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.
Climate change impacts on seaports: A growing threat to sustainable trade and development
04 June 2021 Written by Regina Asariotis, Article No. 75 [UNCTAD Transport and Trade Facilitation Newsletter N°90 – Second Quarter 2021]
Seaports are essential for global trade-led development, and for the ‘Blue Economy’. They provide access to global markets and supply-chains for all countries, and are integral to maritime transport, as well as fisheries, offshore energy development, and many economic activities in coastal zones. With over 80 % of world trade volume carried by sea – from port to port -, they are crucial infrastructure nodes that underpin global supply chains and are key to future trade and development prospects, particularly of developing States which currently account for around 60 % of goods loaded and unloaded globally. At the same time, ports are particularly exposed to various natural hazards, due to their locations along open coasts or in low-lying estuaries and deltas; their setting makes them susceptible to impacts of climatic hazards such as rising sea levels, storm surges, waves and winds, riverine and pluvial flooding, as well as tectonic events (e.g. tsunamis).
Tiếp tục đọc “Climate change impacts on seaports: A growing threat to sustainable trade and development”Một số vấn đề ứng phó với biến đổi khí hậu trong quy hoạch các đô thị ven biển Việt Nam
Việt Nam là một trong số những quốc gia chịu ảnh hưởng nặng nề nhất của biến đổi khí hậu (BĐKH) trên thế giới. Trong những năm gần đây, biến đổi khí hậu đã gây ra nhiều hiện tượng như lũ lụt, sạt lở đất, gió bão, nước biển dâng, xâm nhập mặn…với tần suất ngày càng cao, mức độ tàn phá ngày càng nặng nề hơn đối với môi trường, đời sống kinh tế – xã hội Việt Nam.
Với bờ biển dài (trên 3.200km) và diện tích đồng bằng ven biển rộng lớn (135.946km2), Việt Nam đã xây dựng được hơn 405 đô thị ven biển. Đó là các thành phố cảng, trung tâm kinh tế biển, các đô thị du lịch và thương mại, dịch vụ – đóng vai trò quan trọng trong sự phát triển kinh tế của Việt Nam. Biến đổi khí hậu tạo ra những thiệt hại về kinh tế – xã hội ở các đô thị ven biển nhiều hơn bất cứ nơi nào khác vì vậy quy hoạch đô thị khu vực này cần phải có giải pháp kịp thời về cấu trúc đô thị, sử dụng đất, tổ chức không gian môi trường, cơ sở hạ tầng, cảnh quan, … để đô thị phát triển bền vững và chống chịu, tự phục hồi trước những diễn biến bất thường của BĐKH. Bài viết giới thiệu những ảnh hưởng của BĐKH đối với hệ thống đô thị ven biển Việt Nam và một số giải pháp quy hoạch đô thị nhằm giảm nhẹ và thích ứng với các tác động của BĐKH.
1. Giới thiệu
Việt Nam có bờ biển dài, đồng bằng ven biển rộng là cái nôi để phát triển hệ thống đô thị ven biển đa dạng, phong phú trở thành những trung tâm kinh tế, du lịch và dịch vụ quan trọng, đóng góp to lớn cho sự phát triển kinh tế của Việt Nam. Là một trong số những quốc gia được đánh giá là bị ảnh hưởng nghiêm trọng nhất trên thế giới, Biến đổi khí hậu có ảnh hưởng sâu rộng đến mọi lĩnh vực của đời sống, kinh tế – xã hội và môi trường Việt Nam. Đặc biệt các đô thị ven biển Việt Nam hiện nay đang phải đối mặt với các thách thức lớn của BĐKH như hiện tượng nước biển dâng, xâm nhập mặn, lũ lụt, và thiên tai… làm giảm quỹ đất xây dựng, phá hoại hệ thống hạ tầng xã hội và hạ tầng kỹ thuật, suy giảm nguồn nước, xáo trộn và ảnh hưởng đến chất lượng cuộc sống, sinh kế của người dân đô thị. Trước những yêu cầu thực tế, Quy hoạch đô thị cần có những thay đổi về cách tiếp cận để góp phần giảm thiểu các tác động bất lợi của BĐKH, giúp các đô thị ven biển Việt Nam chuyển hóa, thích ứng và chống chịu được BĐKH.
Tiếp tục đọc “Một số vấn đề ứng phó với biến đổi khí hậu trong quy hoạch các đô thị ven biển Việt Nam”COP28 Ends With Deal on Transition Away From Fossil Fuels
bloomberg.com By Jennifer A Dlouhy, Jess Shankleman, and Laura Millan Updated on
- First time fossil fuels have made it to a global climate deal
- Steps needed to turn agreement into tangible actions: Al Jaber
The COP28 climate talks in Dubai ended in a deal that saw a commitment to transition away from all fossil fuels for the first time.
The president of this year’s UN-sponsored summit, the UAE’s Sultan Al Jaber, brokered an agreement that was strong enough for the US and European Union on the need to dramatically curb fossil fuel use while keeping Saudi Arabia and other oil producers on board.
The agreement calls for countries to quickly shift energy systems away from fossil fuels in a just and orderly fashion, qualifications that helped convince the skeptics. Under the deal, countries also are called to contribute to a global transition effort — rather than being outright compelled to make that shift on their own.
Tiếp tục đọc “COP28 Ends With Deal on Transition Away From Fossil Fuels”
Developing Countries Receiving the Most Loans from China
Only half of young people able to identify correct definition of climate change – UNICEF, Gallup
Unicef.org
Findings highlight urgent need to protect and invest in children, including in climate education, in decisions at COP28
06 December 2023
UNICEF/UNI390327/Wilander
NEW YORK/DUBAI, 7 December 2023 – Most children and young people say they have heard of climate change but only half understand what it is, according to a new UNICEF-Gallup poll, as world leaders gather at this year’s COP28.
Tiếp tục đọc “Only half of young people able to identify correct definition of climate change – UNICEF, Gallup”Tensions rise as two more boats with over 300 Rohingya land in Indonesia
Since November, more than 1,500 refugees have arrived in Indonesia’s Aceh province, triggering anger among the locals.
Published On 10 Dec 202310 Dec 2023
Over 300 Rohingya refugees have arrived on the coast of Aceh province in Indonesia after weeks of drifting across the sea from Bangladesh.
The emaciated survivors – children, women and men – told of running out of supplies and of fearing death at sea as they landed on the unwelcoming shores of the villages of Pidie and Aceh Besar in the pre-dawn hours of Sunday morning.
“The boat was sinking. We had no food or water left,” told Shahidul Islam, a 34-year-old survivor, saying he had left from a refugee camp in Bangladesh.
A group of 180 refugees arrived by boat at 3am local time (20:00 GMT on Saturday) on a beach in the Pidie regency of Aceh province.
The second boat carrying 135 refugees landed in neighbouring Aceh Besar regency hours later after being adrift at sea for more than a month, while a third boat is missing.
Tiếp tục đọc “Tensions rise as two more boats with over 300 Rohingya land in Indonesia”
‘Heated’ debate on fossil fuels as COP28 winds down
By Editor On Dec 11, 2023 Last updated Dec 11, 2023
By Vishani Ragobeer in Dubai
Fossils fuels- the main contributor to the climate crisis- were always going to be the hot topic at this year’s global climate talks in Dubai, COP28, with sweltering temperatures making 2023 the hottest year on record. But as the end of the conference draws nearer with a new draft agreement released, fiery debates have taken over the conference.
On Monday night (Dubai time), a new text for the Global Stocktake (GST) was released after negotiators from Guyana and other countries spent days hammering out how best to satisfy everyone.
The GST is a global inventory of sorts that shows how climate goals are unfolding. And the draft text said countries (called Parties) were called upon to take several actions that would reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Those emissions include carbon dioxide, a harmful gas produced when fossil fuels like oil and diesel are burnt. When that gas is produced, it goes into the atmosphere and leads to global warming.
And countries were told that they could take actions ranging from tripling renewable energy use (that is, using more environmentally-friendly energy sources like solar energy or hydropower) to reduce both the production and use of fossil fuels in a “just orderly and equitable” manner.
Tiếp tục đọc “‘Heated’ debate on fossil fuels as COP28 winds down”
Gaza’s civilians have nowhere safe to flee amid Israel’s relentless bombing
In the southern city of Khan Younis, Israeli bombs and tanks are pushing people out. They have been told to flee elsewhere for safety. But civilians say there are no safe places left in Gaza.
Climate change adaptation commitments so far lacking at COP28
World Dec 8, 2023 6:13 PM EST
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — As United Nations climate talks enter their second week, negotiators who are largely focused on how to curb climate change have another thing on their plates: how to adapt to the warming that’s already here.
Discussions for what’s known as the Global Goal on Adaptation — a commitment made in the 2015 Paris Agreement to ramp up the world’s capacity to cope with climate-fueled extreme weather — are being overshadowed by negotiations on how the world is going to slash the use of fossil fuels, causing frustration among some climate campaigners in the most vulnerable countries.
READ MORE: At COP28, pageantry is over and negotiations get intense
Officials and activists from climate-vulnerable nations are pushing for more money to help them deal with scorching temperatures, punishing droughts and deluges and strengthening storms made worse by global warming. Major fossil fuel-emitting countries need to pay vulnerable, developing countries being battered by these events, experts and officials say, to help them avoid catastrophic humanitarian and economic losses.
Tiếp tục đọc “Climate change adaptation commitments so far lacking at COP28”Wars create opportunities for peaceful change: Will the Gaza war serve as a case in point?
December 7, 2023 Elie Podeh
History teaches us that wars, unfortunate as they are, can sometimes create opportunities for major changes that were previously unthinkable, improbable, or impossible. World War I, World War II, the First Gulf War, and many other conflagrations led to formidable political, military, and economic changes. Some of these conflicts and their immediate consequences laid the ground for future wars (like the punitive Versailles peace treaty following World War I), but others gave rise to peaceful arrangements (like the multilateral political and economic institutions as well as security alliance systems that emerged after World War II). The history of the Arab-Israeli conflict is no different. Indeed, all the major Israeli-Arab wars, as well as the many violent Israeli-Palestinian clashes, offered opportunities for change. Some were seized; others were squandered.
When a chain of circumstances produces a favorable opportunity, a liminal period is created, which makes it possible to achieve a breakthrough in a deadlocked conflict. The opportunity may arise from a military or political event that significantly affects the status quo. Particularly when this event causes a traumatic experience affecting both leadership and society, the likelihood of significant change occurring increases. If this moment — or opportunity — is not seized, it is likely to disappear.
While war is still raging in Gaza following Hamas’ brutal Oct. 7 attack on Israel, it nonetheless arguably offers an opportunity for a profound shift in the modalities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which looked unlikely in the period preceding the war. Based on analysis of several examples from the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, one can assert that in order to seize the opportunity, both sides will need legitimate leaderships that enjoy international support and are willing and determined to make concessions and build trust.
Opportunities seized
Tiếp tục đọc “Wars create opportunities for peaceful change: Will the Gaza war serve as a case in point?”The Responsibility to Protect populations from genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing
WHAT IS R2P?
The Responsibility to Protect populations from genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing has emerged as an important global principle since the adoption of the UN World Summit Outcome Document in 2005.
Responsibility to Protect
The Responsibility to Protect – known as R2P – is an international norm that seeks to ensure that the international community never again fails to halt the mass atrocity crimes of genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity. The concept emerged in response to the failure of the international community to adequately respond to mass atrocities committed in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia during the 1990s. The International Committee on Intervention and State Sovereignty developed the concept of R2P during 2001.
The Responsibility to Protect was unanimously adopted in 2005 at the UN World Summit, the largest gathering of Heads of State and Government in history. It is articulated in paragraphs 138 and 139 of the World Summit Outcome Document:
World Summit Outcome Document
What were the death tolls from pandemics in history?
Pandemics have killed millions of people throughout history. How many deaths were caused by different pandemics, and how have researchers estimated their death tolls?
By: Saloni Dattani December 7, 2023
COVID-19 has brought the reality of pandemics to the forefront of public consciousness. But pandemics have afflicted humanity for millennia. Time and again, people faced outbreaks of diseases – including influenza, cholera, bubonic plague, smallpox, and measles – that spread far and caused death and devastation.
Our ancestors were largely powerless against these diseases and unable to evaluate their true toll on the population. Without good record-keeping of the number of cases and deaths, the impact of outbreaks was underrecognized or even forgotten. The result is that we tend to underestimate the frequency and severity of pandemics in history.
Tiếp tục đọc “What were the death tolls from pandemics in history?”Gaza: UN chief invokes ‘most powerful tool’ Article 99, in bid for humanitarian ceasefire
UN Steps Up Pressure for Gaza Cease-Fire With Strongest Move Since 1971
United Nations chief Antonio Guterres, in a letter to the Security Council, invoked the use of Article 99 of the Charter of the UN over the war in Gaza. Article 99 states that “the Secretary-General may bring to the attention of the Security Council any matter which in his opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security,” according to Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres used a rarely exercised power to warn the Security Council on Wednesday of an impending “humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza and urged its members to demand an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. The UN Security Council – of which most members are favourable to a ceasefire – is likely to meet Friday to discuss the matte
© UNRWA/Ashraf Amra People search for their belongings in the rubble in the Nuseirat refugee camp in Gaza
Invoking a rarely used article of the UN Charter, Secretary-General António Guterres on Wednesday called on the Security Council to “press to avert a humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza and unite in a call for a full humanitarian ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militants.
In a letter to the Council, Mr. Guterres invoked Article 99, contained in Chapter XV of the Charter.
This says that the UN chief “may bring to attention of the Security Council any matter which in his opinion, may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security.”
In a statement to journalists along with the letter, UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said that this was the first time Mr. Guterres had felt compelled to invoke Chapter 99, since taking office in 2017.
Scale of loss
Trees alone will not save the world
But better markets and better monitoring will let them do more
“Everything you see, as far as the eye can see, belongs to us,” says David Beleznay. “Us” is Mosaic, a forest-management company that looks after the upkeep and logging of much of Vancouver Island; Mr Beleznay is its director of climate and watersheds. “As far as the eye can see” takes in a long, deep valley whose forested flanks rise to the rocky top of Mount Arrowsmith. Towering evergreens—Douglas fir, cedar, hemlock—drape the island from its central peaks to the water’s rocky edge.
This drapery is, though, a bit patchy in places. Directly behind Mr Beleznay’s parked pickup are some “polygons”, as the industry calls them, where the trees have been clear-cut, leaving behind jumbled soil, stumps and woody debris; tiny saplings poke through it higgledy-piggledy. Mosaic has an eye to water quality in forest streams, to maintaining biodiversity, to being a partner to the island’s first nations. But the forest it manages is also the basis of a timber business.
CVD 