Tôi gặp vũng nước đọng bên rìa đám ruộng, rộng chừng chiếc đệm, khi đi ngang cánh đồng lúa chín ở miệt Láng Linh (huyện Châu Phú, An Giang) vài hôm trước.
Trước đây, vũng nước trên ruộng lúa sắp thu hoạch sẽ nhung nhúc cá – những con cá đã sống mấy tháng trời trên mảnh ruộng, lúc người ta xả nước để chuẩn bị thu hoạch lúa, chúng sẽ bị lùa lại trong các vũng nước đọng. Đa phần là cá rô đồng, cá sặc, cá lóc; móc sâu xuống bùn một chút là có cá chạch, lươn.
11 February 2022 at 10:10 (Updated on 25 April 2022 at 14:37)
Data on agricultural, hydropower, saltwater intrusion and rainfall patterns in Vietnam Mekong Delta explains where the country’s food comes from, why it’s disappearing and what can be done about it.
The fertile Mekong Delta is a crucial region for Vietnam’s continued food and economic security but a variety of factors have wreaked havoc on how Vietnam grows food, catches fish and ultimately survives a radically changing environment. Here, reporters analyze 20 years of data on agricultural, hydropower, saltwater intrusion and rainfall patterns in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta (VMD) to explain where the country’s food comes from, why it’s disappearing and what can be done about it.
1. Disappearing waters
Vietnam’s flood plains are disappearing, and fish, rice and people along with it. The flood peak in Tan Chau and Chau Doc in 2020 is only about 60% of that in 2002. From now on, VMD will have to wait from 50 to 100 years to have a big flood season. Within 15 years, the amount of fish caught in An Giang has plummeted by two-thirds.
Những hoạt động này nhằm giúp người học tiếng Anh và học ngoại ngữ nói tốt hơn.
Khi ở trong những lớp học ngoại ngữ, hoặc cụ thể lớp học tiếng Anh, có bao giờ bạn đưa ra câu hỏi và câu trả lời chỉ là một sự im lặng hoàn toàn và những ánh mắt trống rỗng. Đó là một vấn đề phổ biến – hầu như mọi giáo viên đều có khó khăn khi khuyến khích học sinh nói trong lớp học ngoại ngữ.
Học sinh có thể có một nỗi lo sợ rất sâu nếu mắc lỗi hoặc có thể chỉ là sự ngại ngùng kể cả khi nói bằng tiếng mẹ đẻ. Cho dù lý do là gì, dưới đây là danh sách của một vài hoạt động thú vị giúp cho học sinh nói khi học ngoại ngữ. Danh sách này phù hợp hơn cho những học sinh có trình độ khá trở lên.
12 cách để người học ngoại ngữ trò chuyện.
Ai đang nói sự thật?
Để cho mỗi học sinh viết vào một mẩu giấy 3 điều thực tế về bản thân mà không ai trong lớp biết. Nhớ rằng mỗi học sinh đều ghi tên của mình ở trong giấy. Tập hợp lại các tờ giấy và mời 3 học sinh lên phía trước phòng học. Đọc to một điều đúng với một trong 3 học sinh này.
Cả 3 học sinh đều xác nhận điều đó là đúng với mình, và sau đó cả lớp sẽ tiến hành chất vấn để xác định xem ai nói thật và ai nói xạo. Mỗi học sinh được cho phép hỏi một câu hỏi cho một trong 3 học sinh. Sau một vòng hỏi, mọi người sẽ đoán ai là người nói thật.
Các kiểu trò chơi “Cấm kị – Taboo”:
Cách 1, tạo một Powerpoint trình bày một danh từ trên mỗi slide. Để cho một học sinh lên trước lớp và ngồi quay lưng lại với PowerPoint. Những học sinh còn lại giải thích về từ ở trên slides và học sinh ở phía trước sẽ đoán ra từ đó.
The world may be facing a devastating “hidden” collapse in insect species due to the twin threats of climate change and habitat loss.
UCL’s Centre for Biodiversity & Environment Research has carried out one of the largest-ever assessments of insect declines around the world – assessing three-quarters of a million samples from around 6,000 sites.
The new study, published in Nature, finds that climate-stressed farmland possesses only half the number of insects, on average, and 25% fewer insect species than areas of natural habitat.
Insect declines are greatest in high-intensity farmland areas within tropical countries – where the combined effects of climate change and habitat loss are experienced most profoundly.
The majority of the world’s estimated 5.5 million species are thought to live in these regions – meaning the planet’s greatest abundances of insect life may be suffering collapses without us even realising.
Lowering the intensity of farming by using fewer chemicals, having a greater diversity of crops and preserving some natural habitat can mitigate the negative effects of habitat loss and climate change on insects.
Considering the choices we make as consumers – such as buying shade-grown coffee or cocoa – could also help protect insects and other creatures in the world’s most climate-vulnerable regions.
The first Earth Day was in 1970. What’s changed since? Our population has doubled. We’re emitting 2.6 times more CO2. Sea levels have risen 12 centimeters
Quang Kim, Viet Nam — The villagers of the Giay ethnic minority are often at the mercy of the weather, so UN Women is helping them avert losses in their main livelihoods of farming and raising chickens and fish.
Quang Kim, a commune in Ta Trang village near the capital of Lao Cai province in northern Viet Nam, is often hit by flash floods and landslides during the storm season.
Quang Kim, shown here on 6 April 6, 2021 is always at high risk of flooding. Photo: UN Women/Thao Hoang
“The income of my family depends much on planting rice and selling chicken and fish, but all were buried by the flood in October last year,” said Ho Thi Nhung, 38, who lives here with her husband and two sons. “In recent years the weather has become more unpredictable and extreme, and more rains make the chickens easily get sick and die. … Every six months I raised around 100 chickens, but more than half of them could not survive.”
There’s good news and bad news for forests. Over the last 10 years, satellite imagery and other remote sensing technologies have revolutionized our ability to monitor and understand the causes of forest loss.
The bad news is that deforestation data spanning the last two decades reveals a persistent hemorrhaging of the world’s most valuable terrestrial ecosystems — and we’re not doing enough to stop the bleeding.
What do trends in forest loss tell us?
Global tree cover loss trends show that in the 21st century, by far the most deforestation — meaning when forests are permanently converted to other land uses — is occurring in the tropics. We now have two decades of data on the loss of primary tropical forests, and it paints a sobering picture: stubbornly persistent annual losses hovering between 3 and 4 million hectares each year, punctuated by spikes associated with major fires.
The main direct cause of tropical forest loss is expansion of commercial agriculture, augmented in different regions to varying degree by clearing for small-scale agriculture, extractive activities, and roads and other infrastructure, with complex linkages among them. Even lockdowns associated with the coronavirus pandemic didn’t appear to disrupt those patterns in any consistent way; in fact, losses ticked up in 2020 compared to the previous year.
This paper discusses the evolving rules and policies of wholesale markets that can create barriers to local governments’ achievement of an effective and rapid clean energy transition. The report reviews the current barriers associated with transmission, market rules, and stakeholder processes across these markets while considering how these barriers affect local government clean energy and decarbonization goals, and the role of effective engagement in addressing these barriers.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has already driven millions of people from their homes and left many without water, power and food. As hostilities continue, the humanitarian and economic consequences will expand far beyond the region, putting potentially millions of people around the world at risk of hunger.
And these aren’t just short-term threats. The decisions that farmers and policymakers make over the next few weeks and months will have long-term consequences for the future of the world’s food systems. The right responses can keep the world on track for a sustainable food future. The wrong ones will worsen food insecurity and fuel climate change.
Ukrainian refugees escape to the border town of Medyka, Poland. Millions of Ukrainian residents have fled their homes in recent weeks, due to the Russian invasion. Photo by Damian Pankowiec/Shutterstock
Tropical forests create cloud cover that reflects sunlight and cools the air.Credit: Thomas Marent/Minden Pictures
Tropical forests have a crucial role in cooling Earth’s surface by extracting carbon dioxide from the air. But only two-thirds of their cooling power comes from their ability to suck in CO2 and store it, according to a study1. The other one-third comes from their ability to create clouds, humidify the air and release cooling chemicals.
This is a larger contribution than expected for these ‘biophysical effects’ says Bronson Griscom, a forest climate scientist at the non-profit environmental organization Conservation International, headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. “For a while now, we’ve assumed that carbon dioxide alone is telling us essentially all we need to know about forest–climate interactions,” he says. But this study confirms that tropical forests have other significant ways of plugging into the climate system, he says.
The Ukraine war is complicating the calculus of China’s energy security and the prospect of a new energy deal with Russia
Can Beijing afford to be close to a Moscow that is increasingly politically and economically isolated?
Snow covers sections of connected pipework at the Gazprom PJSC Atamanskaya compressor station, part of the Power Of Siberia gas pipeline extending to China, near Svobodny, in the Amur region, Russia, in 2019. Photo: Bloomberg
Two recent developments reveal the possibility of a new energy agreement between China and Russia. First, Russian gas giant Gazprom PJSC announced a contract to design the Soyuz Vostok pipeline across Mongolia towards China. Second, Beijing is reported to be discussing with its state-owned companies opportunities to buy stakes in Russian energy companies, and is also looking at a Power of Siberia 2 pipeline to China.
With the exit of international energy companies from Russia following its invasion of Ukraine, Germany’s decision to halt the certification process of the Kremlin-backed Nord Stream 2 pipeline, and rounds of sanctions on Russia, there are certainly new opportunities for the Chinese government and companies to strengthen their position in the Russian market.
However, even as domestic, regional and global factors may push China towards a new energy deal with Russia, Beijing could also face a range of challenges.
Firstly, Beijing’s ambition to be carbon-neutral by 2060 and replace much coal with gas is one of the most important domestic factors prompting China to further improve its relations with Russia.
Russian gas exports – whether liquefied natural gas or pipeline gas delivered through the original Power of Siberia, for example – would help China reduce greenhouse gas emissions as the country makes a green transition.
Secondly, the withdrawal of Western energy companies such as BP and Shell from Russia due to the Ukraine war creates opportunities for Chinese energy companies, especially state-owned ones, to invest in Russia and diversify their portfolio.
Thirdly, while China also imports gas from Turkmenistan, Russian gas is one of the cheapest options for Chinese consumers, making a new energy deal with Russia that much more attractive.
However, there could also be obstacles to such a deal. One problem could be the political and economic uncertainties now looming over Russia; the deterioration of the Russian business environment under current sanctions might discourage Chinese companies from investing in Russia.
Particularly, sanctions led by Washington seem to inspire caution in Beijing and Chinese companies. For example, the state-run Sinopec Group recently suspended talks about a major petrochemical investment and a gas marketing venture in Russia, apparently heeding a government call to tread carefully with Russian assets.
“And yet, just when the climate scientists and governments across the eight Arctic states should be working together to understand and address the climate crisis, Russia’s war on Ukraine has forced the Arctic Council, an intergovernmental group of Arctic states and Arctic Indigenous Peoples, to suspend their joint activities in protest of Russia’s unprovoked aggression.“
The Working Group II contribution to the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report assesses the impacts of climate change, looking at ecosystems, biodiversity, and human communities at global and regional levels. It also reviews vulnerabilities and the capacities and limits of the natural world and human societies to adapt to climate change.
Summary for Policymakers
The Summary for Policymakers (SPM) provides a high-level summary of the key findings of the Working Group II Report and is approved by the IPCC member governments line by line.
The Technical Summary (TS) provides extended summary of key findings and serves as a link between the comprehensive assessment of the Working Group II Report and the concise SPM.
The 18 Chapters and 7 Cross-Chapter Papers of the Working Group II Report assess the impacts of climate change on nature and humanity, and their capacities and limits for adaptation.
Đồng bằng sông Cửu Long thiếu nước phục vụ sinh hoạt và sản xuất trầm trọng. Ảnh từ www.moitruongvadothi.vn.
1. Bối cảnh
Đồng bằng sông Cửu Long (ĐBSCL) của Việt Nam là đồng bằng lớn thứ ba trên Trái Đất, là nơi sinh sống của gần 18 triệu người với sinh kế chủ yếu là sản xuất nông nghiệp và nuôi trồng thủy sản. Được coi là “Vựa lúa” của Việt Nam, ĐBSCL đóng góp hơn một nửa tổng sản lượng gạo của cả nước và 95% sản lượng gạo xuất khẩu, góp phần đưa Việt Nam trở thành quốc gia xuất khẩu gạo lớn thứ ba thế giới. Khu vực này cũng đóng góp 70% sản lượng trái cây và hơn 60% sản lượng thủy sản xuất khẩu của cả nước.1
Lake Baikal, Siberia, Russia (Photo by 
CVD 