Record year for Norwegian Seafood

Best first half-year of all time for Norwegian seafood

The export value of Norwegian seafood has never been higher in the first half of the year than in 2021, the Norwegian Seafood Council announced in a recent press release.

Photo: Norwegian Seafood Council

In the first six months of the year, Norway exported seafood worth NOK 53.7 billion. This represents a growth in value of just over 1 percent, or NOK 646 million when measured against the first half of last year.

Renate Larsen, CEO of the Norwegian Seafood Council says, “Despite a strengthened Norwegian krone and the fact that the markets are still affected by the corona pandemic, the first half of the year has been the best ever for seafood exports when measured by value. Strong demand for healthy, safe, and sustainable Norwegian seafood is the most important reason why we are experiencing another export record.”

According to Odd Emil Ingebrigtsen, Minister of Fisheries and Seafood, this is fantastic news for seafood export. “This is fantastic news for seafood exports. Not only are we well ahead of the strong half-year we saw in 2019, but this is also the best half-year ever for seafood exports so far. Not even the worldwide pandemic has prevented an increase in demand for and exports of Norwegian seafood. This is cause to be proud while acknowledging that a lot of hard work lies behind these successes. We have an adaptable industry with good people working at all levels. I have great faith that there will be even more opportunities for the sector when society reopens fully.”

CEO Renate Larsen says, “South Korea is an exciting growth market and is embracing Norwegian seafood like never before. In the first half of 2021, several supermarket chains have run large national campaigns for Norwegian salmon and mackerel, contributing to a sharp growth in demand. The increase in seafood sales is from both traditional retail and online stores. In some grocery chains, online shopping of Norwegian mackerel accounts for up to 30 percent of turnover.”

China was amongst the largest recipients of frozen cod in the first half-year and Norway exported 44,300 tonnes of frozen cod worth NOK 1.7 billion. Although this represents an increase in the volume of 10 percent, the export value fell by NOK 146 million, or 8 percent, compared with the first half of last year.

Norway exported 116,500 tonnes of mackerel worth NOK 1.8 billion in the first half of the year with South Korea, Vietnam, and Japan being the largest markets. Export levels remained the same level as last year but the value fell by NOK 224 million, or 11 percent, compared with the first half of last year. The first half of 2021 represented the best half-year ever for king crab with Norway exporting 1,100 tonnes worth NOK 426 million. Hong Kong, South Korea, and the United States were the largest recipients of king crab in the first half of the year. Ørjan Kjærvik Olsen, Responsible for Shellfish with the Norwegian Seafood Council says, “Throughout the first half of the year, we have had tremendous demand for Norwegian king crab from both the grocery trade in the USA and from the restaurant market in Asia. Combined with a gradual opening of restaurants in Europe, this has led to high prices. Combined with several boats that have delivered higher volumes than before, we get the best first half-year ever for king crab.”

Learn how purposeful play prepares children for the future at Canadian International School’s Kindergarten Open House

In today’s world, 21st-century skills such as critical thinking, problem solving and creativity are highly valued and sought after at many workplaces.

A leading World IB school in Singapore, Canadian International School (CIS) recognises the importance of preparing students for the future by developing these competencies from a young age. Designed to stimulate imagination, creativity and self-discovery in children aged two to five, the kindergarten programme uses an inquiry and play-based approach that blends academic subjects with real-world application. In turn, this helps students to develop a strong conceptual understanding of core topics ranging from math to literacy. Want to know more? Find out how CIS helps your child ‘learn how to learn’ at the Kindergarten Open House on 1 and 7 October from 9-10am.

Experience the benefits of purposeful play

Bring your child along for a fun-filled morning of educational activities. Together, you can experience how purposeful play brings concepts like math, literacy, STEAM (science, technology, environmental studies, arts and math) and the arts to life at various activity zones.

An inside look at CIS

Teachers and principals will be on hand to answer your queries and share why inquiry and purposeful play are effective learning tools. If you’d like to know what a typical day at school is like, join a guided tour of the school to observe classes in action and see the facilities that are built to foster curiosity and support our inquirybased programme.

For a closer look at how CIS empowers your child to own their future, sign up for the Kindergarten Open House at www.cis.edu.sg/ admissions/kindergarten-openhouse.

Danish National Gymnastics Performance Team plans to visit East Asia

By: Lasse Sandholdt

The National Danish Performance Team is a Danish team of top skilled gymnasts who go around the world to spread the message of healthy living and community building through gymnastics. They do this through different workshop and of course their impressive live performance of gymnastic. This year the team is planning to visit both Taiwan, Indonesia and Thailand when they set off on their world tour in mid-October. Some of these plans are still uncertain because of the difficult corona situation, but the team is hoping to be able to confirm their schedule before long.

Who are the National Danish Performance team?

The NDPT has been travelling the world for 25 years, explains Thomas Dahl, who is the Tour Director for the team. And the objective is much more than just showing of a gymnastics performance.

“We tour the world for 10 months visiting 15 to 20 countries, where we do a lot of workshops for kids, youngster and adults to deliver the message of healthy living and that sport should be for everyone, it should be fun, and it should create a memory for life for the participants. And then the icing on the cake is the big gala performance where we gather host families, partners and the community we visit,” Thomas explains.

The team itself is made up by a handpicked group of elite gymnasts.

“The team consists of 28 young athletes - 14 of each gender - and a leadership team of five. All of them are part of a local community-based sports clubs in Denmark and they are selected at an audition out of usually 200 to 250 applicants,” Thomas says.

This year’s tour will, according to the preliminary plan, take the team to four different East Asian countries.

“Planning in a Corona lockdown world is an uphill task. But so far, the plan is to go to Indonesia and Taiwan from mid-November until the end of the year. And we are planning to go to Thailand and South Korea from midJanuary and forth, but a lot of things are still up in the air”

The world team has a long history in East Asia which they have visited numerous times before.

“We have a history of visiting Indonesia where we have been four times before. We have been in Taiwan

twice before, and Thailand is always a very welcoming host for the national team, and we have spent a lot of tours in Thailand. In 1999 we were so lucky that we were invited to celebrate the birthday of his majesty the King of Thailand,” Thomas says.

Touring in Asia is a very educational experience for both the team and the communities they visit who, like much of the world, have a very different relation to sport than in Denmark.

“These countries are very interested in knowing how you can use sport as community building factor and how you can involve more people. Not to forget that many governments are looking into how you can improve public health through sports and other activities. We believed that we deliver the message on how to do this,” Thomas says. These meetings are however also a significant learning experience for the young gymnast that are part of the team.

“There is cultural bridge building as well. We tend to stay with a host family and involve in the local culture, to educate the young Danes of the team,” Thomas adds.

The show

This year’s show is called “Qua” and it is a story about fitting in and redefining yourself, and according toThomas there is a lot to look forward to.

“The show consists of various dance movements, vaulting, tumbling, mini trampolining, choreographies and a lot of colorful costumes. It’s built on Danish gymnastics, and the gymnasts are highly skilled acrobats who are considered some of the best in the word in tumbling and mini trampolining, so I can guarantee a dazzling show that people will be amazed and moved by,” Thomas says.

ADDA helps rural farmers become

self-sustainable in a changing world

For more than 25 years the Danish NGO, ADDA, has been training farmers throughout Southeast Asia to be selfsustainable. Their continuous programs in the region strive to make the rural farmers more skilled in both agricultural techniques as well as social and economic actions, so that they are prepared for a changing world.

Søren Thorndal Jørgensen – Chairman of ADDA

By Lasse Sandholdt

ADDA or “Agricultural Development Denmark Asia” is currently active with ongoing projects in Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar and Tanzania in Africa. Overseeing these projects is the Chairman of ADDA, Søren Thorndal Jørgensen, and although they might differ somewhat in the technical lessons they teach, they all follow the overall vision of the ADDA organization

“Our vision is to enable local farmers in Asia and Africa to sustain their lives themselves. That means that we will teach how to cultivate their crops and keep their animals in a sustainable way,” Søren explains.

The process to achieving self-sustainability, however, cannot just be attained merely through training in agricultural techniques. That is a lesson ADDA made in its early days as an organization.

“In the beginning of ADDA’s encounter in Vietnam we thought that the main problem for the farmers was the technical issue of growing the crops in the right way, but we learned that it’s not just the technical aspect that’s the problem, it’s also about the organization and the interaction with the society at large. So, slowly we have incorporated more of those social activities and legal aspects of farming work into our projects,” Søren says.

The VOF project

A good example of this approach is the current VOF project in the Northwestern part of Vietnam implemented by the Vietnamese organization “PanNature”. The ethnic minority population of the mountainous region is facing several difficulties in sustaining their farming lifestyle. A combination of climate change, causing soil erosion and fierce rainfall, and an increased population has created the need for new ways of farming.

“To sustain the growing population, they have started to cut down the forest in order to make more space for crops. But the sloping land of the forest is not suitable for the crops from the lowland. So, they need some other farming practices,” Søren says.

As Søren explains, a lot of the farmers have moved from the lowland and are therefore not trained in the cultivation of, for example, citrus and mango which fits better with the new environment, and they therefore need some help. Other agricultural tricks include new drought resistant rice cultivation techniques (SRI) and the growing of intercrops such as grass which can be used as food for the buffalos and cows, but also more efficient planting of seeds and a reduction in the use of fertilizer and pesticides. These are some of the main insights that the ADDA-program provides.

“It’s not a technical revolution, but for these farmers which have no technical education whatsoever, it is a big step forward,” Søren adds.

These new methods mean that the farmers’ cost on input before harvest becomes smaller, while at the same time the output or simply the yield becomes greater. According to Søren these improvements mean that the farmers can even triple their income on a harvest. But these changes in farming finesse is only half of the training that the ADDA-projects provide.

It’s not a technical revolution, but for these farmers which have no technical education whatsoever, it is a big step forward

ADDA teaches local farmers to teach their fellow rural farmers - Photo: Nguyen Phi Thuong

Another essential part of the lessons ADDA wants to introduce to the farmers is the awareness of the business aspect of being a farmer. This is a side of the profession, which is maybe even more foreign to the rural farmers, but it is still a very important feature of the program.The farmers attend the Farmer field school, where they learn critical technical skills combined with education on commercializing their farming practice and finally group formation.

“We teach them to make a business plan, how to sell their products and we teach them to look at the market needs,” Søren says.

The school wants to teach the professionalism in the farming trade and that also means encouraging the farmers to cooperate in their work.

“The group formation process is very important. After the farmer field school, the 30 farmers that attended usually stay in a group, where they buy their input together and sell their output together. This cooperation increases their income even further,” Søren says.

This strengthens the farmers’ position on the market, so they can achieve a higher average price on their goods. Another big step forward. Before the farmers were selling whatever surplus they had on the market individually without any contract, often selling to some middleman which led to a decrease in the revenue made on the harvest.

As Søren remarks “it is very expensive to be a small poor farmer working on your own”

Empowering the marginalized.

The region that the ADDA project is stationed in is one of the poorest regions in all of Vietnam. The rural farmers are of an ethnic minority, who speak another language than the official one of Vietnam. In some ways this has entailed, that the areas are being under prioritized by the state, because their problems are not important in the agenda of the major cities in the lowland. This for instance is seen in the lacking infrastructure of the region.

“When I started coming to Vietnam the infrastructure to Dien Bien Phu from the village was just a muddy road. So even if you increased the production, it was very difficult to reach the market. And even though that has changed, the poverty rating is still quite high in the mountainous areas,” Søren says.

Also, in this sense the ADDA organization is teaching the farmers and people of the villages how to do the bureaucratic legwork required to be able to realize community enhancing projects.

“We make something called community development projects. This is a program where they must come up with a practical idea, that will serve the local community. We give them around 3000 dollars and then they have to seek co-finance from the local authority.This is to teach them how to make project proposals, how to work together on a project and actually get it done practically,” Søren explains.

A typical example of an idea could be a concrete road leading from the village to the main road. ADDA will

Community development projects are an important part of the ADDA projects. - Photo: Nguyen Phi Thuong

Community development projects are an important part of the ADDA projects. - Photo: Nguyen Phi Thuong

ADDA is also teaching the farmers planning strategies

Our vision is to enable local farmers in Asia and Africa to sustain their lives themselves.

then pay for the cement and the people will have to do the rest themselves. The important lesson here, is not just how to construct a road, it is also learning how to fill out a project proposal that explains the project in detail so that the process comes through in the local administration.

“Instead of just picking up the phone and saying, “we want this”. That’s not going to happen,” Søren remarks.

The ADDA projects believe that “learning by doing” is better for the local people, when learning how to implement community development projects, because it’s more comprehendible than the theoretic learning approach. It makes them capable of actually making new projects on their own in the future.

This is in line with the general philosophy of ADDA to make the farmers independent of foreign aid.

ADDA also trains local villagers to be trainers of agriculture to the rest of the village. In this way the local farmers don’t have to rely on trained experts from agricultural university, that they already distrust because of their marginalized position.

The future of rural famer societies.

ADDA is financed by a number of big donors and government grants as well as private donations. Lately however it has been more difficult for them to obtain the money needed to carry out their missions.

This is very unfortunate since the farmers of northwestern Vietnam, like those of ADDA’s other projects, will have to face substantial dilemmas in the future. In particular, there are two major problems the farmers are going to have to deal with. First, they need to modernize their way of farming to accommodate for the drastic climate changes.

“It is going to be a really big issue for them in the future. We cry when we get a little rainfall at home in Denmark, but it is ten times worse in Vietnam. So they need to adapt,” Søren says.

The other major issue is the exclusion from the world market.

“They have a little bit of window to establish themselves on the market still. But they have to learn to work together quickly, otherwise they will be marginalized completely. If they don’t, they maybe have to end up as a living museum or something instead,” Søren says.

The indigenous way of conducting a farming lifestyle doesn’t have a future however romantic the idea might seem.

“I know that some people think it’s nice to have these people walking around in the forest but it’s impossible to sustain. You can’t preserve everything,” Søren says.

Jyri Järviaho debuts as Finland’s Ambassador to Cambodia and Thailand

By Joakim Persson

Finland’s new Ambassador to Thailand and Cambodia, Mr Jyri Järviaho began his new life as ambassador with a two weeks’ stay at a five-star Bangkok riverside hotel together with his Elina Multanen. This was of course due to the ongoing quarantine rules for arrivals from abroad. Meanwhile, their adult son with his own family remained in Helsinki.

Since then the ambassador couple have also taken short trips to some of Thailand’s most well-known holiday destinations; Chiang Mai, Hua Hin, Phuket and Samui – while other excursions they hope to do also in the region must wait for the right conditions when travel can resume.

On 19 April H.E. Mr. Jyri Järviaho also made the short trip to Dusit Palace to present to His Majesty King Maha Vajiralongkorn his Letter of Credence, enabling him to fully operate as Finland’s Ambassador.

Jyri Järviaho describes the places visited as wonderful and highlights the Chiang Mai visit, which included a joint Nordic component together with the other ambassadors from that region.

“One day was for the common Nordic events and another dedicated to bilateral issues with our commercial team from the embassy and three Finnish companies.” So, what is his first impression of the host country?

“It’s a wonderful and colourful country where many things are happening at the same time. You have these holiday destinations to which many Finns love to come, so in many ways a very interesting place to be. The connections between people are close. Many Finns have some experience of Thailand; they’ve been to Thailand, or know people that spend time in Thailand, or know Thai people living in Finland. They have touched Thailand one way or the other.”

Highlight of any diplomatic career

Being also the Ambassador to Cambodia he is very much looking forward to visiting Phnom Penh, once the Covid-19 situation allows travel.

According to Jyri, Finland has a newly established Honorary Consulate in Phnom Penh, with Mr Timo Järvinen, as the Honorary Consul. Bangkok is Jyri’s first ambassador position: “It is a great honour and privilege to be a Finnish Ambassador in Thailand and representative of one’s country in this way; a highlight of any diplomatic career. I have been so excited about this possibility. Of course it’s at the same time a big responsibility.”

He describes himself as a generalist, having done various tasks such as political issues, commercial, some development issues and also human resources.

“I believe I’m outgoing but I’m also interested in substance and various issues at the same time, so I like to dig into things as well. Having said that I’m always keen on meeting new people and learning, which is so good in this profession, where you always see new people.”

The background to the appointment is that the ambassador has been employed by the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) since 1999, and held various positions within the ministry including stints abroad. He has also studied abroad during two years; first in Newcastle for European studies in political science, and then international relations and security policy in Denver. Prior to that, ambassador Jyri studied in the Finnish town of Joensuu at the University of Eastern Finland, where he took a degree in economics.

Thailand is a wonderful and colourful country where many things are happening at the same time

“I did not plan to apply to the MFA when I was studying. But I was always interested in society and how it functions, global issues and so on. I worked two years at the EBRD, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and I did an internship at the MFA for about a year, prior to joining the ministry.”

Previous Asian connection is that that Jyri served in the Asia unit in 2005 and 2008, covering commercial issues for China but also for Malaysia and Singapore as country desk. “I travelled to China with business delegations and also visited Malaysia and Singapore.”

Malaysia he has also visited privately before.

European postings

Directly before Bangkok Jyri was Deputy Director General of Human Resources in Helsinki and before that Director in the Human Resources Unit for 4.5 years. “I was head of the HR and personal planning unit, dealing with who goes where and also being responsible for recruiting new diplomats and administrative staff for the ministry. That was a very interesting job – but of course not always thankful as some people may get disappointed – to meet people and understand their wishes and hopes and try to give them some view how the ministry sees their work and how they could see their career moving within MFA.”

He has previously also served in the Finnish embassies in Riga and Belgrade as deputy to the Ambassador and was also posted to the Finnish Permanent Mission in Geneva.

“The position in Geneva concerned arms control and disarmament issues - also that a very interesting area where you can follow big power politics and see how they operate in the international scene.”

“Belgrade is our embassy from former Yugoslavia and from the Balkan countries Belgrade is quite an important city to be in if you wanted to understand Balkan politics. And we have some business interests there. During the time I went there, in year 2000-2003, was just after the Kosovo crisis, so there were lots of issues relating to Kosovo, the Nato bombings etc. Then the democratic processes started in Serbia and we started all kinds of cooperation and development projects in Serbia, Montenegro and also in Kosovo,” comments Jyri.

Serving in Riga was during the time when Latvia joined the EU, with lots of issues relating to the Latvian integration into the EU. “Of course Latvia is much closer to Finland so there are lots of business interests as well and tourists in both directions.”

Finland recruits talent

Travel and tourism between Finland and Thailand are under normal circumstances also strong, with about 10 000 Thais living in Finland.

“There’s a strong connection between the two countries. In 2019 we had 140 000 Finnish tourists visiting Thailand. Many come during their holiday but there are also retirees who come for multiple months over the winter period.”

“Commercially I think there is a lot of potential to grow and that’s why we have expanded the embassy’s commercial services. The new Commercial Counsellor – a new position – Mr Kai Tuorila started his duties in May and new Coordinator for labour and student exchanges Ms Gitta Hägg-Lundvall in February.”

“Ms Hägg-Lundvall is working as our coordinator on the so called ‘Talent Boost’ area, looking into student

The ambassador couple Mr Jyri Järviaho and his wife Elina Multanen.

exchanges, links between universities and schools, labour movements and recruitment of international workers for our companies including seasonal work.”

In fact, this is a Finnish programme and network that helps companies to find and recruit the international talents they need. It organises networking events, recruitment campaigns and funding for the recruitment of international talents. More than 3,000 international students graduate from Finnish universities every year. They have a global vision, experience and networks that are valuable for companies operating in Finland.

Companies with a wide range of international expertise are more likely to succeed in the international market. Innovative start-up companies founded by foreigners are also welcome to grow their businesses in Finland.

“It’s our government policy that to be competitive in the future we will need an international workforce and skilled people to work in our companies,” says the ambassador.

“As for Finnish export this is important but in many ways commerce is a two-way street; sometimes you need to import things, in order to export. Participating in global value chains accessing various markets and building local connections are vital. From our perspective I think it’s good to work closer in both directions for enhanced business relations – and investments – between the countries. The more we have of those the better it is!”

Circular economy (CE) and education are currently the main sectors for the Embassy of Finland in Bangkok. A MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) on CE between the Ministry of Industry, Thailand and the Ministry of Employment & the Economy in Finland is in the works.

”There are several issues we can work on within circular economy, including recycling waste, waste-toenergy etc. Circular Economy is also linked to a wider, cross-cutting theme of sustainable development.”

Exciting Thailand opportunities

Another bilateral MoU is also being prepared within education. “We are looking into different ways of supporting Thailand in the education sector. At the moment there’s a pilot project on online teacher education training where three Finnish universities created online training materials for Thai teachers. After collecting feedback from the pilot we can hopefully expand the project in Thailand.”

A recent new business initiative is HEI Schools Bangkok, as Finnish International Kindergarten for students aged 1.5 to 6 years that will open in September 2021. The pedagogy and curriculum are designed based on the latest research in early childhood education from co-founding partner, the University of Helsinki, aiming to enhance a child’s active participation, curiosity and creativity through play and exploration.

Looking towards the future - beyond Covid-19 - the ambassador’s says:

“I would like to mention that we in Finland, as Europe in general, favour the idea that hopefully there comes some economic recovery after the virus. But the focus should now be more on the green economy overall; to change our societies and economies more towards a sustainable development path with more circular economy and careful consideration of many issues and business practices - the whole cycle of things. We cannot afford to use the resources of the planet as we have done so far. This is important and this could be a turning point.”

Nordic vaccination policy causes dilemma for Scandinavians in Thailand

Thailand’s plan for vaccination against the coronavirus has not been a smooth ride for foreigners working or living in Thailand. Some of the Scandinavians - being older and therefore more vulnerable – have found themselves in a dilemma. Should they isolate themselves at home or travel to their home countries with the risks that this involves?

By Lasse Sandholdt

Sven Arne Hedell, a Swedish resident in Thailand for eight years, has described the situation being an expat Swede in Thailand under Covid-19 as desperate. He resides in a Swedish community in Pattaya made up by primarily elderly people and their experience with the Thai vaccination system has not been good.

“The average age in our group is alarmingly high. Everyone is trying desperately to register for a vaccine. There was an app for foreigners who want to sign up for the vaccine queue, but it crashed after an hour,” Sven Hedell says.

Sven ended up travelling to Sweden in order to get the jab like other Nordic citizens in Thailand have done.

Addressing the Nordic prime ministers

The experience of dealing with a faulty system has been shared by other Scandinavians. As a result, the board of The Scandinavian Society Siam (SSS) wrote an open letter to the prime ministers of the Nordic countries urging them to send vaccines for their citizens in Thailand. This would follow the examples of France who have already applied this model.

Explaining the situation and that they would happily pay for the cost, the Scandinavian Society Siam was hoping their letter could convince the Nordic governments to send vaccines for their expats. As Lasse Staalung, Chaiman of the SSS, explaines.

“We wrote that many older citizen from Nordic countries were not in the program for vaccinations of people in Thailand. So, we asked them to help us by sending vaccination doses for Nordic citizens in Thailand. We would be helpful with the resources we could find to register people and help in the process. We of course also said that we would pay for it, it wasn’t something that we expected to get for free,” Lasse Says. It wasn’t to be, however. Asked by the Norwegian media Dagbladet, the Norwegian Minister of Health and Care Services, Bent Høie, said that they were not going to accept the request

“If Norwegians abroad do not receive the vaccine where they are staying, then they should travel home to Norway to be vaccinated. That’s the way it must be. We do not have the opportunity to vaccinate Norwegians abroad except the people who are in very socially critical functions,” he says.

The embassy counselor at the Swedish embassy in Thailand, Lina Eidmark, also denied the request for the vaccines on behalf of the Swedish citizens saying

“It is a decision that Sweden will not be vaccinating Swedes who have left Sweden to live abroad. These Swedes will have to be a part of the Thai vaccination system. We have guarantees from Thai representatives on this,” Lina said.

The Scandinavian Society Siam’s had to wait a little longer for a reply on their actual letter. The answer came from a doctor in the Norwegian Ministry of Health and Care Services and the message was brief saying that Norwegian people had to travel home if they were to be vaccinated by Norway. The manner of this answer was not satisfactory to Lasse Staalung.

“They don’t even bother to give us a real answer,” he says.

Asking to much?

The argument that once you leave the country you give up the right for the vaccination does not resonate with every Scandinavian in Thailand. Sven Arne Hedell believes that there are good reasons for the Swedish government to change their policy.

“We are paying full tax in Sweden, but we still don’t have any rights. Sweden, which has a surplus of five million vaccines, should be able to help us pensioners with a couple of thousand vaccines, right? I’m sure we can arrange distribution and the jabs themselves with a private hospital. We can pay for the service, as long as we have the vaccines at hand,” Sven Hedell says.

Lasse Staalung recognizes the argument but explains that the situation In Thailand is special since their have been no real alternative to a Nordic vaccine program for a while.

“If you live in the U.S. where you are in the normal program it’s fine. But in this case, in Thailand, where you don’t have a program that can protect people from getting infected and dying, I think they should help. Knut Hauslo travlled home to Norway to get the Corona vaccination. When he arrived he was tested positiv with Covid

I read stories every day on Facebook groups about old people that still can get into any of the vaccination lists. Other people have been taken of the list because they were not Thai”

Getting Covid upon arrival back home

Lasse also emphasizes that the standpoint of the Nordic governments can be dangerous for many of the type of Scandinavians living In Thailand. ”If you are old or have an underlying sickness, you would rather try to stay where you are and protect you and your family. Instead, they ask these people to get into a small and crowed airplane and sit there with strangers for hours and hours with the high chance of getting infected,” Lasse says.

This scenario has unfortunately already come true for one Norwegian couple, Knut and Anne Marie Hauslo, who did what they were told - they flew back to Norway to get a vaccination.

A few days after they arrival to Oslo, Knut was diagnosed with Covid-19 and the next day his wife Anne Marie also had it. “The aircraft was filled to brim with people and carry-on luggage. It was like rabbit cages, and it was not possible to keep the one meters distance,” Knut Hauslo explains on the phone from his hotel room in Oslo, where he and his wife have now been in quarantine for more than three weeks.

Knut also explains that a couple passengers sitting close to him had their face masks off during most of the flight.

The couple are to be released from the quarantine on 28 august.

This seaweed Seaweed packaging? packaging is also edible How Norway and Indonesia are replacing plastic with seaweed

Is seaweed packaging the solution to the plastic problem in the world? Potentially yes.

In a video, the german-based media organization DW, shows how packaging made from algae is already a reality and how researchers and scientists in Indonesia and Norway are exploring the plant’s full potential.

Indonesia and China are amongst the biggest polluters apart from the food and packaging sectors. 3.2 million tons of that ends up in the ocean and the Indonesian government has pledged to reduce this by 70% by 2025. Traditional waste disposal measures however do not go far enough and pioneering ideas are needed.

Indonesian Scientist Nory Mulyono has found the solution in the ocean and she has been working on this concept for 10 years of turning seaweed into an alternative plastic packaging. She is head of the Food Technology Department at the Atma Jaya Catholic University of Indonesia and also co-founder and chief of research and development at Evoware. The company’s packaging is made from red algae and it can last for up to two years. It’s even edible. More than 2000 companies are already testing the innovation and apart from the food and packaging sectors, it’s also used in the cosmetic and textile industry. Seaweed could even serve as fuel.

But it is not only in Indonesia that seaweed is being explored as a packaging alternative. People in Europe are also recognizing the algae’s full potential. It grows quickly, does not need agricultural land to be produced and there are 22.000 types of algae worldwide.

In Norway, up to 100 tons of brown algae are harvested every year. So far it’s been marketed as a foodstuff but further possible uses of algae are also being explored. In Trondheim, researchers are cultivating algae seedlings and examining whether seaweed might have other environmental uses.

The algae alternative to plastic is not only an innovative idea, it is also creating jobs for ritual coastal farmers in Indonesia. The country holds about 200.000 seaweed farmers and entire families get involved.

News brief Grundfos partners with Singapore tech company to meet Southeast Asia’s sustainable cooling needs

Grundfos, a global leader in advanced pump solutions and water technology, and Barghest Building Performance (BBP), a Singapore-based energy efficiency technology provider, have signed a memorandum of understanding to deliver and scale an innovative energy-efficient digital solution across Southeast Asia, according to a press release. The solution can help reduce the energy consumption of cooling systems by up to 40%, meeting the region’s urgent need for sustainable cooling solutions.

The novel solution focuses on reducing the energy consumption of commercial and industrial climate control systems. Also known as heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, it currently represents one of the world’s most important sources of greenhouse gas emissions. In Southeast Asia, rising electricity demand from cooling alone is projected to require around 200 gigawatts of additional generation capacity by 2040, and cooling could be responsible for as much as 30% share in the region’s peak electricity demand.

Conventional systems often use up a high level of energy due to issues such as over-pumping to compensate for discrepancies between the chilled water supply and return temperatures. In addition, they have the tendency to run at constant speed and pressure throughout their operations, regardless of fluctuating cooling demands. The systems’ high energy consumption ultimately contributes to greater carbon emissions, driving climate change.

Through leveraging automation technology, remote monitoring, and the Internet of Things, the solution ensures the HVAC system operates in optimized conditions at any time, by intuitively regulating the interactions between the various parts within the system. This minimizes unnecessary energy use, and in turn, helps customers reduce their environmental impact. Grundfos and BBP will look to scale this across Southeast Asia, focusing on Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Malaysia.

Fredrik Östbye, Group Vice President, Head of FutureLab, Grundfos, said, “Southeast Asia is undergoing rapid industrialization and urbanization, and cooling and ventilation in commercial and industrial buildings will only play a bigger role as we move into the future. However, conventional cooling is not sustainable in today’s climate crisis.”

Danish Grundfos and Singaporean Barghest Building Performance both work to make energy effecient technologies