mass change.

    “To put that into context, 273 billion tonnes of ice lost every year corresponds about to the water intake of the entire [world] population for 30 years,” Mr. Zemp said. In central Europe, almost 40 per cent of the remaining ice has melted. If this continues at the current rate, “glaciers will not survive this century in the Alps.”

    Echoing those concerns, WMO’s Ms. Mishra added that if emissions of warming greenhouse gases are not slowed “and the temperatures are rising at the rate they are at the moment, by the end of 2100, we are going to lose 80 per cent of the small glaciers” across Europe, East Africa, Indonesia and elsewhere.

    A trigger for large-scale floods

    Glacial melt has immediate, large-scale repercussions for the economy, ecosystems and communities.

    The latest data indicates that 25 to 30 per cent of sea level rise comes from glacier melt, according to the World Glacier Monitoring Service.

    Melting snowcaps are causing sea levels to rise about one millimetre higher every year, a figure that might seem insignificant, yet every millimetre will flood another 200,000 to 300,000 persons every year.

    “Small number, huge impact,” glaciologist Mr. Zemp said.

    © WMO

    Glacier cumulative mass balance change since 1970.

    Everyone is affected

    Floods can affect people’s livelihoods and compel them to emigrate from one place to another, WMO’s Ms. Mishra continued.

    “When you ask me how many people are actually impacted, it’s really everyone,” she stressed.

    From a multilateral perspective, “it is really high time that we create awareness, and we change our policies and…we mobilise resources to make sure that we have good, policy frameworks in place, we have good research in place that can help us to mitigate and also adapt to these new changes,” Ms. Mishra insisted.

    A day to consider world’s glaciers

    Providing added momentum to this campaign, the World Day for Glaciers on 21 March aims to raise awareness about the critical role that these massive frozen rivers of snow and ice play in the climate system. It coincides with World Water Day.

    To mark the occasion, which is one of the highlights of the 2025 International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation, global leaders, policymakers, scientists and civil society representatives are due to gather at UN Headquarters in New York to highlight the importance of glaciers and to boost worldwide monitoring of the cryospheric processes of freezing and melting that affect them.

    WGMS’s Mr. Zemp, who also teaches glaciology at the University of Zurich, is already preparing for a world without glaciers.

    “If I think of my children, I am living in a world with maybe no glaciers. That’s actually quite alarming,” he told UN News.  

    “I really recommend going with your children there and having a look at it because you can see the dramatic changes that are going on, and you will also realise that we are putting a big burden on our next generation.”

    © USGS

    Scientists collecting data on South Cascade Glacier in the US state of Washington.

    Glacier of the Year

    This year’s Glacier of the Year 2025 is South Cascade Glacier in the US state of Washington.

    The body of ice, which has been continuously monitored since 1952, provides one of the longest uninterrupted records of glaciological mass balance in the western hemisphere.

    “South Cascade Glacier exemplifies both the beauty of glaciers and the long-term commitment of dedicated scientists and volunteers who have collected direct field data to quantify glacier mass change for more than six decades,” said Caitlyn Florentine, from the U.S. Geological Survey.

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Answer to a written question – Climate neutrality – E-002894/2024(ASW)

    Source: European Parliament

    The question is not of speed to achieve a warming target but of how to use the remaining carbon budget[1] to limit global warming to 1.5 ° C.

    This requires strong reductions of global greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) in the coming years and decades. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC[2]) shows global GHGs need to be cut by 43% in 2030 compared to 2019 and that in 2050 global CO2 emissions need to be at 0.

    Limiting global warming to 1.5 ° C requires other countries to join the EU on the path to climate neutrality. Countries such as China and India and other major emitters should be encouraged to present and implement long-term strategies for net zero aligned with limiting global warming to 1.5 ° C.

    The EU climate neutrality target is compatible with action required at global level to limit global warming to 1.5 ° C. If a Member State reduces emissions faster, this contributes to a slower reduction of the remaining global carbon budget compatible with 1.5 ° C and so makes limiting global warming to 1.5 ° C more likely.

    As EU GHG emissions are now 6% of global emissions, the direct, additional impact is limited, but the level of ambition shown by the EU and its Member States is closely watched by international partners and serves as a global role model for climate action.

    The outcome of the negotiations for the EU Budget cannot be anticipated. Scientific literature and economic analyses show that the costs of inaction are significantly higher than costs of ambitious action to reach climate neutrality , with significant added value from EU action in terms of competitiveness, energy security, potential for clean tech leadership and reduced climate and health impacts from reducing GHG emissions alongside measures to boost preparedness for climate impacts.

    • [1] The carbon budget over a period is defined as the cumulative net carbon emissions over the period. The IPCC (6th Assessment Report) defines remaining carbon budget associated with long-term temperature objectives.
    • [2] IPCC 6th Assessment Report (AR6).
    Last updated: 20 March 2025

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: Transforming India’s Agricultural and Dairy Sectors

    Source: Government of India

    Transforming India’s Agricultural and Dairy Sectors

    Recent Policy Decisions and Budgetary Provisions

    Posted On: 20 MAR 2025 6:49PM by PIB Delhi

    Summary

    • The Union Cabinet approved the Revised National Program for Dairy Development (NPDD) with an additional budget of ₹1,000 crore.
    • The Union Cabinet has also approved the Revised Rashtriya Gokul Mission (RGM) to boost the livestock sector, with an additional outlay of ₹1,000 crore.
    • The Union Budget 2025-26 has emphasized agriculture as the foremost engine of India’s development.
    • On January 1, 2025, the Union Cabinet approved continuation of the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana and Restructured Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme till 2025-26.
    • On January 1, 2025, the Union Cabinet approved the extension of One-time Special Package on Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) for the period from 01.01.2025 till further orders.
    • The Union Cabinet, on November 25, 2024, approved the launching of the National Mission on Natural Farming (NMNF) with a total outlay of Rs.2481 crore.
    • On October 3, 2024, the Union Cabinet approved the rationalization of all Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) operating under Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer’s into two-umbrella Schemes viz. Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (PM-RKVY), and Krishonnati Yojana (KY).
    • On October 3, 2024, the Union Cabinet approved the National Mission on Edible Oils – Oilseeds with a financial outlay of Rs 10,103 crore.

     

    Introduction

    On March 19, 2025, the Union Cabinet took two key decisions to further the development of agriculture, dairying and animal husbandry in India. Agriculture, animal husbandry, and dairying are the cornerstone of India’s economy. These sectors play a crucial role in ensuring rural employment and economic stability.

    The Union Cabinet approved the Revised National Program for Dairy Development (NPDD), a Central Sector Scheme, with an additional budget of ₹1,000 crore, bringing the total to ₹2,790 crore for the 15th Finance Commission period (2021-22 to 2025-26).

    Key Objectives of the Revised NPDD:

    • Improved milk procurement, processing capacity, and quality control.
    • Enhanced market access for farmers and better pricing through value addition.
    • Strengthening of the dairy supply chain to increase rural income and development.

    Components of the Revised NPDD:

    1. Component A: Focuses on improving dairy infrastructure.
    2. Component B: Dairying through Cooperatives (DTC) in partnership with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

    Expected Outcomes of Revised NPDD:

    • Establishment of 10,000 new Dairy Cooperative Societies.
    • Additional 3.2 lakh employment opportunities, 70% benefiting women.

    The Union Cabinet has also approved the Revised Rashtriya Gokul Mission (RGM) to boost the livestock sector, with an additional outlay of ₹1,000 crore, bringing the total budget to ₹3,400 crore for the 15th Finance Commission period (2021-22 to 2025-26).

    Key Additions to the Revised RGM:

    1. Heifer Rearing Centres: One-time assistance of 35% of capital cost for setting up 30 housing facilities for 15,000 heifers.
    2. Support for High Genetic Merit (HGM) Heifers: 3% interest subvention on loans taken by farmers to purchase HGM IVF heifers from milk unions/financial institutions.

    Ongoing Activities under RGM:

    • Strengthening of semen stations and Artificial Insemination (AI) network.
    • Bull production and breed improvement using sex-sorted semen.
    • Skill development and farmer awareness programs.
    • Establishment of Centres of Excellence and strengthening of Central Cattle Breeding Farms.

    Expected Outcomes of Revised RGM:

    • Increased incomes for 8.5 crore farmers engaged in dairying.
    • Scientific conservation of indigenous bovine breeds.

    India is the world’s largest producer of milk and the second-largest producer of fruits and vegetables. With a rising global demand for organic produce, value-added dairy products, and sustainable farming practices, the government has placed renewed emphasis on enhancing productivity, infrastructure, and market access for farmers. In the past six months, the Union Government has introduced key policy decisions aimed at modernizing these sectors. Through targeted investments, regulatory support, and infrastructure development, the government seeks to improve farmer incomes, ensure disease control in livestock, and bolster cooperative movements to benefit small and marginal farmers. A crucial component of this vision is the Union Budget 2024-25, which has made substantial allocations to agriculture, animal health, and rural development.

    Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, and Dairying Provisions in Union Budget 2024-25

    The Union Budget 2025-26 has emphasized agriculture as the foremost engine of India’s development, focusing on improving productivity, farmer incomes, rural infrastructure, and self-sufficiency in key commodities. The provisions also extend to animal husbandry, dairying, and fisheries, ensuring holistic growth in the primary sector.

    1. Agriculture Sector Provisions

    1.1 Prime Minister Dhan-Dhaanya Krishi Yojana

    • A new scheme targeting 100 low-productivity districts.
    • Focus on enhancing agricultural productivity, crop diversification, sustainable practices, irrigation, and post-harvest storage.
    • Likely to benefit 1.7 crore farmers.

    1.2 Rural Prosperity and Resilience Programme

    • A multi-sectoral initiative to address underemployment in agriculture.
    • Focus on skilling, investment, and technology-driven transformation.
    • Phase-1 to cover 100 agricultural districts.

    1.3 Mission for Aatmanirbharta in Pulses

    • A six-year mission with a focus on Tur, Urad, and Masoor.
    • Development of climate-resilient seeds and protein enhancement.
    • Assurance of remunerative prices through procurement by NAFED and NCCF for four years.

    1.4 Comprehensive Programme for Vegetables and Fruits

    • Promotion of vegetable and fruit production with efficient supply chains.
    • Focus on value addition, processing, and ensuring better market prices.
    • Implementation in partnership with states and farmer producer organizations.

    1.5 National Mission on High Yielding Seeds

    • Strengthening research for high-yield, pest-resistant, and climate-resilient seeds.
    • Commercial availability of over 100 seed varieties released since July 2024.

    1.6 Cotton Productivity Mission

    • A five-year mission to improve cotton yield and sustainability.
    • Promotion of extra-long staple cotton to benefit cotton-growing farmers.
    • Alignment with the 5F vision for textile sector growth.

    1.7 Kisan Credit Card (KCC) Loan Limit Enhancement

    • The loan limit under the Modified Interest Subvention Scheme raised from ₹3 lakh to ₹5 lakh.
    • Expected to benefit 7.7 crore farmers, fishermen, and dairy farmers.

    1.8 Urea Plant in Assam

    • A new urea plant with an annual capacity of 12.7 lakh metric tons at Namrup, Assam.
    • Expected to enhance self-sufficiency in urea production.

    2. Animal Husbandry and Dairying

    2.1 Makhana Board in Bihar

    • Establishment of a dedicated board to support makhana production, processing, and marketing.
    • Organization of makhana farmers into Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs).

    2.2 Fisheries Development Framework

    • Special focus on Andaman & Nicobar and Lakshadweep Islands.
    • Sustainable harnessing of fisheries from the Exclusive Economic Zone and High Seas.
    • Expected to boost marine sector potential and increase exports.

    3. Credit and Financial Inclusion

    3.1 Grameen Credit Score

    • Public Sector Banks to develop a framework for SHG members and rural credit needs.

    3.2 Expansion of Credit for Micro Enterprises

    • Introduction of customized credit cards with a ₹5 lakh limit for micro-enterprises registered on the Udyam portal.
    • 10 lakh cards to be issued in the first year.

    4. Research and Infrastructure Development

    4.1 Gene Bank for Crops Germplasm

    • A second gene bank with 10 lakh germplasm lines for future food security.

    4.2 Research and Development in Agriculture

    • Enhanced support for private-sector-driven R&D.

    The Union Budget 2025-26 provisions for agriculture, animal husbandry, and dairying reflect the government’s commitment to boosting agricultural productivity, ensuring financial stability for farmers, and strengthening allied sectors.

    Overview of Cabinet Decisions Since October 2024

    1. Continuation of Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) and Restructured Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (RWBCIS)

    On January 1, 2025, the Union Cabinet approved continuation of the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana and Restructured Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme till 2025-26 with an overall outlay of Rs.69,515.71 crore from 2021-22 to 2025-26. The decision will help in risk coverage of crops from non-preventable natural calamities for farmers across the country.

    In addition to the same, for large scale technology infusion in implementation of the scheme leading to increasing transparency and claim calculation and settlement, the Union Cabinet has also approved creation of Fund for Innovation and Technology (FIAT) with a corpus of Rs.824.77 crore.

    1. Extension of One-time Special Package on Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP)

    On January 1, 2025, the Union Cabinet approved the proposal of the Department of Fertilizers for extension of One-time Special Package on Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) beyond the NBS subsidy @ Rs 3,500 per MT for the period from 01.01.2025 till further orders to ensure sustainable availability of DAP at affordable prices to the farmers. The tentative budgetary requirement for above would be approximately up to Rs. 3,850 crore.

    1. Increase in Minimum Support Price (MSP) for Copra for 2025 season

    The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, on December 20, 2024, has given its approval for the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for copra for 2025 season. The government has increased MSP for milling copra and ball copra from Rs. 5250 per quintal and Rs. 5500 per quintal for the marketing season 2014 to Rs. 11582 per quintal and Rs. 12100 per quintal for the marketing season 2025, registering a growth of 121% and 120%, respectively. A higher MSP will not only ensure better remunerative returns to the coconut growers but also incentivize farmers to expand copra production to meet the growing demand for coconut products both domestically and internationally.

    1. Launch of National Mission on Natural Farming

    The Union Cabinet, on November 25, 2024, approved the launching of the National Mission on Natural Farming (NMNF) as a standalone Centrally Sponsored Scheme under the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare. The scheme has a total outlay of Rs.2481 crore (Government of India share – Rs.1584 crore; State share – Rs.897 crore) till the 15th Finance Commission (2025-26).

    • National Mission on Natural Farming (NMNF) promotes NF to ensure safe, nutritious food and reduce farmers’ dependency on external inputs. It aims to enhance soil health, biodiversity, climate resilience, and sustainable agriculture.
    • Natural Farming (NF) is a chemical-free farming method based on traditional knowledge, local agro-ecological principles, and diversified cropping systems.
    • NF reduces input costs, soil degradation, and health risks from fertilizers and pesticides, ensuring nutritious food and climate resilience.
    1. Launch of PM Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (PM-RKVY) and Krishonnati Yojana (KY)

    On October 3, 2024, the Union Cabinet approved the proposal of the Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare (DA&FW) for rationalization of all Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) operating under Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer’s into two-umbrella Schemes viz. Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (PM-RKVY), and Krishonnati Yojana (KY).  

    PM-RKVY will promote sustainable agriculture, while KY will address food security & agricultural self-sufficiency. The PM-RKVY and KY are being implemented with total proposed expenditure of Rs.1,01,321.61 crore. These Schemes are implemented through the State Governments. Out of the total proposed expenditure of Rs.1,01,321.61 crore the projected expenditure towards central share of DA&FW is Rs.69,088.98 crore and states share is Rs.32,232.63 crore. This includes Rs.57,074.72 crore for RKVY and Rs.44,246.89 crore for KY.

    1. Approval of National Mission on Edible Oils – Oilseeds

    On October 3, 2024, the Union Cabinet approved the National Mission on Edible Oils – Oilseeds (NMEO-Oilseeds), a landmark initiative aimed at boosting domestic oilseed production and achieving self-reliance in edible oils. The Mission will be implemented over a seven-year period, from 2024-25 to 2030-31, with a financial outlay of Rs 10,103 crore.

    The mission aims to increase primary oilseed production from 39 million tonnes (2022-23) to 69.7 million tonnes by 2030-31. Together with NMEO-OP (Oil Palm), the Mission targets to increase domestic edible oil production to 25.45 million tonnes by 2030-31 meeting around 72% of our projected domestic requirement.

    Welfare Schemes for Agriculture, Dairying and Animal Husbandry by the Indian Government

    • Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN): Launch of PM-KISAN in 2019 an income support scheme providing Rs. 6000 per year in 3 equal instalments. So far, more than Rs. 3.46 lakh crore has been disbursed to over 11 crore farmers through 18 instalments. On February 24, 2025, the government released the 19th instalment of the PM-KISAN scheme. Over 9.8 crore farmers including 2.41 crore female farmers across the country will be benefitted through the 19th instalment release, receiving direct financial assistance exceeding ₹22,000 crore through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) without involvement of any middlemen.
    • Pradhan Mantri Kisan Maandhan Yojana: PMKMY is a central sector scheme, is a voluntary and contributory pension scheme for the entry age group of 18 to 40 years with a provision of Rs. 3000/- monthly pension on attaining the age of 60 years, subject to exclusion criteria. Since the inception of the scheme, over 24.67 lacs small and marginal farmers have joined the PMKMY scheme.
    • Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana: PMFBY was launched in 2016 addressing problems of high premium rates for farmers and reduction in sum insured due to capping. In past 8 Years of implementation. In past 8 Years of PMFBY implementation, 63.11 crore farmer applications have been enrolled and over 18.52 crore (Provisional) farmer applicants have received claims of over Rs. 1,65,149 crore. During this period nearly Rs. 32,482 crore were paid by farmers as their share of premium against which claims over Rs. 1,65,149 crore (Provisional) have been paid to them. Thus, for every Rs. 100 of premium paid by farmers, they have received about Rs. 508 as claims.

    ​​​​​​​

    • National Livestock Mission (NLM): The focus of the scheme is towards employment generation, entrepreneurship development; increase in per animal productivity and thus targeting increased production of meat, goat milk, egg and wool. An outlay of Rs. 324 crores have been allocated during the year 2024-25 for this mission.
    • Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund (AHIDF): The scheme envisaged for incentivizing investments by individual entrepreneurs, private companies, MSME, Farmers Producers Organizations (FPOs), and Section 8 companies to establish dairy processing and value addition infrastructure, meat processing and value addition infrastructure, animal feed plant, breed improvement technology and breed multiplications farms, veterinary drugs and vaccine infrastructure and waste to wealth management. Further, the Dairy Infrastructure Development Fund (DIDF) has been subsumed in the AHIDF and revised outlay is now Rs. 29610 crore.
    • National Animal Disease Control Programme (NADCP): Launched in 2019, the program is the largest of its kind globally, targeting the eradication of FMD and Brucellosis by 2030. Over 99.71 crore vaccinations against Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) in cattle and buffaloes, benefitting 7.18 crore farmers have been made so far.

    Conclusion

    The government’s recent decisions and budgetary provisions reflect a strong push towards modernization, infrastructure development, and sustainability in agriculture, animal husbandry, and dairying. The focus on disease control, cooperative strengthening, and technological innovation will contribute to improving productivity and farmers’ incomes, ensuring the long-term growth of these vital sectors.

    References

    https://pib.gov.in/PressReleseDetail.aspx?PRID=2112791

    https://pib.gov.in/PressReleseDetail.aspx?PRID=2112788

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    Kindly find the pdf file 

    ****

    Santosh Kumar | Ritu Kataria | Rishita Aggarwal

    (Release ID: 2113351) Visitor Counter : 40

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: International Day of Forests 2025

    Source: Government of India

    International Day of Forests 2025

    India’s Integrated Vision for Forests, Food, and Sustainability

    Posted On: 20 MAR 2025 6:35PM by PIB Delhi

    Introduction

    Forests are the lifelines of our planet, providing oxygen, food, medicine, and livelihoods to millions. Beyond their ecological significance, forests are pillars of global food security, offering essential resources such as fruits, seeds, roots, and wild meat, which support indigenous and rural communities. Every year on March 21, the world celebrates the International Day of Forests to celebrate all types of forests, recognize the importance of trees and forests, and take action to protect them.

    In year 2012, the United Nations declared March 21 as the International Day of Forests (IDF) to celebrate and raise awareness about the vital role of forests. Every year a new theme is chosen by the Collaborative Partnership on Forests. The theme for this year is “Forests and Food,” which emphasizes the deep connection between forests and global food security.

    In India forests are deeply intertwined with culture, economy, and biodiversity, and their protection is not just an environmental necessity but a fundamental responsibility. In this direction, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and related ministries of Government of India have launched various schemes that link forests to food security, nutrition, and livelihoods.

    National Agroforestry Policy

    Agroforestry is a sustainable land-use system that integrates trees and crops to enhance agricultural productivity, improve soil fertility, and provide an additional income source for farmers. Recognizing its potential, the Government of India introduced the National Agroforestry Policy in 2014 to promote tree plantation in farmland.

    Objectives of the Scheme

    The National Agroforestry Scheme aims to encourage farmers to adopt agroforestry for climate resilience, environmental conservation, and economic benefits.

    Implementation Strategy

    The scheme emphasizes the production and distribution of Quality Planting Material (QPM) through nurseries and tissue culture units. The ICAR-Central Agroforestry Research Institute (CAFRI) is the nodal agency responsible for providing technical support, certification, and training. Various institutions such as ICFRE, CSIR, ICRAF, and state agricultural universities collaborate to implement the program effectively.

    Market and Economic Support

    To make agroforestry profitable, the scheme supports farmers through price guarantees and buy-back options for farm-grown trees. It also encourages private sector participation in the marketing and processing of agroforestry products. Additionally, agroforestry integrates well with India’s strategy to promote millets, as millets thrive in tree-based farming systems.

    Funding and Support Interventions

    The government provides financial assistance for the establishment of nurseries and research projects.

    Green India Mission

    The Green India Mission (GIM) also known as National Mission for a Green India, is a key part of India’s National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC). It is one of the eight missions under NAPCC. The mission aims to protect, restore, and enhance India’s forest cover while tackling climate change. GIM focuses on improving biodiversity, water resources, and ecosystems like mangroves and wetlands, all while helping absorb carbon. The activities under GIM were started in the FY 2015-16.

    Mission Goals:

    • Expand forest/tree cover by 5 million hectares (mha) and improve the quality of another 5 mha of forest and non-forest land.
    • Boost ecosystem services like carbon storage, water management, and biodiversity.
    • Improve livelihoods for 3 million households by increasing income from forest-based activities.

    Sub-Missions:

    GIM has five sub-missions, each focused on a different aspect of greening:

    1. Enhancing Forest Cover – Improving Forest quality and ecosystem services.
    2. Ecosystem Restoration – Reforesting and increasing forest cover.
    3. Urban Greening – Adding more trees in cities and nearby areas.
    4. Agro-Forestry & Social Forestry – Boosting biomass and creating carbon sinks.
    5. Wetland Restoration – Reviving critical wetlands.

    Ecosystem Services Improvement Project (ESIP)

    The Green India Mission is working on the Ecosystem Services Improvement Project (ESIP), a World Bank-backed initiative in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh.

     

    Funding and Expenditure

     

    As of July 2024, Rs. 909.82 crores have been allocated to 17 states and one Union Territory for plantation and eco-restoration over 155,130 hectares. In Maharashtra’s Palghar district, 464.20 hectares in Dahanu Division have been covered under GIM for plantation and eco-restoration.

     

    Forest Fire Prevention & Management Scheme

    The Forest Fire Prevention & Management is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme that supports states and Union Territories in preventing and controlling forest fires. The Ministry provides financial assistance to help implement various fire prevention and management measures.

    India has a forest fire detection system managed by the Forest Survey of India, Dehradun. It uses remote sensing technology to detect and share information about forest fires in near real-time. This system plays a crucial role in the early detection and effective management of forest fires across the country. The Ministry has also constituted a Crisis Management Group under the chairmanship of Secretary (EF&CC) to deal with crises arising as a result of forest fires.

    Source: India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2023

    Objectives of the scheme

     

    The scheme aims to reduce forest fire incidents and restore productivity in affected areas. It emphasizes the involvement of local communities in forest protection and contributes to maintaining environmental stability. Developing a fire danger rating system and forecasting methods is also a key objective. The scheme encourages the use of modern technology, such as Remote Sensing, GPS, and GIS, to enhance fire prevention efforts. Additionally, it seeks to improve knowledge about the impact and behaviour of forest fires.

    Implementation

     

    Following the recommendations of the Parliamentary Committee and NGT’s directions, the Ministry has developed the National Action Plan on Forest Fire. It is based on a study with the World Bank and consultations with key stakeholders like State Forest Departments and the National Disaster Management Authority. In addition to forest fire detection, the Forest Survey of India (FSI), under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, has developed a satellite-based Forest Fire Monitoring and Alert System. This system helps in the timely detection and monitoring of forest fires. Fire alerts are sent via SMS and email to registered users, ensuring quick response and better fire management.

    Van Dhan Yojana

    Launched in 2018 by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs and TRIFED, the Pradhan Mantri Van Dhan Yojana (PMVDY) aims to improve the livelihood of tribal communities by enhancing the value of forest produce. The scheme helps tribal gatherers become entrepreneurs through skill training, infrastructure support, and market linkages.

    Formation of Van Dhan Vikas Kendras (VDVKs)

    Under this initiative, tribal communities form Van Dhan Vikas Kendras (VDVKs), each consisting of 300 members from 15 Self-Help Groups (SHGs). These Kendras serve as hubs for processing, value addition, and marketing of Minor Forest Produce (MFPs).

    Financial Support and Implementation

    The scheme is a centrally funded, with ₹15 lakh allocated per Kendra. Tribal members contribute ₹1,000 each to ensure ownership. The government also supports branding, packaging, and global market access for tribal products.

    Two-Stage Implementation

    1. Stage I: Establishment of 6,000 Kendras across tribal districts with basic facilities.
    2. Stage II: Scaling up successful Kendras with better infrastructure, such as storage and processing units.

    Impact and Benefits

    PMVDY generates sustainable livelihoods, promotes forest conservation, discourages tribal migration, and strengthens the tribal economy, making it a key initiative for India’s tribal development.

    Conclusion

    India’s commitment to forest conservation and sustainable development is evident through various initiatives like the National Agroforestry Policy, Green India Mission, Forest Fire Prevention & Management Scheme, and Van Dhan Yojana. These programs not only help restore and protect forest ecosystems but also enhance livelihoods, promote climate resilience, and strengthen food security. On International Day of Forests 2025, it is crucial to reaffirm our dedication to preserving forests as vital resources for future generations. By integrating conservation efforts with community participation and sustainable policies, India continues to pave the way for a greener, healthier, and more prosperous future.

    References:

    International Day of Forests 2025

    *****

    Santosh Kumar/ Sheetal Angral/ Priya Nagar

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    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: “Ministry of Ayush Takes Proactive Steps to Safeguard Public Health Regarding Heatwave”

    Source: Government of India (2)

    Posted On: 20 MAR 2025 4:21PM by PIB Delhi

    In the wake of rising temperatures and India Meteorological Department (IMD) advisories issued to various regions, the Ministry of Ayush has initiated a nationwide sensitisation drive through its network of institutions spread across the country. The efforts aim to spread awareness about heatwave preventive measures.

    Institutes and organisations under the Ministry of Ayush are conducting a range of activities to educate citizens about heatwave prevention, including awareness sessions, distribution of IEC materials etc. The drive emphasises tips and traditional wellness practices backed up by scientific evidence to help citizens stay safe during extreme heatwave conditions.

    Dr. MM Rao, CARI, Bhubaneswar

    The Jamnagar-based Institute of Teaching and Research in Ayurveda (ITRA) has taken proactive steps to shield the local population from the damaging effects of warming temperatures. As part of its ongoing commitment to public health, ITRA conducted a vital activity on March 20, 2025, to educate and protect residents—particularly those who visit its Outpatient Department (OPD) from the risks associated with heat epidemics.

    Educational pamphlets were dispersed throughout the ITRA Hospital and the surrounding area during the campaign. These bilingual booklets provide important tips and practical guidance on preventing heat-related illnesses, such as drinking lots of water, avoiding direct sunlight during peak hours, and recognizing the early warning signs of heat stress. The program’s objective is to provide people with the knowledge they require.

    Dr. Jayprakash Ram delivered an inspiring and informative lecture on Heatwave Awareness: Knowledge, Prevention, and Treatment. Hosted at RARI Ahmedabad, this vibrant event brought together OPD patients, their families, and the institution’s dedicated staff for a collective awakening to tackle the perils of loo (heatwave) with confidence and care.

    Attendees engaged in lively discussions during the event, and many went home with pamphlets and a renewed determination to stay cool.

    Dr. Preeti from the Central Research Institute of Yoga & Naturopathy, Jhajjar, guided patients and staff on Heatwave Awareness through the healing powers of Yoga & Naturopathy.

    Dr. Jaiprakash Ram, RARI, Ahmedabad

    Addendum from Public Health Advisory from Ayush Vertical under Director General of Health Services regarding prevention of Heatwave

    • Stay Hydrated: Drink plenty of water throughout the day to keep your body hydrated. You can also include buttermilk, coconut water, and fruit juices to maintain fluid levels and stay cool.
    • Use Cooling Beverages: Incorporate naturally cooling drinks into your routine, such as coconut water, lemon juice, or fruit-based drinks. These help to lower body temperature and keep you refreshed.
    • Avoid Direct Sunlight: When going outside, use an umbrella or wear a wide-brimmed hat to minimize sun exposure. This helps prevent heatstroke and sunburn.
    • Eat Light Meals: Before leaving the house, opt for light, easy-to-digest meals. Avoid heavy or oily foods, as they can increase body heat.
    • Wear Appropriate Clothing: Dress in full-sleeved, loose-fitting clothes made from fabrics like cotton. This provides better protection against direct sunlight and helps to keep you cool.
    • Use Cooling Water Infusions: Prepare your drinking water with cooling ingredients like khus (vetiver), sariva (Indian sarsaparilla), jeera (cumin), and dhanyaka (coriander seeds). This can help reduce body heat.
    • Enjoy Sattu-based Refreshments: Consume sattu (a coarse powder made from roasted barley or Bengal gram) mixed with jaggery or rock salt for a cooling and refreshing treat.
    • Eat Cooling Snacks: Include foods like falsa (Indian blackberry), munakka (raisins), laja (parched paddy), and petha (candied ash gourd) in your diet for their cooling properties.
    • Apply Cooling Pastes: Use pastes made from aromatic medicinal plants like sandalwood and vetiver on your skin to help cool down during hot weather.
    • Include Hydrating Fruits and Vegetables: Consume fruits and vegetables that contain high water content, such as grapes, cucumber, watermelon, water chestnut, muskmelon, mango, and sugarcane juice. Bael sharbat is also an excellent option to beat the heat.
    • Drink Milk with Sugar: A simple way to stay hydrated and maintain energy is by drinking milk with added sugar.
    • Take a Midday Nap: Resting during the hottest part of the day can help reduce the risk of heat-related illnesses and keep your energy levels up. A short nap can be refreshing and beneficial in hot weather

    DONT’s

    • Avoid going outside during the hottest hours of the day, typically between 12:00 noon and 3:00 pm, when the sun is at its strongest.
    • If you must be outside in the afternoon, avoid strenuous activities to prevent overheating and dehydration.
    • Do not go outside barefoot to avoid burning your feet on hot surfaces.
    • Avoid cooking during the hottest parts of the day. If you must cook, ensure proper ventilation by opening doors and windows to let in fresh air.
    • Reduce or avoid alcohol, tea, coffee, and carbonated drinks with high sugar content. These can lead to increased fluid loss or cause stomach cramps.
    • Never leave children or pets in a parked vehicle, even for a short time. The temperature inside can rise rapidly to dangerous levels.

    For more details on Addendum Public Health Advisory from Ayush Vertical under Director General of Health Services regarding : Extreme Heat/Heatwave, visit https://ayush.gov.in/resources/pdf/aechives/PublicHealthAdvisory.pdf

    ****

    MV/AKS

     

     

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    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Answer to a written question – Energy from renewable sources – EU legislation and Member States’ measures – E-003053/2024(ASW)

    Source: European Parliament

    As outlined by the Affordable Energy Action Plan[1] adopted on 26 February 2025, it is urgent to support the roll out of cheap homegrown renewable energy sources which will ultimately contribute to lower energy bills of all European consumers.

    In this regard, the reduction of permitting times is instrumental, starting by a timely implementation of the recently adopted legislative framework.

    The Commission will provide Member States with dedicated implementation support and reinforce exchanges in order to identify best practices, barriers and solutions.

    Article 15 of the Renewable Energy Directive[2] notably requires that national rules concerning the authorisation, certification and licensing procedures be proportionate and necessary, not unduly restricting the development of a certain technology.

    The Commission is already in contact with the Italian authorities regarding their ongoing transposition work and there is an open infringement case against Italy for failing to transpose Directive (EU) 2023/2413 into national law.

    Against this background the Commission will assess any measures that will be notified by Italy as transposing Directive (EU) 2023/2413[3] and may take further steps if necessary.

    Moreover, pursuant to the Governance Regulation (Regulation 2018/1999), Member States are due to submit national contributions to the overall EU target, set in the Renewable Energy Directive (Directive 2018/2001 as amended by Directive 2023/2413).

    Italy submitted its final National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs) on 1 July 2024, and the Commission is currently assessing it. As mentioned in the Mission letter of the Commissioner for Energy and Housing, the Commission will follow up on the assessment of those plans.

    • [1] https://energy.ec.europa.eu/publications/action-plan-affordable-energy-unlocking-true-value-our-energy-union-secure-affordable-efficient-and_en
    • [2] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A02018L2001-20240716
    • [3] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32023L2413&qid=1737728921215

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: The history of ‘common sense’ matters when caring for our common home

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Barbara Leckie, Professor, English and the Institute for the Comparative Study of Literature, Art, and Culture; Academic Director, Re.Climate: Centre for Climate Communication and Public Engagement, Carleton University

    In recent years, the idea of “common sense” has again catapulted to prominence in the conservative political landscape.

    From United States President Donald Trump’s call for a “revolution of common sense” and his references to himself as a “common-sense conservative” to Pierre Poilievre’s references to his party as “Common Sense Conservatives” the value of common sense has been widely trumpeted.

    As a professor in climate and environmental humanities, I’m interested in examining how this return to common sense tends to focus attention away from climate action.

    Common sense is the domain of the obvious, the self-evident and what goes without saying. “Hot things can burn you,” for example, is the maxim with which historian Sophia Rosenfeld opens her political history of common sense.

    The history of common sense

    Attaching common sense to conservative political positions in Canada is not new. The phrase revives Ontario Premier Mike Harris’s “Common Sense Revolution” in the 1990s.



    Read more:
    Mike Harris’s ‘common sense’ attack on Ontario schools is back — and so are teachers’ strikes

    But common sense also has a longer conservative legacy. In the U.S., as American historian Larry Glickman illustrates, the phrase was deployed in the 1930s to challenge the perceived turn to social aid associated with New Deal policies. Prior to Trump, it has been used by Ronald Reagan, Sarah Palin and so-called Tea Party Republicans.

    Common sense as a political strategy, however, was not always aligned with a free market economy. Rosenfeld traces its history from the Greeks and 17th-century and 18-century writers through to 20th-century thinkers like German-American philosopher Hannah Arendt.

    As Rosenfeld notes, common sense has long had two contrasting emphases: an inquiry position that questions prevailing norms and a conservative position that doubles down on prevailing norms.

    Democracy and common sense

    The inquiry position emerged, Rosenfeld illustrates, in the 18th century and its best-known version is a radical pamphlet, Common Sense, written by British American author and pamphleteer Thomas Paine in 1776.

    This pamphlet energized readers across all political spectrums to support the principles of equality, liberty and freedom of expression that we now associate with democracy at large.

    Thomas Paine’s pamphlet energized readers to support principles of equality, liberty and freedom of expression.
    (Wikipedia)

    The conservative position, by contrast, emerges when these same values threatened religious belief and the free market. In this version, expertise is discounted and the people’s everyday experience is privileged.

    Historically, this position has given rise to a populism that accordingly also discredits education, debate and other pillars of democratic practice. As Rosenfeld demonstrates, the history of common sense shows that common sense has been mobilized both to support democracy and to undermine it.

    Common sense encompasses the world of everyday things like temperature and know-how, and it describes a deeper world that defines how we understand each other and live together in that everyday world. Its ability to toggle between these two domains is part of what gives it its force.

    What ‘everyone knows’

    Most of the time, common sense operates quietly because it is assumed to be tacit knowledge — what everyone knows. In times of crisis, however, common sense comes out of the shadows.

    It is no surprise, then, to see common sense entering public discourse in Canada when the country is beset by multiple crises: the existential threat posed by climate change, economic inequality and racism, to name only a few. Common sense, in this context, emerges as a call to return to when things were “normal.” It is the comfort food of thinking.

    For many people, there is solace in turning to what is familiar and seemingly obvious. For many others, there is not.



    Read more:
    Canadians are losing faith in the economy — and it’s affecting their perception of inequality

    ‘Common sense’ of market and environment

    Poilievre defines himself as a “champion of a free market.”

    “Free enterprise” and the market economy was also, as Glickman argues, the platform that Republicans polished into common sense. And it is, arguably, the platform that produced the very issues that most endanger us now, from climate change to economic inequality.

    But, as Einstein noted: “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” The common sense of the market economy, in other words, cannot solve the problems it created.

    Waking up to common sense

    The versatility of common sense as a populist political strategy is evident in Poilievre’s platform.

    For example, he wants voters to perceive him as radical by having attacked and apparently succeeded in undermining the idea of a carbon tax in both Conservative and Liberal platforms (the revolutionary side of common sense) while doubling down on what he calls woke politics (the conservative side of common sense).

    The concept of being woke, in turn, has been adopted as shorthand to criticize calls for climate action, a point reinforced in Poilievre’s recent conversation with psychologist and author Jordan Peterson when “he called people concerned about climate change ‘environmental loons that hate our energy.’”

    It’s always easier to stay with the old and familiar. But we are already in unfamiliar and unavoidable terrain.

    Our national parks are burning. Our air quality has been worse than any other country in the world. Flooding across the country is on the rise as is extreme heat.

    Caring economy needed

    Free-market common sense does not help us here. A neoliberal economy in which profits are more important than people and the planet does not help us here. What does, then?

    It’s not a leap to try to create the conditions for a caring rather than an extractive economy, as the collaborative work of scholars and activists Leanne Betasamosake Simpson and Robin Maynard suggests.

    Hot things can burn you. The hot things we confront now are not stove tops or flames, but global temperature increases. Leaders, it seems, tend to deploy “common sense” as an excuse to look away from the hot things that matter. Common sense, in its everyday meaning, would suggest that we look at them.

    Common sense works best rhetorically when it’s not questioned. The history of common sense suggests that now is the time to question it.

    Barbara Leckie receives funding from SSHRC.

    – ref. The history of ‘common sense’ matters when caring for our common home – https://theconversation.com/the-history-of-common-sense-matters-when-caring-for-our-common-home-251428

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Cassidy Meets Business Leaders in Metairie, Tours DSC Dredge Facility in Reserve

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Louisiana Bill Cassidy
    METAIRIE – Yesterday in Metairie, U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) met with the Jefferson Business Council, a collection of Presidents and CEOs of major companies in Jefferson Parish. They discussed their concerns about issues affecting families and business owners in the parish.
    “The members of the Jefferson Business Council had great questions about making flood insurance affordable and vaccinating children against measles,” said Dr. Cassidy. “We will work together with Congress and President Trump to meet these goals, so this community can be healthier and more affordable for families.”
    A priority for both families and business owners in the New Orleans area is keeping flood insurance affordable. Last Thursday, Cassidy went to the Senate floor to call on Congress to renew the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) for another two years, instead of having to rely on short-term extensions. He also proposed the bipartisan Flood Insurance Affordability Tax Credit Act in February, which would give low- and middle-income households enrolled in the NFIP a 33% refundable tax credit to combat rising flood insurance premiums.
    Cassidy is also working to renew the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) of 2017, which he supported and helped pass into law late that year. To that end, Cassidy recently met with President Trump as a Republican member of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, to discuss how to renew the TCJA while also providing more tax relief to middle-class families and balancing the budget.
    Cassidy was welcomed to the meeting by Mr. Mark Rosa, Chairman of the Jefferson Business Council.
    “On behalf of the Jefferson Business Council, it is a pleasure to meet with Senator Cassidy,” said Mr. Rosa. “Members of the JBS always welcome hearing from our representatives in Washington to speak to us on matters that will potentially impact the quality of life of the residents of Jefferson Parish.”
    Later, Cassidy visited DSC Dredge in Reserve, where he learned how they build custom dredges and dredge control systems that make harbors and shipping channels navigable to keep the flow of commerce going.
    “DSC Dredge is an incredibly innovative company based in Louisiana whose dredges are being used from the LSU Lakes to Bangladesh,” said Dr. Cassidy. “And they beat the competition.”
    Cassidy’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) included $109 million for federal projects sponsored by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to dredge and repair damages caused by Hurricanes Laura, Delta and Zeta. Another $808 million was included for the Mississippi River and tributaries, and $251 million for flood and coastal emergencies, directly benefiting Louisiana. Thanks to these efforts, dredging for various Corps projects was funded months after the passage of the IIA, including for the Atchafalaya River and Bayous Chene, Boeuf and Black, the Barataria Bay Waterway, the Freshwater Bayou, and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway.
    While at DSC Dredge, Cassidy toured the facility and met both with executives and employees of the company. Cassidy was welcomed by Mr. Bob and Bill Wetta, brothers and co-owners of DSC Dredge.
    “Our team takes great pride in designing and building dredges that keep America’s waterways open, provide critical infrastructure materials and perform environmental restoration and mitigation services,” said the Wettas. “We appreciate Senator Cassidy’s commitment to supporting industries like DSC Dredge that manufacture products critical to this mission. During the roundtable, our employees had the valuable opportunity to speak with the Senator, ask questions on key issues, and gain insights they wouldn’t have otherwise received. We are grateful for the time he took to engage directly with our team and hear their perspectives firsthand.”

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: WHO give clean bill of health to cities taking action on preventable diseases

    Source: United Nations MIL OSI b

    Climate and Environment

    Three cities that share a healthy vision for their residents won UN World Health Organization awards on Thursday for their smoke-free parks, clean air initiatives and obesity-busting school lunch initiatives.

    Córdoba in Argentina, Fortaleza in Brazil and Manchester in the UK picked up accolades at a healthy cities summit, co-hosted by the UN World Health Organization (WHO), Bloomberg Philanthropies and Vital Strategies.

    The Argentinian city won recognition for its policy to eliminate sugary and artificially sweetened drinks – along with ultra-processed foods – from all schools by 2026. So far, 15,000 primary schoolchildren in 26 schools have benefited.

    “We’re seeing a lot of progress in local leadership and mayors from across the world taking on the fight and trying to lower rates of the world’s biggest killers, heart disease, diabetes, cancers and respiratory diseases,” said Jaimie Guerra, Communications Officer at WHO.

    The Summit in Paris brought togethers mayors and officials from 61 cities around the world to discuss how to build healthier local communities.

    WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus congratulated the three winners, who he said were a model for other cities to follow, at the forefront of the fight against non-communicable diseases and injuries.

    Non-communicable illnesses include heart disease, cancer, diabetes and chronic respiratory disease. They are responsible for the vast majority of fatalities, said UN Special Envoy on Climate Ambition and Solutions, Michael Bloomberg, who was also at the summit in France.

    The diseases “are responsible for more than 80 percent of all deaths globally, but the good news is, they are preventable”, said Mr. Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg LP and Bloomberg Philanthropies and the three-time former mayor of New York City.

    Breathing more easily

    Winner Fortaleza established its first legal framework for air quality surveillance in a bid to curb air pollution and help people breathe more easily.

    The Brazilian city authorities in 2023 adopted a decree ensuring local monitoring of air pollutants and the installation of low-cost sensors for better data collection.

    Greater Manchester meanwhile has continued its efforts to curb tobacco use, introducing its first smoke-free 6.5-acre park.  

    The northern English city also launched a smoke-free toolkit for hospitals and is developing a broader toolkit to support organizations to create tobacco-free spaces.

    Soundcloud

    Tackling the world’s biggest killers

    Participants in the healthy cities summit included representatives from Dhaka in Bangladesh, Helsinki in Finland, the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo, Lusaka in Zambia and Quito in Ecuador.

    The participating urban centres are part of the Partnership for Healthy Cities, a global network of 74 cities launched in 2017 to prevent non-communicable diseases and injuries through policy and programmes.  

    “These programmes are really making a difference,” said WHO’s Ms. Guerra. “And in the partnership, most of the cities are one million-plus people. In total, it covers more than 300 million people.” 

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Minister Duguid to announce federal investments in performing arts in Manitoba and Saskatchewan

    Source: Government of Canada News

    March 11, 2025 – Winnipeg, Manitoba – The Honourable Terry Duguid, Minister of Environment and Climate Change Canada, on behalf of the honourable Anita Anand, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, will announce federal funding in support of performing arts that will drive economic development across Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

    Date:
    March 21, 2025

    Time:
    11:30 a.m. CT

    Location:
    Royal Winnipeg Ballet
    380 Graham Avenue
    Winnipeg, Manitoba

    Media are welcome to attend.

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Homes in the district to benefit from £8m energy efficiency boost

    Source: City of Canterbury

    Home  »  Latest News   »   Homes in the district to benefit from £8m energy efficiency boost

    The energy efficiency of hundreds of council homes will be dramatically boosted after Canterbury City Council was awarded £6.6m through the government’s Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund – the biggest payout in Kent.

    The money will add to the £11.25m the council has put aside in its Housing Revenue Account capital budget over the next three years.

    The money will be used to insulate homes and install high-performance windows and doors to keep in the heat and to replace or upgrade heating systems.

    The measures chosen in each property included in the project will be individually-tailored based on assessments which are already underway.

    Welcoming the cash from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNEZ), Cllr Pip Hazelton, Cabinet Member for Housing, said: “This huge investment in our council homes will add immeasurably to the quality of life for those people living there.

    “With much less energy wasted, their homes will be warmer and, importantly, their gas and electricity bills will fall meaning they have more money in their pockets.”

    Now the size of the grant has been confirmed by the government, officers are working on a detailed plan for delivering the work.

    On top of this money, the council was also awarded £1.5m as part of the government’s Warm Homes: Local Grant scheme.

    This pot of money is aimed at people on low incomes in privately owned or rented homes whose Energy Performance Certificate is between D and G.

    It could pay for insulation, solar panels or even air source heat pumps.

    Cabinet Member for Environment and Climate Change, Cllr Mel Dawkins, said: “More than £8m in government money dedicated to making people’s homes more energy efficient, less carbon hungry and cheaper to run has to be embraced.

    “It represents a significant step on our journey to creating a net zero district for everyone.

    “But this is where the hard work begins – our plans added to the money received now needs to turn into action on the ground.”

    Arrangements are currently being put in place to administer the Warm Homes: Local Grants scheme and the council will publicise the fact applications are open.

    Published: 20 March 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI: Carronade Says Dramatic Change Needed at Cannae Holdings to Halt Persistent Underperformance and Egregious Governance Practices

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    Nominates Four Director Candidates with Expertise, Independence and Accountability Required to Unlock Shareholder Value

    Believes Proposed Initiatives Could Result in Share Price Upside of at Least 50%

    DARIEN, Conn., March 20, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Carronade Capital Management, LP (together with its affiliates, “Carronade Capital”, “our” or “we”), which beneficially owns approximately 2.9 million shares of Common Stock of Cannae Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: CNNE) (“Cannae” or the “Company”) and is one of the Company’s top five shareholders, today announced it has issued the below letter to Cannae’s Board of Directors (the “Board”) and nominated four independent director candidates for the four Board seats up for election at the Company’s 2025 Annual Meeting of Shareholders.

    Carronade Capital believes Cannae’s total shareholder return and corporate governance can be meaningfully improved, and significant opportunities exist to unlock substantial value for all shareholders. We believe Cannae can halt persistent underperformance and restore shareholder confidence by improving capital allocation and unlocking portfolio value through spin outs or buybacks, reducing overhead costs and aligning management incentives, and establishing corporate governance and accountability. If decisive action is taken, we believe that Cannae equity could have a share price upside of at least 50% as a result of activities initiated by year end.

    Carronade’s four highly qualified nominees are as follows:

    Mona Aboelnaga

    • 35 years of experience including at Siguler Guff & Company and Proctor Investment Managers with expertise in investment management and private equity industries.
    • Extensive corporate governance expertise as a board member of both public and private companies including Webster Financial, a financial services company, Perpetual Limited, an Australian-based diversified global financial services company, and Sterling Bancorp, a regional financial services company.

    Benjamin Duster

    • 45 years of experience including at Wells Fargo and Salomon Brothers with expertise in working with companies to improve execution effectiveness and create long-term sustainable value.
    • Extensive public and private company board service including Expand Energy, an oil and gas production company, Weatherford International, a global energy services company, Republic First Bancorp, a commercial bank, and Alaska Communications Systems, a broadband and telecommunications service provider.

    Dennis Prieto

    • 21 years of experience including at Aurelius Capital Management and Evercore with expertise in financial analysis and restructuring oversight.
    • Significant investment management and board experience including GO Lab, a privately held building products company, Aventiv Technologies, a provider of telecommunications and technology solutions, Mohawk Gaming Enterprises, a gaming company, and Endo International GUC Trust, a trust established to obtain recoveries for creditors of Endo International plc.

    Cherie Schaible

    • 24 years of experience including as General Counsel of Ankura Consulting Group and Associate General Counsel of AIG Investments with expertise in complex legal and financial matters.
    • Extensive experience in structuring, negotiating and leading a variety of corporate legal matters in public and private companies.

    The full text of the letter is below:

    March 20, 2025

    Cannae Holdings, Inc.
    1701 Village Center Circle
    Las Vegas, Nevada 89134
    Attn: Board of Directors

    Dear Members of the Board of Directors,

    Entities managed by Carronade Capital Management, LP (together with its affiliates, “Carronade Capital” or “We” or “Us” or “Our”) beneficially own approximately 2.9 million shares of Common Stock of Cannae Holdings, Inc. (“Cannae” or the “Company” or “You” or “Your”), making us one of your top five investors. We believe Cannae’s total shareholder return (“TSR”) and corporate governance can be meaningfully improved, and significant opportunities exist within the control of both management and the Board of Directors (the “Board”) to unlock substantial value for all shareholders. We are reiterating these previously communicated views to you, and the broader market, to ensure the entire Board is made aware of our discussions to date and to highlight this potential value creation opportunity in the hope of building a consensus for the best path forward.

    Our letter today outlines why we believe the status quo at Cannae is untenable and why dramatic change is required to halt persistent underperformance and egregious governance practices for the benefit of all stakeholders. We believe there are numerous ways to drive value creation, and, by extension, shareholder returns, including by reducing costs and aligning incentives, improving capital allocation, unlocking the value of the parts of the portfolio, and establishing corporate governance and accountability by reconstituting the Board with truly independent directors. If Cannae takes decisive action to properly implement these achievable steps and rebuild investor confidence, we believe that the equity could have share price upside of at least 50% as a result of activities initiated by year-end.

    The Status Quo is Untenable

    In our view, there is an urgent need for changes in strategy and governance based on Cannae’s substantial long-term relative TSR underperformance, persistent discount to intrinsic value, shareholder frustration with corporate strategy, and a pattern of governance deficiencies that we believe have significantly hindered the Company’s ability to create shareholder value. Our concerns are underscored by the high degree of interconnectedness amongst the current directors and Cannae’s classified Board structure which, among other governance concerns, have resulted in repeated adverse voting recommendations from leading proxy advisory firms. We were further shocked by the Board’s egregious actions earlier this week, while we were engaged in active settlement discussions, to accelerate equity vesting for directors if they fail to be re-elected by shareholders and to require the repurchase of half of CEO and Chairman Bill Foley’s shares at a significant premium to market prices. This is on top of his already rich compensation package if he invokes his right to resign because a single director is elected without his consent. That a Board of Directors deemed these actions consistent with their fiduciary duties and in the best interest of shareholders demonstrates a complete lack of independence and an abdication of their duty. We believe such an offensive combination of entrenchment techniques and unfair enrichment are beyond the pale and make it crystal clear that immediate change is necessary in the boardroom.

    Management’s stated strategy consists of “improving the performance and valuation of our portfolio companies, making new investments primarily in private companies that will grow NAV, and returning capital to shareholders.”1 Put plainly, management’s plan is not working. Cannae has a valuable collection of assets, but buybacks to date have failed to close the discount due to market concerns around overall strategy and perceived misalignment of interests between management and shareholders. Shareholders have consistently shared concerns that they do not want Cannae to sell public shares to invest in small private positions with no disclosure – such actions we believe would only compound the current problems and Cannae’s persistent value discount. Despite a handful of successful investments in the past, the current portfolio of private investments is consistently marked at cost and the remaining investments in public equities have destroyed approximately $900 million of value.2 Market feedback that we have gathered to date suggests a near unanimous view that numerous shareholders prefer a return of their capital as opposed to management’s stated goal of selling down public positions to invest more in private equity.

    “Since Ceridian, they have made a bunch of bad capital allocation decisions…We would rather them distribute value than re-invest. They haven’t earned the right to keep that capital.”
    – Top 10 Shareholder, Nov. 2024
     

    Furthermore, a lack of strategic cohesion amongst investments and limited portfolio company disclosure weigh on investor confidence. There has been no clear investment narrative for shareholders to rally behind, as we consistently hear Cannae described simply as the Bill Foley co-investment vehicle. Additionally, we believe the persistent marking of private investments at cost without balance sheet information and absence of third-party valuations, or enough disclosure for investors to determine performance, are significant contributors to the wide NAV discount. As one analyst queried on the Company’s third quarter 2024 earnings call:

    “If you had your wish how many positions would you have? How large would they be and I just think I kind of look at some of the parts… It’s just kind of all over the place you have things that are worth less than $1 per share and I just don’t see the focus here.”
    – Oppenheimer Q&A on Q3 2024 Earnings Call
     

    As a result of these perceptions in the market, Cannae trades at a much steeper discount to NAV than its disclosed proxy peers and closed end fund peers. The discount widened persistently after the IPO of Dun & Bradstreet in 2019 and the sell down of Dayforce from 2020 through 2023, implying the market lacks confidence in the current leadership’s ability to execute a viable strategy for value creation going forward. Over the past three years, Cannae equity has traded at an average discount to its NAV per share of -40%, which places it in the bottom tenth of US investment firms with assets over $500 million.3 Approximately 90% of Cannae’s market cap is covered by public holdings net of debt, and the market is valuing the remaining nearly $900 million of private NAV at an 85% discount. A well-managed company with a strong asset base should not be trading at such a deep discount. We believe this misalignment points to a failure in capital allocation, strategic planning, and governance oversight.

    Shareholders ‘vote with their feet’, and the most objective indication that fundamental change is required is relative TSR underperformance compared to peers over the long term. Even when viewed on an absolute basis, Cannae shareholders have suffered a negative total return since Cannae became an independent public company despite the backdrop of one of the strongest bull markets in history. Despite the readily identifiable value in the Company’s portfolio, Cannae’s stock has significantly underperformed most relevant benchmarks.4Consistent underperformance is the market telling Cannae, “The status quo is unacceptable.”

    Dramatic Change is Required Immediately

    As discussed previously with Mr. Foley and Mr. Caswell, we believe Cannae can resolve these issues through decisive action in the near term. We believe that Cannae must pursue the following initiatives without delay:

    1. Reduce overhead costs and align management incentives – A history of burdensome fees and non-performance linked compensation paid out to management are out of step with the overall performance of Cannae’s portfolio, are impacting the discount which the market places on the NAV, and need to be streamlined to reflect best-in-class approach. We believe the Company should implement a corporate overhead cost reduction program and convert the termination fee payable to its manager, Trasimene Capital Management, into performance-based, vesting stock compensation.
    2. Improve capital allocation, unlock portfolio value, and provide a clear investment narrative – Management’s current strategy is vague and undifferentiated, and shareholder feedback is that management has lost its mandate from shareholders to allocate capital in this way. We believe a commitment from management and the Board to return shareholder capital tied up in Dun & Bradstreet, Alight and Paysafe shares either via spin outs or substantial buybacks would force a collapse of the discount placed on those assets and result in a re-rating of the remaining portfolio. We appreciate that management has conceded in its last earnings call that a significant return of capital is a priority; however, we believe that Cannae should commit definitively to returning a substantial majority of this capital on an accelerated timeline. Management could then reallocate its time from monitoring small stakes in large public companies where their ability to “improve the performance and valuation” is limited to focusing on improving disclosure and valuation of the remaining private assets.
    3. Establish governance oversight – We believe that market confidence in this new plan would be best supported by new fit-for-purpose directors that will be a voice for shareholders on the Board. To that end, we delivered a formal notice in December nominating a slate of four highly qualified and independent director candidates for election to the Board at the Company’s 2025 Annual Meeting of Stockholders (the “Annual Meeting”). In addition to the four new directors, we believe the Board should refresh leadership of the Affiliate Transaction Committee and the Nomination and Governance Committee chosen from the four new candidates, and the Board should also create a new committee for Value Maximization tasked with the formulation and oversight of successful execution of a plan designed to improve shareholder returns. The need for immediate and significant governance reform is underscored by Cannae’s entrenchment and unfair enrichment actions earlier this week.

    Our intent at the time of nomination was, and continues to be, to engage constructively with the Board with the goal of reaching a consensual solution for the benefit of all stakeholders. However, it appears that the current Board fails to recognize the urgency of the situation. We are therefore prepared to take all necessary steps to ensure that shareholders have the opportunity to vote for directors who they believe have the skill sets and experience necessary to drive value creation and ensure accountability in the boardroom.

    Management’s Lack of Willingness to Meaningfully Engage

    We have sought to engage with management and the Board for several months to convey our views with respect to corporate strategy and governance with the aim of closing the NAV discount and improving relative share price performance. As discussed in our original private letter to the Board dated December 19, 2024, we submitted our nomination notice as required under the Company’s Bylaws despite the nomination deadline of December 27, 2024, nearly six months ahead of the anticipated Annual Meeting date. We did so in order to preserve our rights as shareholders to elect directors at the Annual Meeting, but with the hope that it would serve as a starting point for further positive discussions. Unfortunately, we now believe our sincere efforts to engage constructively have not been meaningfully reciprocated in good faith.

    While the Company confirmed receipt of our December letter and nomination notice, it was more than thirty days before we received any further communication. Given the Company’s significant governance failings and chronic underperformance, we have offered to travel to meet in-person with relevant Board members, but Cannae has yet to permit us to speak with any non-management directors. Perhaps as a result, the Board has failed to appreciate the market’s call for urgent, meaningful governance changes. Then on March 17, 2025, we were astounded to learn via a Company 8-K that the Board, in an apparent move to entrench and enrich leadership, determined to further compensate themselves and Mr. Foley at the expense of shareholders. We believe this offensive action trounces shareholder rights and the Board’s fiduciary duties and further disenfranchises the Company’s true owners. It also makes clear to us that Cannae has not been engaging in good faith dialogue despite our persistent and sincere efforts, which necessitated the need to release this letter with the goal of reaching the entire Board and building a market consensus on the best path forward for the Company.

    Carronade Has Nominated Four Highly Qualified Director Candidates

    The fundamental role of a Board in its fiduciary duty to shareholders is to be an advocate in providing oversight of management and corporate strategy. Shareholders deserve a board that is proactive, transparent, and fully committed to driving long-term value. As evidenced by their backgrounds below, we believe our candidates will bring the expertise, independence and accountability required to correct the chronic underperformance of Cannae and champion its strategic transformation.

    • Mona Aboelnaga
      • 35 years of experience including at Siguler Guff & Company and Proctor Investment Managers with expertise in investment management and private equity industries.
      • Extensive corporate governance expertise as a board member of both public and private companies including Webster Financial, a financial services company, Perpetual Limited, an Australian-based diversified global financial services company, and Sterling Bancorp, a regional financial services company.
    • Benjamin Duster
      • 45 years of experience including at Wells Fargo and Salomon Brothers with expertise in working with companies to improve execution effectiveness and create long-term sustainable value.
      • Extensive public and private company board service including Expand Energy, an oil and gas production company, Weatherford International, a global energy services company, Republic First Bancorp, a commercial bank, and Alaska Communications Systems, a broadband and telecommunications service provider.
    • Dennis Prieto
      • 21 years of experience including at Aurelius Capital Management and Evercore with expertise in financial analysis and restructuring oversight.
      • Significant investment management and board experience including GO Lab, a privately held building products company, Aventiv Technologies, a provider of telecommunications and technology solutions, Mohawk Gaming Enterprises, a gaming company, and Endo International GUC Trust, a trust established to obtain recoveries for creditors of Endo International plc.
    • Cherie Schaible
      • 24 years of experience including as General Counsel of Ankura Consulting Group and Associate General Counsel of AIG Investments with expertise in complex legal and financial matters.
      • Extensive experience in structuring, negotiating and leading a variety of corporate legal matters in public and private companies.

    Conclusion

    We remain committed, engaged investors in Cannae due to our conviction in the significant opportunity for value creation that will flow from implementing achievable actions to unlock value, outlining a clear corporate strategy, establishing governance and restoring investor confidence. We repeat our request to meet in-person with the Board, including non-management directors, to discuss these proposals in more detail and explore a consensual solution that is in the best interests of all shareholders. If meaningful changes are not enacted, we are prepared to take our case to shareholders so that they have the opportunity to vote for directors who they believe will best prioritize their interests and ensure accountability in the boardroom.

    Sincerely,

    Dan Gropper
    Managing Partner

    Andy Taylor
    Partner and Head of Research

    About Carronade Capital
    Carronade Capital is a multi-strategy investment firm based in Connecticut with over $2.2 billion in assets under management that focuses on process driven investments in catalyst-rich situations. Carronade Capital was founded in 2019 by industry veteran Dan Gropper and is based in Darien, Connecticut. The Funds managed by Carronade Capital were launched on July 1, 2020, and the firm employs 15 team members. Dan Gropper brings with him nearly three decades of special situations credit experience serving in senior roles at distinguished investment firms, including Elliott Management Corporation, Fortress Investment Group and Aurelius Capital Management, LP.

    Media Contact:
    Paul Caminiti / Jacqueline Zuhse
    Reevemark
    (212) 433-4600
    Carronade@reevemark.com

    Investor Contact:
    Andy Taylor / Win Rollins
    Carronade Capital Management, LP
    (203) 485-0880
    ir@carronade.com

    Disclaimers

    This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities described herein in any state to any person. This press release does not recommend the purchase or sale of a security. There is no assurance or guarantee with respect to the prices at which any securities of Cannae Holdings, Inc. (the “Company”) will trade, and such securities may not trade at prices that may be implied herein. In addition, this press release and the discussions and opinions herein are for general information only, and are not intended to provide financial, legal or investment advice. Each shareholder of the Company should independently evaluate the proxy materials and make a decision that aligns with their own financial interests, consulting with their own advisers, as necessary.

    This press release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and may include projections and estimates and their underlying assumptions, statements regarding plans, objectives, intentions and expectations with respect to future financial results, events, operations, services, product development and potential, and statements regarding future performance. Forward-looking statements are generally identified by the words “expects”, “anticipates”, “believes”, “intends”, “estimates”, “plans”, “will be” and similar expressions. Although Carronade Capital and its affiliates believe that the expectations reflected in forward-looking statements contained herein are reasonable, investors are cautioned that forward-looking information and statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties—many of which are difficult to predict and are generally beyond the control of Carronade or the Company—that could cause actual results and developments to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied or projected by, the forward-looking information and statements. In addition, the foregoing considerations and any other publicly stated risks and uncertainties should be read in conjunction with the risks and cautionary statements discussed or identified in the Company’s public filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including those listed under “Risk Factors” in the Company’s annual reports on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q . The forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof and, other than as required by applicable law, Carronade does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information or statements. Certain information included in this press release is based on data obtained from sources considered to be reliable. Any analyses provided herein is intended to assist the reader in evaluating the matters described herein and may be based on subjective assessments and assumptions and may use one among alternative methodologies that produce different results. Accordingly, any analyses should not be viewed as factual and should not be relied upon as an accurate prediction of future results. All figures are estimates and, unless required by law, are subject to revision without notice.

    Certain of the funds(s) and/or account(s) managed by Carronade (“Accounts”) currently beneficially own shares of the Company. Carronade in the business of trading (i.e., buying and selling) securities and intends to continue trading in the securities of the Company. You should assume the Accounts will from time to time sell all or a portion of its holdings of the Company in open market transactions or otherwise, buy additional shares (in open market or privately negotiated transactions or otherwise), or trade in options, puts, calls, swaps or other derivative instruments relating to such shares. Consequently, Carronade’s beneficial ownership of shares of, and/or economic interest in, the Company may vary over time depending on various factors, with or without regard to Carronade’s views of the Company’s business, prospects, or valuation (including the market price of the Company’s shares), including, without limitation, other investment opportunities available to Carronade, concentration of positions in the portfolios managed by Carronade, conditions in the securities markets, and general economic and industry conditions. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, in the event of a change in the Company’s share price on or following the date hereof, Carronade may buy additional shares or sell all or a portion of its Account’s holdings of the Company (including, in each case, by trading in options, puts, calls, swaps, or other derivative instruments relating to the Company’s shares). Carronade also reserves the right to change the opinions expressed herein and its intentions with respect to its investment in the Company, and to take any actions with respect to its investment in the Company as it may deem appropriate, and disclaims any obligation to notify the market or any other party of any such changes or actions, except as required by law.

    Certain Information Concerning the Participants

    Carronade Capital Management, LP, together with the other participants named herein (collectively, “Carronade Capital”), intends to file a preliminary proxy statement and accompanying proxy card with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) to be used to solicit votes for the election of Carronade Capital’s highly-qualified director nominees at the 2025 annual meeting of stockholders of Cannae Holdings, Inc., a Nevada corporation (the “Company”).

    CARRONADE CAPITAL STRONGLY ADVISES ALL STOCKHOLDERS OF THE COMPANY TO READ THE PROXY STATEMENT AND OTHER PROXY MATERIALS AS THEY BECOME AVAILABLE BECAUSE THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION. SUCH PROXY MATERIALS WILL BE AVAILABLE AT NO CHARGE ON THE SEC’S WEB SITE AT HTTP://WWW.SEC.GOV. IN ADDITION, THE PARTICIPANTS IN THIS PROXY SOLICITATION WILL PROVIDE COPIES OF THE PROXY STATEMENT WITHOUT CHARGE, WHEN AVAILABLE, UPON REQUEST. REQUESTS FOR COPIES SHOULD BE DIRECTED TO THE PARTICIPANTS’ PROXY SOLICITOR.

    The participants in the proxy solicitation are anticipated to be Carronade Capital Master, LP (“Carronade”), Carronade Capital, Carronade Capital GP, LLC (“Carronade GP”), Carronade Capital Management GP, LLC (“Carronade Management GP”), Dan Gropper, Mona Aboelnaga, Benjamin C. Duster, IV, Dennis A. Prieto and Chérie L. Schaible.

    As of the date hereof, Carronade beneficially owns directly 2,627,877 shares of Common Stock, par value $0.0001 per share, of the Company (the “Common Stock”). Carronade GP, as the general partner of Carronade, may be deemed the beneficial owner of the 2,627,877 shares of Common Stock owned by Carronade. As of the date hereof, 262,770 shares of Common Stock were held in a certain account managed by Carronade Capital (the “Managed Account”). Carronade Capital, as the investment manager of Carronade, may be deemed the beneficial owner of an aggregate of 2,890,647 shares of Common Stock directly owned by Carronade and held in the Managed Account. Carronade Management GP, as the general partner of Carronade Capital, may be deemed the beneficial owner of an aggregate of 2,890,647 shares of Common Stock directly owned by Carronade and held in the Managed Account. As the Managing Member of Carronade Management GP, Mr. Gropper may be deemed the beneficial owner of an aggregate of 2,890,647 shares of Common Stock directly owned by Carronade and held in the Managed Account. As of the date hereof, Ms. Aboelnaga directly beneficially owns 800 shares of Common Stock. As of the date hereof, Mr. Duster directly beneficially owns 1,338.329 shares of Common Stock. As of the date hereof, Mr. Prieto directly beneficially owns 820 shares of Common Stock. As of the date hereof, Ms. Schaible directly beneficially owns 1,360 shares of Common Stock.

    ____________________________

    Note: All analyses performed as of 3/17/2025.
    1 Ryan Caswell on Q3 2024 Earnings Call.
    2 Current GAV plus realized sales compared to original cost basis of DNB, ALIT, PSFE, and SST.
    3 Company published NAV reports.
    4 TSR per Bloomberg as of 3/17/2025. Average cumulative shareholder return. TSR Proxy Peers include APO, FSK, GBDC, PSEC, CODI, NMFC. Closed End Fund Peers include UTG, STEW, KYN, CET, GAM, IGR, EOI, MEGI, PEO.

    A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/77496dfe-1ffc-44b7-94dd-bbd69816468b

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Upcoming Discussions on Public Health, Ecology Designed to Get People ‘Thinking Globally’

    Source: US State of Connecticut

    A series of virtual panel discussions this semester from the Office of Global Affairs and International Studies Association aims to prompt students, faculty, and the community to think bigger than themselves, even bigger than UConn, when considering issues that touch nearly every corner of the world.

    “Thinking Globally in 2025” is tackling such topics as public health and ecology in March and April, after having looked at media and misinformation in late February.

    “In some ways, I see this as curating the relevant expertise that’s out there to help people begin to make sense of an incredibly confusing and quite scary world,” says Jane Anna Gordon, a political science professor and series co-organizer. “We want people to come away with the sense that we need a big, broad, diverse community of people if we have any hope of understanding the globe.”

    Sarah W. Dorr, director of professional development at the International Studies Association (ISA) and a research scholar in Global Affairs, says she conceived of the series after noting that ISA members and UConn faculty have vast expertise in a variety of fields, but hadn’t come together for interdisciplinary discussions.

    After developing the idea for a speaker series that would draw from UConn’s faculty and ISA’s national and international network, Dorr approached Global Affairs and connected with Allison Casaly ’12 (CLAS), who serves as its global partnerships manager.

    Casaly says her office also was looking to begin a speaker series, as was Gordon, who had put together a fall-time faculty seminar around the theme of thinking globally. With combined efforts, the three planned for “Thinking Globally” to kick off this semester, featuring three topics they considered particularly impactful in the contemporary world.

    The first, “Our Digital World: Media and Misinformation,” featured UConn journalism assistant professor Amanda J. Crawford as moderator, and as panelists UConn journalism department head and professor Marie K. Shanahan and UConn communication assistant professor Jiyoun Suk, along with Dmitry Chernobrov from the University of Sheffield, England.

    About 80 people registered for the virtual discussion, Dorr says, about half from UConn. The event was open to anyone affiliated with the University or ISA, or from the wider community.

    “With all of the uncertainty going on in the country and in the world, it’s valuable to provide a forum where people can gather and learn about issues, while having the opportunity to ask questions of the experts that we bring in,” Casaly says.

    Dorr adds, “In addition to promoting interdisciplinary discussion, one of the main aims of the series is to get academic expertise down the pipeline and make it available to the wider public in this age of misinformation.”

    The second discussion, “Our World: Public Health,” will happen March 25, featuring Joy Elwell from the UConn schools of Nursing and Medicine as moderator, and as panelists Fumilayo Showers, an assistant professor of sociology and Africana Studies at UConn; Elsio A. Wunder, an assistant professor of pathobiology and veterinary science at UConn; and Stevan M. Weine from the University of Illinois.

    “Our Ecological World: Oceans & Waterways” will happen April 22, featuring Matthew McKenzie, a history professor at UConn; Carmel Christy K.J., a postdoctoral research associate at the Gladstein Family Human Rights Institute at UConn; James O’Donnell, a UConn professor and executive director of the Connecticut Institute for Resilience and Climate Adaptation; Eduardo Urios-Aparisi, an associate professor of Spanish studies and applied linguistics and discourse studies at UConn, along with Neil Oculi from the University Portland and Henry Carey from Georgia State University as moderators.

    While the three organizers say promoting and engaging people with the series is the primary goal, they hope to expand it in the fall and offer it as a for-credit class to UConn students, similar to the online, asynchronous popup course on antisemitism that’s been held since 2022.

    For this course, they expect to require students not just to learn but take that learning and think about what they can do with it through some sort of public project.

    “We want students to take away a holistic understanding of the issue,” Casaly says. “By having people from different disciplines talk about the same broad theme, we’re hoping people can appreciate the diversity of perspectives that exist and the value those different perspectives bring to understanding the issue.”

    Dorr also suggests there may be an opportunity to expand the series into a podcast or abbreviated video format, sort of a here’s-what-you-need-to-know-from-the-experts.

    Snapshots like this might be good teaching tools too, Gordon says.

    “I’m open to any ideas that people may have about how to further all this fantastic content,” Dorr adds.

    While they understand some topics might be more attractive draws for audiences, ideally, they hope to develop a core group that shows up regularly and can take what they learn each month back to their personal and professional contacts.

    “We’re in such a confusing time,” Gordon says. “On the one hand, we’re part of a globe – think about COVID, the transmission of information, election meddling. But at the same time, we’re in a period in which those who are ascending politically are trying to deglobalize or at least become much more exclusionary. That becomes very contradictory and makes people feel nihilistic and isolated. Being able to talk with other people about this, how to work through it, and what to do in response is really urgent.”

    Registration for the March 25 and April 22 events can be done online from the ISA website. The ISA is an interdisciplinary association with more than 7,000 members dedicated to international, transnational, and global affairs. While it’s work spans international borders, it is based at UConn.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: What causes the powerful winds that fuel dust storms, wildfires and blizzards? A weather scientist explains

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Chris Nowotarski, Associate Professor of Atmospheric Science, Texas A&M University

    When huge dust storms like this one in the Phoenix suburbs in 2022 hit, it’s easy to see the power of the wind. Christopher Harris/iStock Images via Getty Plus

    Windstorms can seem like they come out of nowhere, hitting with a sudden blast. They might be hundreds of miles long, stretching over several states, or just in your neighborhood.

    But they all have one thing in common: a change in air pressure.

    Just like air rushing out of your car tire when the valve is open, air in the atmosphere is forced from areas of high pressure to areas of low pressure.

    The stronger the difference in pressure, the stronger the winds that will ultimately result.

    On this forecast for March 18, 2025, from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, ‘L’ represents low-pressure systems. The shaded area over New Mexico and west Texas represents strong winds and low humidity that combine to raise the risk of wildfires.
    NOAA Weather Prediction Center

    Other forces related to the Earth’s rotation, friction and gravity can also alter the speed and direction of winds. But it all starts with this change in pressure over a distance – what meteorologists like me call a pressure gradient.

    So how do we get pressure gradients?

    Strong pressure gradients ultimately owe their existence to the simple fact that the Earth is round and rotates.

    Because the Earth is round, the sun is more directly overhead during the day at the equator than at the poles. This means more energy reaches the surface of the Earth near the equator. And that causes the lower part of the atmosphere, where weather occurs, to be both warmer and have higher pressure on average than the poles.

    Nature doesn’t like imbalances. As a result of this temperature difference, strong winds develop at high altitudes over midlatitude locations, like the continental U.S. This is the jet stream, and even though it’s several miles up in the atmosphere, it has a big impact on the winds we feel at the surface.

    Wind speed and direction in the upper atmosphere on March 14, 2025, show waves in the jet stream. Downstream of a trough in this wave, winds diverge and low pressure can form near the surface.
    NCAR

    Because Earth rotates, these upper-altitude winds blow from west to east. Waves in the jet stream – a consequence of Earth’s rotation and variations in the surface land, terrain and oceans – can cause air to diverge, or spread out, at certain points. As the air spreads out, the number of air molecules in a column decreases, ultimately reducing the air pressure at Earth’s surface.

    The pressure can drop quite dramatically over a few days or even just a few hours, leading to the birth of a low-pressure system – what meteorologists call an extratropical cyclone.

    The opposite chain of events, with air converging at other locations, can form high pressure at the surface.

    In between these low-pressure and high-pressure systems is a strong change in pressure over a distance – a pressure gradient. And that pressure gradient leads to strong winds. Earth’s rotation causes these winds to spiral around areas of high and low pressure. These highs and lows are like large circular mixers, with air blowing clockwise around high pressure and counterclockwise around low pressure. This flow pattern blows warm air northward toward the poles east of lows and cool air southward toward the equator west of lows.

    A map illustrates lines of surface pressure, called isobars, with areas of high and low pressure marked for March 14, 2025. Winds are strongest when isobars are packed most closely together.
    Plymouth State University, CC BY-NC-SA

    As the waves in the jet stream migrate from west to east, so do the surface lows and highs, and with them, the corridors of strong winds.

    That’s what the U.S. experienced when a strong extratropical cyclone caused winds stretching thousands of miles that whipped up dust storms and spread wildfires, and even caused tornadoes and blizzards in the central and southern U.S. in March 2025.

    Whipping up dust storms and spreading fires

    The jet stream over the U.S. is strongest and often the most “wavy” in the springtime, when the south-to-north difference in temperature is often the strongest.

    Winds associated with large-scale pressure systems can become quite strong in areas where there is limited friction at the ground, like the flat, less forested terrain of the Great Plains. One of the biggest risks is dust storms in arid regions of west Texas or eastern New Mexico, exacerbated by drought in these areas.

    A dust storm hit Albuquerque, N.M., on March 18, 2025. Another dust storm a few dats earlier in Kansas caused a deadly pileup involving dozens of vehices on I-70.
    AP Photo/Roberto E. Rosales

    When the ground and vegetation are dry and the air has low relative humidity, high winds can also spread wildfires out of control.

    Even more intense winds can occur when the pressure gradient interacts with terrain. Winds can sometimes rush faster downslope, as happens in the Rockies or with the Santa Ana winds that fueled devastating wildfires in the Los Angeles area in January.

    Violent tornadoes and storms

    Of course, winds can become even stronger and more violent on local scales associated with thunderstorms.

    When thunderstorms form, hail and precipitation in them can cause the air to rapidly fall in a downdraft, causing very high pressure under these storms. That pressure forces the air to spread out horizontally when it reaches the ground. Meteorologists call these straight line winds, and the process that forms them is a downburst. Large thunderstorms or chains of them moving across a region can cause large swaths of strong wind over 60 mph, called a derecho.

    Finally, some of nature’s strongest winds occur inside tornadoes. They form when the winds surrounding a thunderstorm change speed and direction with height. This can cause part of the storm to rotate, setting off a chain of events that may lead to a tornado and winds as strong as 300 mph in the most violent tornadoes.

    How a tornado forms. Source: NOAA.

    Tornado winds are also associated with an intense pressure gradient. The pressure inside the center of a tornado is often very low and varies considerably over a very small distance.

    It’s no coincidence that localized violent winds from thunderstorm downbursts and tornadoes often occur amid large-scale windstorms. Extratropical cyclones often draw warm, moist air northward on strong winds from the south, which is a key ingredient for thunderstorms. Storms also become more severe and may produce tornadoes when the jet stream is in close proximity to these low-pressure centers. In the winter and early spring, cold air funneling south on the northwest side of strong extratropical cyclones can even lead to blizzards.

    So, the same wave in the jet stream can lead to strong winds, blowing dust and fire danger in one region, while simultaneously triggering a tornado outbreak and a blizzard in other regions.

    Chris Nowotarski receives funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and theDepartment of Energy (DOE).

    – ref. What causes the powerful winds that fuel dust storms, wildfires and blizzards? A weather scientist explains – https://theconversation.com/what-causes-the-powerful-winds-that-fuel-dust-storms-wildfires-and-blizzards-a-weather-scientist-explains-252639

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI: Health and safety remains top concern for directors and officers worldwide, according to Willis

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    LONDON, March 20, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — 80% of directors and officers consider health and safety risks to be very important or extremely important to their organisation, according to the latest Directors and Officers Liability Insurance Survey by Willis, a WTW business, (NASDAQ:WTW), in collaboration with Clyde & Co. Physical workplace risks were deemed the most important by 43% of respondents, followed by employee mental health and wellbeing consequences stemming from work (28%) and from personal matters (12%).

    For the first time since 2018 civil litigation and third party claims were included among the top seven concerns, with 63% of directors and officers surveyed considering these significant risks to their Directors and Officers. Smaller organisations (<$50 million in revenue) and those with revenues between $1 and $5 billion mentioned litigation more often. The largest organisations surveyed (>$5 billion in revenue) included diversity, equity and inclusion as well as bribery and corruption as top risks, while excluding the financial distress, bankruptcy and insolvency concerns of smaller organisations.

    Climate change is no longer considered a top seven risk in several regions, including Asia, North America and the Middle East. In contrast, diversity, equity and inclusion, a risk that was included in the survey for the first time this year, has made its way into the top seven for Great Britain, North America and Africa. Social risks as a whole feature prominently in the list of concerns and, when looked at over a five-year period, the increase in concern is notable. For example, breach of human rights within or by business operations has risen from 23% of responders considering it a very or extremely important concern in 2021 to 62% in 2025. Similarly, concern about supplier business practices has risen from 27% in 2021 to 59% in 2025.

    In general, there is a strong alignment between perceived material risks and board expertise and priorities. However, there is a notable exception when it comes to cybersecurity and data privacy, with many boards indicating more time is needed. Data loss and cyber-attacks, including extortion, are considered to be very important or extremely important for 77% of those surveyed. Artificial intelligence lags behind (only 51% of respondents consider it to be very or extremely important and considered by the fewest number of respondents to be material to the business while also being the lowest ranked issue on which respondents considered the board to have the relevant expertise), but this perception may change in the future as new use cases and regulations develop.

    Angus Duncan, global D&O coverage specialist at Willis, said: “The latest survey results underscore the diverse challenges directors and officers face today, highlighting how fraught the landscape has become. Despite increasing concerns over litigation risks, cost remains the dominant driver for D&O insurance purchasing decisions. This trend persists even as regulatory scrutiny and shareholder activism increase global liability exposures. By taking a proactive approach, companies can optimise their D&O coverage while mitigating financial and reputational risk. Our data helps clients anticipate emerging risks before they become serious exposures.”

    James Cooper, Partner and Head of Financial Institutions and D&O, Clyde & Co said: “The risk landscape for directors and officers is fast evolving and complex, driven by a multitude of factors from geopolitics to tech advancements and a challenging economic climate. Identifying the most critical risks and understanding where pressure points may appear is crucial in successfully navigating existing and emerging challenges. So too is ensuring that protections such as D&O insurance reflect this changing environment and can adequately cover areas where leaders may feel more exposed such as cyberattacks or data loss.”

    The report can be downloaded here.

    About the survey:

    Respondents include 765 global senior decision makers working in services, finance and insurance, healthcare, industry, energy and utilities and transportation and retail. Company size includes revenues of $5 billion or more (10%), $1 to 5 billion (15%), $50 million to $1 billion (33%) and less than $50 million (33%).

    About WTW

    At WTW (NASDAQ: WTW), we provide data-driven, insight-led solutions in the areas of people, risk and capital. Leveraging the global view and local expertise of our colleagues serving 140 countries and markets, we help organizations sharpen their strategy, enhance organizational resilience, motivate their workforce and maximize performance.

    Working shoulder to shoulder with our clients, we uncover opportunities for sustainable success—and provide perspective that moves you.

    Learn more at wtwco.com.

    About Clyde & Co

    Clyde & Co is a leading global law firm, helping organisations navigate risk and maximise opportunity in the sectors that underpin global trade and commercial activity, namely: insurance, aviation, marine, construction, energy, trade and natural resources. Globally integrated, the firm has 490 partners, 2,400 lawyers, 3,200 legal professionals and 5,500 people overall in nearly 70 offices and associated offices worldwide. For more information please visit www.clydeco.com

    Media contact

    Sarah Booker:
    Sarah.Booker@wtwco.com / +44 7917 722040

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Hunger skyrockets by nearly 80 percent in Eastern and Southern Africa over past five years amidst worsening water crisis

    Source: Oxfam –

    • Nearly 116 million people in eight African countries, hardest hit by severe water crises, lack access to drinking water.
    • Globally, flash floods have become 20 times more frequent between 2000 and 2022

    The climate crisis has dramatically worsened water scarcity in Eastern and Southern Africa over the past few decades, leaving nearly 116 million people –or 40 percent of the population – without safe drinking water, according to a new Oxfam report.  

    Climate change is supercharging extreme weather events like droughts, cyclones and flash floods, and has led to the disappearance of more than 90 percent of Africa’s tropical glaciers and the depletion of groundwater. This has had knock-on effects on Africa’s small-scale farmers, pastoralists and fisherpersons leaving millions without basic food, drinking water or income. 

    Oxfam’s report –Water-Driven Hunger: How the Climate Crisis Fuels Africa’s Food Emergency – published ahead of World Water Day, looked at the links between water scarcity and hunger in eight of the world’s worst water crises: Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Somalia, South Sudan, Zambia and Zimbabwe. It found that the number of people experiencing extreme hunger in those countries has surged by nearly 80 percent over the past five years – reaching over 55 million in 2024, up from nearly 31 million in 2019. That is two in every ten persons.  

    The report warns that La Niña weather pattern, which will last through this month, will worsen floods in swaths of Southern Africa and South Sudan while causing severe drought in East Africa further threatening people’s food availability and income. 

    Globally, flash floods have become 20 times more frequent between 2000 and 2022 and the duration of droughts has risen by 29% since 2000, impacting the most vulnerable communities.  

    Existing poverty, deep inequality and chronic under-investment along with poor governance in water systems have compounded this climate-fuelled water crisis. African governments are currently meeting less than half the US$50 billion annual investment target required to achieve water security in Africa by 2030.  

    “The climate crisis is not a mere statistic—it has a human face. It affects real people whose livelihoods are being destroyed, while the main contributors to this crisis—big polluters and super-rich—continue to profit. Meanwhile, national governments neglect to support the very communities they should protect.” 

    Fati N’Zi Hassane,

    Director, Oxfam in Africa

    Fati N’Zi-Hassane, Oxfam in Africa Director said: 

    “The climate crisis is not a mere statistic—it has a human face. It affects real people whose livelihoods are being destroyed, while the main contributors to this crisis—big polluters and super-rich—continue to profit. Meanwhile, national governments neglect to support the very communities they should protect.” 

    The Oxfam report also found that: 

    • In the eight countries studied, 91 percent of small-scale farmers depend almost entirely on rainwater for drinking and farming. 
    • In Ethiopia, food insecurity has soared by 175 percent over the past five years, with 22 million people struggling to find their next meal. 
    • In Kenya, over 136,000 square kilometers of land have become drier between 1980 and 2020, which has decimated crops and livestock. 
    • In Somalia, one failed rainy season is pushing one million more people into crisis-level hunger, raising the total to 4.4 million—24% of the population. 

    A farmer from Baidoa, Somalia explains: “In the past, we knew when to farm and when to harvest but that has all changed. The rains now come late or not at all.  Last year, I lost all my crops and animals. I have now planted, but the rains have still not come. If this continues, I will not be able to feed my family.”  

    Deep inequalities mean that disadvantaged people like women and girls are too often the first and most severely punished by this water crisis. In Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia, women and girls walk up to 10 kilometers in search of water, facing violence and extreme exhaustion. Many women and girls in rural households spend hours each day collecting water—time that could otherwise be spent on education or income generation.  

    “At the heart of this climate crisis lies a justice crisis. Sub-Saharan Africa receives only 3-4 percent of global climate finance, despite being heavily affected by climate change. Rich polluting nations must pay their fair share. It’s not about charity, it’s about justice. 

    “African governments must also double down on their investment in water infrastructures and social protection to effectively manage natural resources, and help the most vulnerable communities cope with climatic shocks,” added N’Zi-Hassane. 

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: ‘New evidence has emerged’: Greenpeace requests revision of North West Shelf assessment criteria

    Source: Greenpeace Statement –

    PERTH, 20 MARCH 2025 – Greenpeace Australia Pacific has asked Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek to reconsider the criteria used to assess Woodside’s North West Shelf Extension because significant new impacts have emerged since the original 2019 decision.

    “We’re calling on the Environment Minister to assess Woodside’s North West Shelf Extension with all of the facts in front of her—including new evidence showing this project could devastate our environment, particularly Scott Reef,” said Joe Rafalowicz, Head of Climate and Energy, Greenpeace Australia Pacific. 

    “Like thousands of other individuals and community groups, Greenpeace has been participating in this assessment since at least 2022. 

    “While the 2019 decision to assess the North West Shelf Extension only focused on the project’s potential impact on national heritage values, new evidence has since emerged about the consequences of Woodside’s plans to drill for gas beside, and dump carbon near, the irreplaceable Scott Reef. 

    “Australians expect their elected representatives to make decisions following due process, independent of pressure from vested interests, and based on the best evidence. 

    “To properly assess the serious risk of extending the life of Woodside’s gas processing facility, it is essential that the Environment Minister gives due regard to all available evidence. 

    “Woodside plans to fuel its North West Shelf gas facility out to 2070 by drilling up to 50 gas wells near Scott Reef as part of its proposed Browse project. Recent statements from Woodside confirm that Browse and the North West Shelf Extension are directly linked—making Browse dependent on the North West Shelf Extension approval to be viable.

    “Woodside also plans to take the carbon pollution from drilling for gas and inject it deep under the ocean into massive underground aquifers. The carbon is supposed to stay there for over 1000 years. However, carbon capture storage is an unproven technology at scale, with a track record of overpromising and underdelivering.

    “Woodside’s reckless plans risk threatened species like Green Sea Turtles and Pygmy Blue Whales, while also jeopardising fragile coral reef habitats with noise, light pollution, and the potential for oil spills.”

    “Given the clear possibility of adverse impacts on threatened species, migratory species and the Commonwealth marine environment, we are requesting the Minister to expand the assessment criteria to accurately consider the full picture of real-world impacts that approving the North West Shelf Extension will have. 

    “The assessment criteria originally set in 2019 are too narrow for an informed assessment of the project’s impacts.

    —ENDS—

    Note to editors:

    • Greenpeace’s full reconsideration request can be found here. 
    • Images for media use can be found here. 

    For more information or to arrange an interview please contact Vai Shah on 0452 290 082 or [email protected].

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI Australia: Murchison Green Hydrogen Project given a headstart

    Source: Australian Renewable Energy Agency

    Overview

    • Category

      News

    • Date

      20 March 2025

    • Classification

      Hydrogen energy

    The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has announced the first recipient from its Hydrogen Headstart Program, with $814 million in funding allocated under round 1 to Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners’ (CIP) 1,500 MW Murchison Green Hydrogen Project in Western Australia.

    ARENA CEO, Darren Miller said Australia has immense potential when it comes to hydrogen projects, however, many projects face challenges due to the current gap between the market price for renewable hydrogen and production costs.

    “At the time it was announced, Hydrogen Headstart was the largest government investment in Australia’s developing renewable hydrogen industry. ARENA’s support will help Australia’s first large-scale projects get to financial close and deliver on Australia’s promise as a provider of clean energy to decarbonise industry in Australia and globally,” Mr Miller said.

    “The Hydrogen Headstart Program commits funding to bridge the current commercial gap in the form of a production credit, meaning funding is only provided once projects are constructed and operational.”

    “Enabling hydrogen projects through Hydrogen Headstart is essential to ensure our economic prosperity as the world transitions to cleaner forms of energy especially in hard to abate sectors such as ammonia, iron and alumina.”

    “CIP’s Murchison project is an example of how we can leverage Australia’s high quality solar and wind resources to produce low-cost renewable hydrogen and ammonia at scale, increasing export opportunities and embedding Australia as a key enabler of global decarbonisation,” Mr Miller said.

    Hydrogen Headstart recipient Murchison must now satisfy a number of development conditions and achieve commercial operations before the funding is released. Funding under the program is paid based on production volumes over a 10-year operating period.

    To date, ARENA has provided over $370 million to 65 renewable hydrogen projects from early-stage research to deployment projects.

    According to analysis by the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW), Australia’s hydrogen industry could unlock over $50 billion in additional private sector investment and create up to 16,000 new jobs by 2030.

    Murchison Green Hydrogen CEO, Shohan Seneviratne said: “CIP is honoured to receive Hydrogen Headstart funding, which reinforces our shared vision with the Australian Government to establish a leading green hydrogen industry in Australia. We are committed to contributing to Australia’s green hydrogen ambitions by creating local jobs, supporting skills development and sharing project benefits with local communities, including First Nations.”

    “We appreciate the support from the Australian Government, Minister Bowen, and ARENA and commend their leadership, vision and collaboration to make Murchison and the Australian hydrogen industry a reality.”

    Further information concerning Hydrogen Headstart Round 1 outcomes will be announced in due course.

    Murchison Green Hydrogen project summary:

    The Murchison Green Hydrogen project is being developed by Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners through its Energy Transition Fund I (ETF I), with the project team based locally in Perth. Murchison involves large-scale production of renewable hydrogen and ammonia in the Mid West of Western Australia. The project will be located approximately 15 km north of the coastal town of Kalbarri and will include up to 1.5 GW of electrolysis and 3,600 tonnes per day of Haber-Bosch ammonia production capacity. The facility will operate completely off-grid, powered by approximately 1.2 GW of solar photovoltaic and approximately 1.7 GW of onshore wind new build generation with a 600 MW /1,200 MWh battery energy storage system and water sustainably sourced through a new desalination facility. Renewable ammonia is expected to be exported to support global decarbonisation.

    CIP’s ETF I is the world’s largest dedicated renewable hydrogen fund with approximately AUD 5 billion available for investment in decarbonising hard-to-abate industries such as steel-making, co-firing, chemical production, agriculture and transportation.

    To find out more, visit: murchisonrenewables.com.au

    ARENA media contact:

    media@arena.gov.au

    Download this media release (PDF 143KB)

    MIL OSI News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Governor Stein Signs First Bill into Law, Delivering Resources to Support Western North Carolina’s Recovery

    Source: US State of North Carolina

    Headline: Governor Stein Signs First Bill into Law, Delivering Resources to Support Western North Carolina’s Recovery

    Governor Stein Signs First Bill into Law, Delivering Resources to Support Western North Carolina’s Recovery
    lsaito

    Raleigh, NC

    Today, Governor Josh Stein signed the Disaster Recovery Act of 2025 Part 1 – his first bill signed into law. Governor Stein was joined by leaders in the North Carolina General Assembly, members of his Western North Carolina Advisory Committee, law enforcement officials, and agricultural leaders.

    “This funding is a promising step forward in the long road to recovery for western North Carolina. I want to thank the General Assembly for working together to pass this critical aid package to help our neighbors rebuilding after Helene,” said Governor Josh Stein. “But we are nowhere near done — I will keep pushing to ensure western North Carolina is not forgotten.”  

    “This legislation will bring much-needed relief to western North Carolina while finally bringing long-awaited relief to hurricane victims in the eastern part of our state,” said Speaker Destin Hall. “This is the fourth bill we’ve passed for Helene recovery-and it won’t be the last.”

    “Since Hurricane Helene hit western North Carolina, the General Assembly has come together to address the real-time needs of our citizens,” said Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger. “This bill will make a world of difference for the people of western North Carolina and I’m proud to see it become law. I look forward to continuing our efforts to support western North Carolina as it recovers and rebuilds.”

    The Disaster Recovery Act of 2025 – Part 1 includes $524 million in total aid for western North Carolina. The bill provides $200 million for North Carolina farmers who have experienced crop losses due to Hurricane Helene, $120 million for a CDBG-DR Home Reconstruction and Repair program, and $55 million for local government infrastructure grants to help small business. It also includes $100 million to repair the over 8,000 private roads and bridges that were damaged by the storm, as well as $20 million for debris cleanup. The bill provides $9 million for a school extension learning recovery program to help the students in western North Carolina who lost weeks of class time in the wake of Helene. The bill also extends the statewide declaration of emergency for Hurricane Helene until June 30th. In addition to supporting needs in the west, the bill provides $217 million to get people back into their homes in eastern North Carolina. 

    Exactly one week ahead of the 6-month anniversary of Hurricane Helene, the Stein administration continues to approach recovery and rebuilding with urgency, focus, transparency, and accountability. Governor Stein recently visited Ferguson Farm in Haywood County and spoke with North Carolinians in Yancey County who lost their livelihoods and homes after Hurricane Helene. Governor Stein continues to advocate for $19 billion in federal funds to restore infrastructure, support home repair and renovation, and reduce impacts from future natural disasters and for an extension of FEMA’s 100% reimbursement. 

    Mar 19, 2025

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Grassley, Johnson Fight for Unredacted Crossfire Hurricane Interview Transcripts

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Iowa Chuck Grassley
    WASHINGTON – Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations Chairman Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) are requesting Attorney General Pam Bondi and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Kash Patel take immediate action to remove all redactions from interview transcripts relating to the Department of Justice Office of Inspector General’s (DOJ OIG) examination of the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane investigation.
    The senators first requested these unredacted transcripts from the DOJ OIG in April 2023. At the time, the DOJ OIG informed the senators that the redactions in those transcripts were made by other government agencies, such as the FBI and DOJ, and the DOJ OIG lacked the authority to release the information.
    The senators are now calling on DOJ and FBI to work with the DOJ OIG to produce these unredacted versions of the transcripts as soon as possible.
    The full text of their letter can be found HERE.
    -30-

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI New Zealand: Q&A: What is a blue-green network?

    Source: Auckland Council

    A blue-green network is a system of waterways (blue) and parks (green) that give stormwater space to flow and help reduce flooding where people live.

    After severe weather events in 2023, Auckland Council prioritised blue-green projects to better protect our communities from flooding.

    As part of our Making Space for Water 10-year flood resilience programme, we identified 12 focus areas around the region that could benefit the most from a blue-green project.

    What has the council been doing to reduce flood risk in Auckland?

    We have been working hard to assess all the potential project areas to decide if there is an infrastructure solution that can deliver significant flood reduction to the community and that is affordable for ratepayers.

    These assessments are very complex, they involve multiple stages of research, analysis and decision making before a feasible solution can be presented to the council’s Governing Body and central government funding partners for approval. If approved, further stages of design, consenting and engagement are undertaken before a project is ready to construct. This process before construction generally takes 2-3 years.

    Why has the amount of funding allocated to these projects changed?

    Following major 2023 storms, a co-funding package with the Government has given us the opportunity to ‘retreat’ high-risk homes and deliver some key resilience projects sooner than expected.

    Within this funding package, buy-outs have been the first priority to get high-risk homeowners out of harm’s way. Now that we understand more which high-risk areas still need mitigations, and how much funding we have remaining from the package, we can start prioritising flood resilience projects.

    What is the process for delivering the blue green projects?

    While we are working as quickly as possible, we can’t progress all projects at the same time, so they’ll be developed and delivered across several years.

    Central and local government representatives will work together to guide each project through a five-stage process. At each stage decisions will need to be made which will determine whether the project can proceed to the next stage.

    Our staged approach is crucial due to the scale of these projects – they’re expensive and can be disruptive. We want to ensure value for Aucklanders.

    As these projects are made up of a number of connected works and they will make a huge difference to those that live in the area, we will be working together with iwi and the community in prioritised project areas and setting up opportunities in the coming months to meet and start to gather their input to help shape the designs.

    What stage is each project at?

    Two projects in Māngere have already been prioritised, with construction starting soon, because they could be delivered in a reasonable timeframe to reduce the risk to life for local homes.

    Feasibility assessments have been completed for all 12 areas originally identified in the blue-green networks initiative.

    In Ōpoutūkeha / Cox’s Creek, Grey Lynn and Meola-Epsom, much of the flood risk has been managed through the voluntary buy-out programme. Removing these houses will give sufficient space for water to flow.

    Finding a suitable solution to reduce flooding for the Kumeū River catchment has been challenging. The council, with engineering experts, has thoroughly explored several options including building stop banks, extending a flood way, diverting the river, and creating detention ponds upstream.

    Although a lot of work has gone into these ideas, none are feasible due to high costs, environmental impacts, and the high level of residual flood risk faced by the community. We are now working with other council teams and the government to find the best solutions for the community.

    The remaining blue-green projects will take longer to develop as they will need to be funded by the council through the Long-term Plan process. We will aim to deliver these projects over the following 10 years. In areas where larger scale projects cannot be funded right now, we will look for ways to accelerate smaller works that may help to reduce the impacts of lower-level flooding.

    Blue-Green project status

    Project area funding source status

    Project area funding source status

    Project area funding source status

    ·       Harania Creek, Māngere

    ·       Te Ararata Stream, Māngere.

    Crown / Auckland Council

    Funding approved, community engagement underway.

    Construction expected to start April/ May 2025.

    ·       Rānui / Clover Drive

    Crown / Auckland Council

    Council funding approved, pending crown business case approval.

    ·       Wairau Valley

    Crown / Auckland Council

    Community engagement underway.

    Business case being developed.

    ·       Whangapouri (Pukekohe)

    ·       Te Auaunga (Mt Roskill)

    TBC (currently unfunded)

    Early design and modelling underway.

    ·       Whau Stream (Blockhouse Bay / Lynfield)

    ·       Opanuku Stream (Henderson)

    ·       Porter’s Stream

    TBC (currently unfunded)

    Potential options identified.

    ·       Cox’s Creek

    ·       Epsom

    ·       Kumeū

    N/A

    Not progressing through blue-green networks initiative.

    Alternative projects may be scoped in future if required.


    What are the current priorities for development?

    Projects in Harania Creek and Te Ararata Stream are underway and expected to start construction later this year.

    A detailed prioritisation analysis has determined that Clover Drive in Rānui is the next area proposed to progress. Auckland Council’s Transport, Resilience and Infrastructure Committee approved funding in February 2025.

    This area was identified as the next priority based on several criteria due to its potential for reducing risk to life, improving community health and wellbeing, and delivering economic benefits to residents and businesses. Addressing flooding risks in this area also stands to lead to improved water quality and broader environmental benefits. Approval to progress is also required from Crown, with a decision expected in March.

    How does Wairau Valley fit into the overall plan?

    Given the Wairau Valley’s size and the complexity of required mitigations, addressing flooding issues requires a phased approach. This will involve significant long-term investment, community input, and collaboration. The council will be promoting opportunities for the community to participate and provide input into early designs to maximise local benefits before submitting a detailed business case in the coming months. A catchment-wide approach will ensure optimal outcomes for the community.

    This flood resilience work will bring many additional benefits to the community, including better water quality, more open space, improved biodiversity, and better connectivity. We look forward to working together to develop and deliver these improvements.

    What else is being done to reduce flooding in blue-green areas in the meantime?

    We understand that residents may feel anxious about more storms and heavy rain, especially if they were seriously affected in the 2023 storms.

    For those areas that have not been prioritised in this phase but are still included in the blue-green programme, early design and modelling is underway so that projects are ready to progress as soon as funding can be allocated.

    Maintenance and monitoring of critical waterways and infrastructure has been increased to help to improve water flow during smaller storms. We are also looking at other opportunities such as flood intelligence and flood warning systems that will help to reduce risks from severe weather events. Alongside this we continue to update our flood modelling data so that we can base our decisions and recommendations on the most up-to-date information and better prepare and support Aucklanders when future weather events occur.

    Guides offering property level advice to reduce the impacts of flooding in multiple languages can be found on Flood Viewer and in libraries across the region.

    What are the plans for the vacant land once Category 3 houses are cleared?

    More than 1,200 high-risk Auckland properties are expected to be purchased by Auckland Council before the end of 2025 – making it one of the largest land acquisition programmes undertaken in New Zealand.

    We are carefully deciding what to do with this storm-affected land, with decisions expected to take years.

    We want to ensure Auckland’s land is used effectively to provide homes and maintain strong communities, while managing risk and reducing the financial impact to ratepayers.

    If we keep the land, options for use could include:

    • flood resilience and stream management

    • adding it to neighbouring parkland or bush

    • managing it as high-hazard land.

    If we don’t keep the land, options could include:

    • sale for safe redevelopment

    • sale with conditions to manage the risk (such as converting ground floor units to storage)

    • sale to neighbours for extra backyard space.

    MIL OSI New Zealand News –

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: Four-day Symposium ‘India 2047: Building a Climate Resilient Future’ kick starts in New Delhi

    Source: Government of India

    Four-day Symposium ‘India 2047: Building a Climate Resilient Future’ kick starts in New Delhi

    Important to maintain Growth and Accelerating Welfare while addressing Adaptation Challenges: Vice Chairperson (NITI Aayog), Shri Suman Bery

    Need to scale up South-South and Triangular Cooperation to ensure ‘Climate Resilience for All’: MoS (EFCC) Shri Kirti Vardhan Singh

    Posted On: 19 MAR 2025 6:36PM by PIB Delhi

    The Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute and The Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability at Harvard University, in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), Government of India, are organizing a symposium, ‘India 2047: Building a Climate-Resilient Future’. The four-day symposium started today at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi, beginning with the convening of stakeholders from Union Government, State Governments, scientists, researchers, industry experts, civil society representatives and other relevant stakeholders to deliberate on India’s climate adaptation and resilience priorities as the Nation aspires to be Viksit Bharat by 2047.

    The Inaugural Session on Day-1 was presided over by Shri Suman Bery, Vice Chairperson of NITI Aayog and Union Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Shri Kirti Vardhan Singh. Other dignitaries gracing the occasion included Shri Tarun Kapoor, Adviser to the Prime Minister of India, Mr. James H. Stock, Vice Provost of Harvard University and Mr. Tarun Khanna, Director of The Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute.

    In his address, Shri Suman Bery, emphasized the need for India-centric adaptation strategies. He highlighted the importance of maintaining growth and accelerating welfare while addressing adaptation challenges. He called for flexibility in programme design, particularly in governance dimension, which remains largely unexplored. He stressed the need to empower both the people and the communities. Additionally, he underscored the significance of documenting case studies and fostering intellectual exchange within South Asia.

    Stressing on the critical need for stronger adaptation measures across all sectors, Shri Kirti Vardhan Singh stated, “India has consistently led climate advocacy for the Global South, ensuring at international climate policies are fair and inclusive. As we move forward, it is crucial to scale up adaptation efforts and ensure that the most vulnerable communities have access to the resources and technologies they need to build resilience”. While India has made significant strides in mitigation through ambitious renewable energy goals and emission intensity reduction commitments, he emphasized that adaptation and resilience remains essential to safeguarding livelihoods, ecosystems, and infrastructure from the impacts of climate change.

    The Minister further highlighted the crucial role of climate finance in supporting adaptation initiatives. He stressed that financial resources must be significantly scaled up to meet the needs of vulnerable communities and ensure effective adaptation measures. He underscored the need for innovative financing mechanisms, including blended finance, risk-sharing frameworks, and greater private sector engagement, to complement public finance in driving adaptation efforts. Additionally, the Minister pointed out that adaptation investments must directly benefit those on the frontlines of climate change – farmers, small businesses, and coastal communities. He stated that by strengthening financial instruments such as green bonds, climate-resilient infrastructure funds and concessional financing, India aims to create a sustainable and equitable climate finance ecosystem. “India believes that international climate action must be built on trust, transparency, and equitable growth. We must scale up South-South and Triangular Cooperation to ensure climate resilience for all, accelerate innovation in clean energy transitions, and empower local communities through decentralized governance and ecosystem-based solutions,” the Minister concluded.

    Addressing the gathering, Shri Tarun Kapoor emphasized practical climate change solutions that ensure resource flows to individuals and affordable food security. He stressed the importance of delivering forecasts, technology and knowledge where needed. Earlier, in his welcome remarks, Secretary (MoEFCC), Shri Tanmay Kumar, set the tone for the symposium, emphasizing the need for actionable solutions related to adaptation. He said, “This Symposium is not just about identifying challenges – it is about coming together of experts, policy makers, academia, scientists, civil society and communities in developing adaptation strategies that are grounded in research, responsive to local needs, cost effective and scalable for long-term resilience. He highlighted that India’s adaptation strategy is to be built on a foundation of scientific evidence, cross-sectoral integration, and strong institutional frameworks.

    In a video address, Mr. Alan M. Garber, President of Harvard University, highlighted the role of The Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute as a hub connecting Harvard with India. He introduced The Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability, aimed at developing durable and effective climate solutions. Mr. James H. Stock, Vice Provost of Harvard University, underscored the university’s mission of teaching and research, with interdisciplinary teams working on climate solutions. He emphasized learning from local partners to address climate challenges. Mr. Tarun Khanna, Director of The Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute, spoke about the importance of synergizing traditional knowledge and advanced knowledge systems.

    Over the period of four days, the symposium will address four key themes that are central to India’s adaptation priorities – climate science and its implications for agriculture and water security, health risks associated with climate change, labor productivity and workforce adaptation, and resilience in the built environment. High-level plenaries, expert roundtables, and technical sessions will explore sector-specific challenges and identify best practices for mainstreaming adaptation across policies and programmes.

    The intersection of climate resilience and governance remains a crucial area of focus, with an emphasis on ensuring that adaptation measures are effectively implemented across all levels. Strengthening institutional capacity and fostering coordination among stakeholders will play a pivotal role in translating policies into tangible actions that protect communities, economy, and ecosystems from climate risks. The insights from this symposium could also contribute to the India’s first National Adaptation Plan (NAP) which is under preparation, for which the National Level Stakeholder Workshop was organized by the MoEFCC on 18th March, 2025. Deliberations will help shape evidence-based policy recommendations that integrate climate adaptation into development planning, safeguarding livelihoods, critical infrastructure, and economic stability.

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