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 an Indian farmer uses sports to save girls from early marriage

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

devex.com

India is home to 223 million child brides — the world’s highest. India accounts for 1 in 3 of the world’s child brides, UNICEF data shows.

By Sanket Jain // 12 December 2023

Girls from more than 50 villages train under Terase, where they learn multiple sports, the most common being kabaddi. Photo by: Sanket Jain

When Pandurang Terase, a sugarcane and rice farmer from India’s Maharashtra state, failed to turn his passion for kabaddi into a career, he ventured on a mission to train rural girls in sports for free. He never envisioned his work would someday save thousands from early and child marriage. 

Every minute, 23 girls are married globally before they turn 18, according to the United Nations Population Fund. That’s over 12 million young women every year. So widespread is the problem that nearly 650 million women alive today became brides before turning 18 years old. India is home to 223 million child brides, the world’s highest. India accounts for one in three of the world’s child brides, UNICEF data shows.

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COP28 DELIVERS HISTORIC CONSENSUS IN DUBAI TO ACCELERATE CLIMATE ACTION

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COP28.com

  • “The world needed to find a new way. By following our North Star, we have found that path,” said COP28 President, Dr. Sultan Al Jaber during his closing speech, “We have worked very hard to secure a better future for our people and our planet. We should be proud of our historic achievement.”
  • COP28 has concluded with a final consensus that lays out an ambitious response to the Global Stocktake and puts forward a plan to close the gaps to 2030. It calls on Parties to transition away from fossil fuels to reach net zero, encourages them to submit economy-wide Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), includes a new specific target to triple renewables and double energy efficiency by 2030, and builds momentum behind a new architecture for climate finance.
  • The COP28 Presidency took bold and decisive steps to deliver beyond the negotiated text through its ‘Action Agenda,’ which spans the four pillars of the Paris Agreement: fast tracking a just and orderly energy transition; fixing climate finance to make it more available, affordable, and accessible; focusing on people, nature, lives and livelihoods; and fostering full inclusivity in climate action.
  • COP28 has mobilized over $85 billion in funding for climate action, secured a historic agreement on Loss and Damage, advanced the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA) and overseen breakthrough agreements on the energy transition.
  • This has been the most inclusive COP to-date, ensuring all voices could participate in the process.

Dubai, December 13, 2023

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Israel’s PM Netanyahu Bragged He Has America Wrapped Around His Finger

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“This isn’t about pro-Israel or anti-Israel, this guy (Netanyahu) is pro-war, he is anti-peace, …Netanyahu doesn’t want a peace deal, he didn’t it then, he doesn’t want it now…Netanyahu gets elected when there is war. It’s all about his personal interest. …He is never gonna make peace, he openly brags about it. The Gaza war isn’t accident. It’s exactly what Netanyahu wants, for it keeps him in political power.“

In the video, which is from 2001, Netanyahu — who reportedly did not know his speech was being recorded — speaks frankly in Hebrew about relations with the Clinton White House and the peace process. As noted in Haaretz, Netanyahu seems to boast of his knowledge of the US by saying, “I know what America is. America is a thing you can move very easily, move it in the right direction. They won’t get in their way.””*

Climate change impacts on seaports: A growing threat to sustainable trade and development

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UNCTAD.org

04 June 2021 Written by Regina Asariotis, Article No. 75 [UNCTAD Transport and Trade Facilitation Newsletter N°90 – Second Quarter 2021]

© Jan Hoffmann

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).  

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Một số vấn đề ứng phó với biến đổi khí hậu trong quy hoạch các đô thị ven biển Việt Nam

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

moc.gov.vn

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.

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COP28 Ends With Deal on Transition Away From Fossil Fuels

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

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
Standing ovation after COP28 President Sultan Al Jaber brokered an agreement to a commitment to transition away from fossil fuels.
Standing ovation after COP28 President Sultan Al Jaber brokered an agreement to a commitment to transition away from fossil fuels.Photographer: Nayla Razzouk/Bloomberg

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.

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Only half of young people able to identify correct definition of climate change – UNICEF, Gallup

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Unicef.org

Findings highlight urgent need to protect and invest in children, including in climate education, in decisions at COP28

06 December 2023

a child stands by a pool of flood water and plastic pollution.

 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.

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Tensions rise as two more boats with over 300 Rohingya land in Indonesia

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aljazeera.com

Since November, more than 1,500 refugees have arrived in Indonesia’s Aceh province, triggering anger among the locals.

Rohingya Indonesia
A Rohingya woman rests on a beach following her arrival in Blang Raya, Pidie, Aceh province, Indonesia [Reuters]

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.

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‘Heated’ debate on fossil fuels as COP28 winds down

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

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.

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Climate change adaptation commitments so far lacking at COP28

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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.

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Wars create opportunities for peaceful change: Will the Gaza war serve as a case in point?

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mei.edu

December 7, 2023 Elie Podeh

Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images

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

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