Conversations on Vietnam Development
Disease surveillance by the WHO shows mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue fever are rising sharply.
Published On 22 Feb 202322 Feb 2023
Climate change forecasters have warned for years that the warmer and wetter world created by the climate crisis will drive a surge in mosquito-borne diseases, such as malaria and dengue fever.
Experts say that in the Pacific Islands, such predictions are now becoming a reality.
February 14, 2023 by James Kneebone
The security of supply of gas has been the hottest topic of the last 12 months since Russia invaded Ukraine. James Kneebone at the Florence School of Regulation (FSR) has written an explainer that lays out the EU’s history of dealing with energy security, going back to the 1990s. Because the EU has a single market for natural gas and widely shared value chains (pipelines, LNG terminals, storage, etc.), impacts are felt across the bloc. But that interconnectedness is also a strength and the basis for ensuring security across the region. Kneebone also details the updated regulations that are behind the drive to build in new capacity and obligations for solidarity between Member States. It means that today, the coordination and cooperation for allocating resources and delivering better energy security are stronger than ever.
The European Environment Agency (EEA) define security of energy supply as “…the availability of energy at all times in various forms, in sufficient quantities, and at reasonable and/or affordable prices.” In the context of gas security of supply specifically, the concept refers to the provision of gaseous energy, namely ‘natural gas’[1].
Tiếp tục đọc “Gas: a history of Energy Security in the EU. And what’s next post-Russia?”
Liên Hợp Quốc (LHQ) vừa công bố Báo cáo Toàn cầu lần thứ 7 về nạn buôn người, trong đó ghi nhận việc liên quan đến biến đổi khí hậu và xung đột tiếp diễn tại Ukraine khiến vấn nạn buôn người thêm trầm trọng.
Theo báo cáo, trong khi chưa có một phân tích toàn cầu có hệ thống về tác động của biến đổi khí hậu đối với nạn buôn người, thì các nghiên cứu cấp độ cộng đồng ở nhiều khu vực khác nhau trên thế giới chỉ ra rằng “các thảm họa do thời tiết gây ra là nguyên nhân gốc rễ của nạn buôn người”. Báo cáo do Văn phòng Liên Hợp Quốc về chống Ma túy và Tội phạm (UNODC) thực hiện dựa trên dữ liệu từ 141 quốc gia, được thu thập từ năm 2017 đến năm 2020, và phân tích 800 vụ xét xử tại tòa án.
Báo cáo cho biết tác động của biến đổi khí hậu đã dẫn đến ảnh hưởng “ở nhiều cấp độ” đối với hoạt động nông nghiệp, đánh bắt cá và đặc biệt với các cộng đồng nghèo khác chủ yếu dựa vào khai thác tài nguyên thiên nhiên để kiếm sống.
Trong một cuộc họp báo, tác giả chính của nghiên cứu Fabrizio Sarrica giải thích, trong bối cảnh các cuộc khủng hoảng xảy ra chồng chéo, điều kiện sống khó khăn buộc nhiều người phải xa rời cộng đồng của họ, khiến họ dễ dàng trở thành mục tiêu của những kẻ buôn người. Chỉ riêng trong năm 2021, hơn 23,7 triệu người đã phải di dời do các thảm họa liên quan đến khí hậu trong nước, trong khi nhiều người chọn di cư đến các quốc gia khác.
Theo báo cáo của LHQ, khi điều kiện sống tại các khu vực trên thế giới ngày càng sa sút, hàng triệu người sẽ phải đối mặt với nguy cơ bị lạm dụng và bóc lột dọc các tuyến đường di cư.
UNODC lưu ý rằng tình trạng gia tăng các trường hợp buôn người đã được ghi nhận ở Bangladesh và Philippines, sau khi các cơn bão và lốc xoáy tàn phá khiến hàng triệu người phải di dời. Hạn hán và lũ lụt ở Ghana và vùng Carribean – nơi hứng chịu bão và mực nước biển dâng cao – cũng buộc nhiều người phải di cư.
Tiếp tục đọc “Báo động nạn buôn người gia tăng trên toàn cầu do biến đổi khí hậu và xung đột”
Climate change and modern slavery are linked closely together in a vicious circle.
Climate-induced disaster, environmental degradation and growing scarcity of resources are affecting many communities, driving millions of people into poverty and forcing many to migrate in search of work, food or safety. In many cases, victims of the climate emergency will be left more vulnerable to forms of modern slavery, including human trafficking, forced labour and child slavery.
Three of the ways that climate change and modern slavery are linked:
- When people are forced to migrate, they face greater risks of human trafficking and forced labour. People who lose their livelihoods, income and ties to their community are often made vulnerable to exploitation, and in the worst cases, modern slavery, as they are forced to migrate. By 2050, the World Bank estimates that more than 143 million people will have been forced from their homes in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and Latin America because of climate change
- The same industries that drive climate change leave people vulnerable to forced migration. Extractive industries and agricultural businesses in particular contribute to the emissions that drive climate change, while also profoundly damaging the land and water that ordinary people rely upon. This pushes many more people into poverty and forces them to leave their homes and communities, making them more vulnerable to people traffickers and at risk of slavery
- Many victims of the climate emergency are exploited by businesses that contribute to the problem. Many of the people forced into migration by the climate emergency find themselves trafficked into forced labour, some within the very industries that are degrading the environment – completing a vicious circle in which climate change drives, and is driven by, modern slavery
Tiếp tục đọc “Climate change and modern slavery are linked:”
NOAA’s National Estuarine Research Reserves and their partners are working to make wetlands conservation and restoration profitable while lessening greenhouse gas emissions through blue carbon financial markets. These markets balance projects that feature heat-trapping emissions with contributions that take carbon out of the atmosphere. Efforts thus far have produced the first-ever U.S. guide that makes salt marsh restoration eligible for international carbon markets; research that documents carbon storage capabilities in the marsh; workshops and school curricula on the topic; and newsletters and technical assistance.
Something that has a significant effect on our daily lives and is stored within the largest system of water on our planet must be a household name, right? Not necessarily. Have you ever heard of blue carbon? Chances are the answer is no, but perhaps you know more than you realize.
Tiếp tục đọc “What is Blue Carbon?”Big Oil’s Big Lies: How the industry denied global warming – Part 1 | People and Power
Big Oil’s Big Lies: How the industry denied global warming – Part 2 | People and Power
Al Jazeera English – 9-2-2023
More than 40 years ago, the world’s largest and most profitable oil companies began to understand the effects their products were having on our climate. Their own scientific research told them so – well before it became common knowledge.
But for the next four decades – time we could have better spent transitioning to greener forms of energy – they sought to discredit and downplay evidence of global warming and the calamities it would lead to; wildfires, rising sea levels, extreme storms and much else besides. Tiếp tục đọc “Big Oil’s Big Lies: How the industry denied global warming – 2 parts”
Ô nhiễm môi trường và biến đổi khí hậu khiến cơn khát “giọt nước, giọt vàng” xuất hiện thường xuyên ở nhiều vùng đất, qua đó châm ngòi cho những xung đột nguồn nước.
Một tương lai ngày càng khát
Chảy qua hai xã cạnh nhau là Đại Đồng và Đại Quang, huyện Đại Lộc (tỉnh Quảng Nam), suối Mơ và suối Thơ không chỉ có vẻ đẹp nguyên sơ thu hút nhiều du khách mà còn là nguồn cấp nước quan trọng cho người dân nơi đây. Tuy nhiên, cuộc sống xoay quanh hai con suối không thơ mộng như cái tên của nó: “Hầu như năm nào ở đây cũng xảy ra xung đột nghiêm trọng vào mùa khô do khan hiếm nước. Cả hai xã đều cho rằng nguồn nước không được quản lý và phân bổ công bằng. Xung đột vẫn diễn ra hằng năm và vẫn chưa tìm được biện pháp phù hợp để giải quyết vấn đề”, PGS.TS. Huỳnh Văn Chương, Chủ tịch Hội đồng Đại học Huế, kể lại sau chuyến khảo sát về tình trạng tranh chấp nước ở khu vực này vào năm 2019.
*Nord Stream is a network of natural gas pipelines run under the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany
‘Colossal amount’ of leaked methane, twice initial estimates, is equivalent to third of Denmark’s annual CO2 emissions or 1.3m cars
Seascape: the state of our oceans is supported by
Scientists fear methane erupting from the burst Nord Stream pipelines into the Baltic Sea could be one of the worst natural gas leaks ever and pose significant climate risks.
Neither of the two breached Nord Stream pipelines, which run between Russia and Germany, was operational, but both contained natural gas. This mostly consists of methane – a greenhouse gas that is the biggest cause of climate heating after carbon dioxide.
The quintessential image of a river you might recognise from post cards and paintings – nice and straight with a tidy riverbank – is not actually how it is supposed to look. It’s the result of centuries of industrial and agricultural development. And it’s become a problem, exacerbating the impact of both extreme flooding and extreme drought. Josh Toussaint-Strauss looks into how so many rivers ended up this way, and how river restoration is helping to reestablish biodiversity and combat some of the effects of the climate crisis
‘This is what a river should look like’: Dutch rewilding project turns back the clock 500 years
‘We make nature here’: pioneering Dutch project repairs image after outcry over starving animals
Josh Toussaint-Strauss Ali Assaf Joseph Pierce Nick Hildred Ryan Baxter, Source: The Guardian
By Pamela Constable and Shaiq Hussain January 24, 2023 at 4:39 a.m. EST
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Three weeks ago, Pakistani authorities ordered all markets, restaurants and shopping malls to close early, part of an emergency plan to conserve energy as the country of 220 million struggled to make overdue payments on energy imports and stave off a full-fledged economic collapse.
But the measures were too little, too late. On Monday morning, the country’s overburdened electrical system collapsed in a rolling wave of blackouts that began in the desert provinces of Baluchistan and Sindh but quickly spread to nearly the entire country, including the densely crowded cities of Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi.
Tiếp tục đọc “Pakistan’s nationwide power cuts highlight escalating economic crisis”
What started as a sharp post-pandemic rise in energy prices in mid-2020 has turned into a full-blown global energy crisis. How is this affecting the political stability of countries?
17 January 2023 – by Heba Hashem
Last updated on 24 January 2023
The world is going through a global energy crisis. Fuel costs affect many parts of daily life, including energy for heating and lighting, individual travel and commodities transportation.
The world is now facing a cost-of-living catastrophe. Millions of households are struggling to cover basic needs after energy prices spiked to levels not seen in decades.
Actually, there is a global energy crisis. From Indonesia to the UK and Peru, people across the globe have taken their anger to the streets. As many as 92 countries witnessed protests against high fuel prices between January and September 2022. These include developed European countries like France, Spain and the UK.
Tiếp tục đọc “The Global Energy Crisis 2021-2023 and Political Upheaval: Could It Get Worse?”
Scientists ‘shocked’ by rate of change as rapid sea-ice melt drives absorption of CO2 – with ‘huge implications’ for Arctic sea life
Acidification of the western Arctic Ocean is happening three to four times faster than in other ocean basins, a new study has found.
The ocean, which absorbs a third of all of the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, has grown more acidic because of fossil fuel use. Rapid loss of sea ice in the Arctic region over the past three decades has accelerated the rate of long-term acidification, according to the study, published in Science on Thursday.
Tiếp tục đọc “Arctic Ocean acidifying up to four times as fast as other oceans, study finds”
Analysis by Hilary Whiteman, CNN
Updated 7:33 AM EST, Thu January 19, 2023
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern delivers her victory speech after being re-elected in a historic landslide win on October 17, 2020.Lynn Grieveson/Newsroom/Getty ImagesCNN —
Burnout is real – and it’s nothing to be ashamed of. That’s the conclusion trailblazing New Zealand leader Jacinda Ardern seems to have reached after almost six brutal years in office.
Tiếp tục đọc “Jacinda Ardern’s resignation shows burnout is real – and it’s nothing to be ashamed of”
Farmers harvest rice in Thailand’s northern Nan province. PHOTO: Paritta Wangkiat
mekong eye – By Phafan Nokaeo, Tran Nguyen and Sao Phal Niseiy
26 September 2022 at 8:25
Rising fertilizer costs decimate poor Mekong farmers’ livelihoods despite their vital role in feeding millions.
BANGKOK, THAILAND ― Skyrocketing prices for fertilizers and agricultural production has pushed farmers in the Mekong region into severe debt and poverty.
Many have been forced to abandon their farms or have been unable to pay their debts and have lost their land, despite their roles in ensuring food security for millions of people.
“This is the worst year for farmers. Everything is more expensive, except rice prices, and they keep dropping,” said Prasert Tangthong, 58, a farmer with a small holding in Sing Buri province in central Thailand.
Tiếp tục đọc “Mekong farmers struggle as fertilizer prices rise”
CVD 