Tác giả: Đào Thu Hằng

I'm from Hanoi, Viet Nam. I'm an author of Dot Chuoi Non (dotchuoinon.com/author/hangbelu/), a blog on Positive thinking, founded by Dr. Tran Dinh Hoanh, an attorney in Washington DC. I'm a co-founder of Conversations on Vietnam Development - cvdvn.net, a virtual think tank. I am a co-founder of two companies in Viet Nam working on children education services. I advise companies on STEAM education, English language education for children and students in Vietnam. I'm studying the Buddha's teaching and the teaching of Jesus. I practice mindful living including meditation. I hold a PhD on Sustainable Energy Systems from University of Lisbon and Aalto University. I graduated from Hanoi University of Technology on Environmental Engineering. I obtained a Master degree of the same major from Stanford University and Nanyang Technological University. My English-language blog at: hangbelu.wordpress/. I play table tennis as a hobby.

How clean is clean coal?

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này
16 November 2015Articles and blogs
Ilmi Granoff and Sam Pickard

Ilmi Granoff

Ilmi Granoff

ODI – The coal industry argues that more efficient and less polluting ‘advanced coal’ will help reduce carbon emissions and other pollution. What we can’t forget, ahead of next week’s World Coal Association meeting and OECD talks on coal policy, is that there are cheaper and cleaner options.

Burning coal generates about 40% of fossil fuel emissions. Current G7 and Chinese plants, alongside a dramatic expansion of coal power planned in the developing world, stand to blow our carbon budget.

To address this threat, the coal industry proposes replacing the most polluting coal technologies with advanced ‘high-efficiency, low emissions’ coal technologies. It claims that this will reduce emissions enough to keep global mean temperature under two degrees while taking advantage of coal as a cheap energy source.

Some also advocate that ‘climate finance’ should cover the price mark-up from conventional to advanced coal. For this to make sense, advanced coal would either need to be cleaner or cheaper than the alternatives – it is neither.

Advanced coal pollutes far more than alternatives Tiếp tục đọc “How clean is clean coal?” →

Will the SDGs influence domestic policy? Some lessons from the MDGs

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này
20 November 2015 Articles and blogs

Paula Lucci

Moizza Binat Sarwar

ODI – With the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agreed, the next big question is: are governments going to use them?

Despite many years of experience implementing the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), we still know surprisingly little about how national governments actually use these kinds of international frameworks.

How countries responded to the MDGs

A new qualitative study of five governments finds that they used the MDGs in three ways:

  • They set up new institutions to track progress – for example, since 2012 Nigeria has convened a quarterly committee of over 25 state governors, heads of ministries and other government officials to monitor national progress towards the MDGs;
  • Some, such as Indonesia, referenced the MDGs in national development strategies;
  • They saw the MDGs as an opportunity to show international leadership – Mexican politicians, for example, used them to raise the country’s profile across the region.

However, it took countries up to 10 years to translate the MDGs into domestic institutional commitments – they often waited until they had to renew existing domestic targets before doing so. UN-led efforts, particularly the MDG Acceleration Frameworks established in 2010, may have helped prompt eventual action.

Did the MDGs influence government priorities and budgets? Tiếp tục đọc “Will the SDGs influence domestic policy? Some lessons from the MDGs” →

Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này
This publication contains the “Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights:
Implementing the United Nations ‘Protect, Respect and Remedy’ Framework”, which
were developed by the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the issue
of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises. The
Special Representative annexed the Guiding Principles to his final report to the
Human Rights Council (A/HRC/17/31), which also includes an introduction to the
Guiding Principles and an overview of the process that led to their development.
The Human Rights Council endorsed the Guiding Principles in its resolution 17/4
of 16 June 2011

World Energy Outlook 2015

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này
 WEO-2015 cover
Order online here
WEO-2015 Table of Contents
WEO-2015 Acknowledgements
Introduction and ScopeExecutive SummaryArabic | Chinese | English | French | German | Italian | Japanese | Korean | Polish | Russian  | Spanish | ‌Turkish

Press Release
Presentation to the Press
Factsheets

The precipitous fall in oil prices, continued geopolitical instability and the ongoing climate negotiations are witness to the dynamic nature of energy markets. In a time of so much uncertainty, understanding the implications of the shifting energy landscape for economic and environmental goals and for energy security is vital. The World Energy Outlook 2015 (WEO-2015) presents updated projections for the evolution of the global energy system to 2040, based on the latest data and market developments, as well as detailed insights on the prospects for fossil fuels, renewables, the power sector and energy efficiency and analysis on trends in CO2 emissions and fossil-fuel and renewable energy subsidies.

In addition, the WEO-2015 is informed by in-depth analysis on several topical issues:

— A lower oil price future? The decline in oil prices and changed market conditions have prompted a broad debate over how and when the oil market will re-balance. This analysis examines the implications for markets, policies, investment, the fuel mix and emissions if oil prices stay lower for longer. Tiếp tục đọc “World Energy Outlook 2015” →

MOOC: Powering Agriculture—Sustainable Energy for Food

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

poweringag.org – We are happy to announce that the global initiative “Powering Agriculture: An Energy Grand Challenge for Development” (PAEGC) is launching a free Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) in cooperation with TH Köln – University of Applied Sciences. The 8-week course, which will run from Feb. 1 – Mar. 27, 2016, introduces challenges and solutions for sustainable energy use in the agriculture and food industry.

Background

Around one third of the energy used worldwide goes into the production and processing of food from field to table. Given the current energy system mix, the agrifood industry sector is however heavily dependent on fossil fuel inputs for production, transport, processing and distribution, and contributes significantly to greenhouse gas emissions. With a continuously growing world population the need for food and for energy to produce it is increasing. At the same time millions of farmers and processors in developing countries and emerging economies lack access to clean energy technologies for irrigation, drying, cooling, storage and other processes.

How can these needs be met sustainably?

We have to produce more food with less energy, make energy use more efficient, and introduce and upscale more clean energy technologies.

About the Course

This MOOC will introduce participants to the Energy-Agriculture Nexus and introduces approaches for sustainably providing energy throughout all stages of agricultural value chains. Challenges but also solutions will be analyzed, concrete technologies will be examined focusing on their utility to promote access to clean energy. Participants will further be familiarized with relevant external influences such as market conditions, politics, and financing schemes of “powering agricultural” projects. Learning materials, developed by well-known experts, will be available as texts as well as videos on a week-by-week basis and are accompanied by assignments that will require the application of the newly learned skills. Tiếp tục đọc “MOOC: Powering Agriculture—Sustainable Energy for Food” →

China Burns Much More Coal Than Reported, Complicating Climate Talks

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

By NOV. 3, 2015

See Video

nytimes – BEIJING — China, the world’s leading emitter of greenhouse gases from coal, has been burning up to 17 percent more coal a year than the government previously disclosed, according to newly released data. The finding could complicate the already difficult efforts to limit global warming.

Even for a country of China’s size, the scale of the correction is immense. The sharp upward revision in official figures means that China has released much more carbon dioxide — almost a billion more tons a year according to initial calculations — than previously estimated.

The increase alone is greater than the whole German economy emits annually from fossil fuels.

Officials from around the world will have to come to grips with the new figures when they gather in Paris this month to negotiate an international framework for curtailing greenhouse-gas pollution. The data also pose a challenge for scientists who are trying to reduce China’s smog, which often bathes whole regions in acrid, unhealthy haze.

Tiếp tục đọc “China Burns Much More Coal Than Reported, Complicating Climate Talks” →

Beijing is currently pushing a rule-of-law campaign, but the reality is drastically different

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

HONG KONG-CHINA-POLITICS-RIGHTS

Philippe Lopez—AFP/Getty Images Protesters holding pictures of detained Chinese human-rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang march to the Chinese Liaison Office in Hong Kong on May 14, 2014, asking for his release

Time.com – In late November, Ren Jianyu, once a budding civil servant in China’s southwest, received his results for China’s National Judicial Examination: a sterling score well above what he needed to pass China’s bar. The triumph was bittersweet: for 15 months, Ren, like tens of thousands of others, had been forced to undergo “re-education through labor,” as time spent in China’s gulags is known.Ren’s offense was to have reposted on his microblog comments critical of China’s government and its leaders. He also purchased online a T-shirt emblazoned with the motto: “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death.” For these transgressions, the now 28-year-old was never given the courtesy of a proper trial. He spent his days assembling cardboard for boxes and lived 11 people to a room in a camp filled with more than 1,000 inmates. But after a local justice board deemed his case improperly handled, Ren was released early in 2012 and later compensated less than $15,000 for his suffering. “After experiencing so many things all these years,” he says, “I am not afraid anymore.”

Despite — or perhaps because of — this injustice, Ren decided that he needed to familiarize himself with China’s legal system. After he was released, families of other legal victims came to him, asking for counsel. “At the time, I didn’t understand the law,” says Ren. “When I read the piles of materials they showed to me, I didn’t know which parts were useful, which were not.” Tiếp tục đọc “Beijing is currently pushing a rule-of-law campaign, but the reality is drastically different” →

Why Southeast Asia struggles to tackle modern-day slavery

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ 5 bình luận

Officials from three countries are investigating allegations of slavery in Indonesia’s fishing industry. The UN’s Annette Lyth talks to DW about the growing problem of human trafficking in the region.

Indonesien Fischer Skaverei

DW – A week after the Associated Press (AP) published a story about slavery in the seafood industry, delegations from Thailand and Indonesia visited the eastern Indonesian island village of Benjina freeing some 300 migrant workers who had been lured or tricked into leaving their countries and forced into catching fish for consumers around the world.
Tiếp tục đọc “Why Southeast Asia struggles to tackle modern-day slavery” →

Trying not to choose: A region pulled between China and America

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

Simon Long
Mon Nov 02 2015

http://cms-worldin.economist.com/sites/default/files/styles/1190x560l/public/Asia-Trying-not-to-choose-3570×1680.jpg?itok=7M4J9Efm
ASIA
East Asia is the scene for an unprecedented experiment in international relations. Never before have so many countries been so intertwined economically with one big power (China) while looking to another (America) as the ultimate guarantor of their security. So far the experiment has seemed a stunning success. For 40 years, America has not just kept the peace; it has enabled a continental economic boom. And the biggest beneficiary of that has been China. Yet that order is now fraying, as China chafes under what it sees as an American-led world order that is impeding its rise and its natural regional predominance. In 2016 the tensions that this fraying produces may become acute, posing awkward questions for other countries in Asia.

When Xi Jinping, China’s president, paid his first state visit to America in September 2015, the two countries were already at odds on a number of issues: the perennial bugbears such as China’s human-rights record and repression in Tibet and Xinjiang; and new concerns over cyber-security and the militarisation of space. The visit was marked, as always, by an effort to stress areas of co-operation, for example on climate change; but the two big powers are now rivals in a growing number of spheres. Asia is where the rivalry is most intense. It will become more so in 2016 for three main reasons.
Tiếp tục đọc “Trying not to choose: A region pulled between China and America” →

All signs point to a treaty of hope in Paris

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

Despite the recent setbacks, there are signs that point to a successful outcome for the UN climate talks in Paris. At the very least, it will achieve more than the UN meeting six years ago in Copenhagen.

river seine eiffel tower
A view of the Seine river and Eiffel Tower in Paris, France. More than 130 world leaders will arrive in the city for the United Nations climate change summit, which starts on 30 November. Image: Shutterstock
By Jessica Cheam

Wednesday 25 November 2015

 ecobusiness – In less than a week’s time, more than 130 of the world’s leaders will arrive in Paris to kick off the United Nations climate change summit – billed by some as the most important global meeting in recent history.
There’s been a growing global momentum since its lead-up, but since the start of the year, the French capital has dominated headlines for other reasons. In January, Islamist terror attacks on the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and a Jewish supermarket left 17 dead. Last week, the city again became a bloodbath after deadly attacks involving shootings and bombings by terror group Islamic State killed 130 people and injured hundreds more.While the city remains in high alert, the French government were quick to affirm that the UN talks would go ahead, pledging that it will not “give up in the face of violence” by cancelling the summit, expected to be attended by the likes of the presidents of US, China, Russia and India along with 40,000 other delegates, journalists and observers. Tiếp tục đọc “All signs point to a treaty of hope in Paris” →

On World Toilet Day, it’s time Pacific leaders start talking toilets

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này
Alyse Schrecongost's picture

Submitted by Alyse Schrecongost On Wed, 11/18/2015

co-authors: Katherine Wong

worldbank – Around the world, people are moving to cities in unprecedented numbers. The Pacific Islands are no different. In Fiji, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and Papua New Guinea (PNG), the urban growth rate is around 3% a year – or in real terms, around 64,000 people every year – who are making the move to the Pacific’s largest towns and cities each year in search of work and a better life.

As this ‘urbanisation’ increases, aging infrastructure and basic services are falling far short of needs. People arriving in cities are forced to settle in ad-hoc homes built on marginal lands without land titles.  Known as ‘informal settlements’, these communities are often packed with homes hovering on stilts above cleared mangroves, stacked precariously up steep rocky hillsides, or squeezed onto public land along roads and power lines.

In Honiara and Port Moresby, the number of people living in settlements may soon outnumber formal residents. Yet the majority have limited or nonexistent water, sanitation and hygiene services – even in settlements that have existed for decades.
When residents of these settlements need to use the toilet, they must venture outside their homes – no matter the weather or time of day. They may have to trek long distances, making those most vulnerable – especially women and children – risk harassment or worse. Some reluctantly use the bushes or go in the ocean. When facilities are available, they are often pits that are shared among multiple families, and are often full or flooded. Untreated waste sits stagnant in these toilets, attracting pests and flies. Children may be afraid of them. Many elderly residents simply can’t access them.
Tiếp tục đọc “On World Toilet Day, it’s time Pacific leaders start talking toilets” →

Top 5 Developments Enabling Shift to 100 Percent Renewable Energy

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

Renewableenergyworld – A growing number of companies, cities, states and countries are aiming for, and achieving, a goal of obtaining power from 50 percent, 75 percent or even 100 percent renewable energy, thanks, in part, to a set of major developments that are enabling the resource shift, according to a new report from Clean Edge.

Commissioned by SolarCity, the report Getting to 100 discusses what is driving the transition to increasing levels of renewable energy consumption and identifies the successes and challenges of both governments and companies in targeting, and/or achieving, 100 percent renewable energy goals.

According to the report, these five developments are supporting the trend toward higher penetrations of renewable energy:

  • A resilient grid
  • A rise in net zero buildings and smart connected devices
  • Energy storage availability and affordability
  • Proliferation of utility-scale renewables
  • Cost-effective status of distributed solar across geographies

Distributed Solar Becomes Cost-Effective Across Geographies

The proliferation of ever-cheaper distributed solar generation – residential, commercial and community – is a key driver toward the 100 percent renewable energy goal, according to the report.

“The cost curves are undeniable,” the report said. “The plummeting prices of solar panels have been well-documented, but the industry has recently been attacking balance-of-system costs and so-called soft costs (such as marketing, customer acquisition, permitting, and installation) as well.” Tiếp tục đọc “Top 5 Developments Enabling Shift to 100 Percent Renewable Energy” →

Perry Warns Against the Dangers of a Nuclear ISIS

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

Smoke rises behind the Islamic State flag after a battle with Iraqi security forces and Shiite militia in the city of Saadiya in November, 2014.
Photo credit: Reuters

cisac.fsi.stanford – Former U.S. Secretary of Defense William J. Perry said he was concerned that the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) could buy, steal or build a nuclear weapon capable of killing a hundred thousand or more people in a single strike.

And, he said, stopping the flow of oil money to ISIS should be the main, short-term objective of the United States and its allies in the fight against the terrorist organization.

“They have demonstrated their objective is just killing as many Americans as they can, or Europeans as the case may be…and there is no better way of doing that than with nuclear weapons,” Perry said. Tiếp tục đọc “Perry Warns Against the Dangers of a Nuclear ISIS” →

Ambitious climate goals, weak foundations

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

Speed read

  • Most ASEAN and Pacific SIDS have submitted national plans for a UN global pact
  • But concerns have been raised about the reliability of the data used for the plans
  • Still, the country pledges are described to combine ‘complex’ needs of the areas
Scidev.net – [MANILA] With a little over a week left until the UN climate conference starts in Paris on 30 November, most countries have already submitted their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs).

The INDCs are public pledges detailing how each country plans to cope with climate change, starting in 2020, as part of a new international climate agreement that will be adopted at the UN conference. Tiếp tục đọc “Ambitious climate goals, weak foundations” →

Civil Society Organisations and Internet Governance in Asia – Open Review

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

cis-india – This is a book section written for the third volume (2000-2010) of the Asia Internet History series edited by Prof. Kilnam Chon. The pre-publication text of the section is being shared here to invite suggestions for addition and modification. Please share your comments via email sent to raw[at]cis-india[dot]org with ‘Civil Society Organisations and Internet Governance in Asia – Comments’ as the subject line. This text is published under Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license.

You are most welcome to read the pre-publication drafts of other sections of the Asia Internet History Vol. 3, and share your comments: https://sites.google.com/site/internethistoryasia/book3.

Preparations for the World Summit on the Information Society

The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) conferences organized by the United Nations in Geneva (2003) and Tunis (2005) initiated crucial platforms and networks, some temporary and some continued, for various non-governmental actors to intensively and periodically take part in the discussions of governance of Internet and various related activities towards the goals of inclusive development and human rights. Many of the civil society organizations taking part in the WSIS conferences, as well as the various regional and thematic preparatory meetings and seminars, had little prior experience in the topic of Internet governance. They were entering these conversations from various perspectives, such as local developmental interventions, human and cultural rights activism, freedom and diversity of media, and gender and social justice. With backgrounds in such forms of applied practice and theoretical frameworks, members of these civil society organizations often faced a difficult challenge in articulating their experiences, insights, positions, and suggestions in terms of the (then) emerging global discourse of Internet governance and that of information and communication technologies (ICTs) as instruments of development. At the WSIS: An Asian Response Meeting in 2002, Susanna George, (then) Executive Director of Isis International, Manila, succinctly expressed this challenge being faced by the members of civil society organizations:

For some feminist activists however, including myself, it has felt like trying to squeeze my concerns into a narrow definition of what gender concerns in ICTs are. I would like it to Cinderella’s ugly sister cutting off her toe to fit into the dainty slipper of gender concerns in ICTs. The development ball, it seems, can only accommodate some elements of what NGO activists, particularly those from the South, are concerned about in relation to new information and communications technologies. (George 2002)

Tiếp tục đọc “Civil Society Organisations and Internet Governance in Asia – Open Review” →