Chuyên mục: Biến đổi khí hậu – Climate change

China commits to share year-round water data with Mekong River Commission

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By Reuters   October 23, 2020 | 08:11 am GMT+7 vnexpressChina commits to share year-round water data with Mekong River CommissionA boat of rice in a canal in Hau Giang Province in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, March 13, 2020. Photo by VnExpress/Nguyet Nhi.

China on Thursday signed an agreement with the Mekong River Commission (MRC) to share year-round data on the flow of its portion of the vital waterway.

The move came amid concern that Chinese dams may be causing drought downstream in Southeast Asia.

A push for more data from China’s portion of the Mekong River – which Beijing calls the Lancang River – intensified this year after U.S. government criticism that 11 Chinese dams were “hoarding” water and hurting livelihoods downstream, an accusation Beijing denies.

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FOUR THINGS GOVERNMENTS CAN DO TO ATTRACT MORE RENEWABLE ENERGY INVESTMENT

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climateweeknyc.org

By Jakob Askou Bøss, Senior Vice President for Corporate Strategy and Stakeholder Relations, Ørsted and Jennifer Layke, Director of Global Energy Program, World Resources Institute

The technologies and the capital are available to accelerate the green energy transition, but the global transformation from fossil fuels to clean energy is not moving forward quickly enough. Governments need to adjust their institutional and regulatory framework to pave the way for the necessary private investments to get the job done.

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4 Questions About China’s New Climate Commitments

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WRI.org

Electric bus in Hangzhou, China
Electric bus in Hangzhou, China. Photo by Shankar S./Flickr

In his speech to the UN General Assembly on September 22, 2020, President Xi Jinping of China announced that China will scale up its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to tackling climate change by adopting more vigorous policies and measures in an effort to peak carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and reach carbon neutrality before 2060.

The announcement is among the most significant signs of progress concerning countries’ efforts to mitigate climate change since agreeing to the Paris Agreement in 2015. Further clarifications on the exact commitment will be needed, and it is likely that even more ambition will be needed in future. Here are four key questions and answers about this important development.

1. What Exactly Is New?

The announcement marks the first time that China has set a concrete long-term target of carbon neutrality. This means that by 2060, the country will either stop carbon dioxide emissions altogether, or — more likely — use various means to remove an equivalent amount of any remaining emissions.

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China Aims For Carbon Neutrality By 2060

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WRI.org
STATEMENT – September 22, 2020

WASHINGTON (September 22, 2020)— Today in remarks delivered before the United Nations General Assembly, President Xi Jinping made a surprise announcement that China aims to achieve carbon neutrality before 2060 and to peak carbon emissions before 2030. This is the first time Chinese leadership has made a commitment about reaching net zero emissions.

Following is a statement from Helen Mountford, Vice President, Climate and Economics, World Resources Institute:

“President Xi sent an extremely important signal today with his unexpected announcement that China will strive for carbon neutrality by 2060 and strengthen its national climate commitment including peaking emissions before 2030. The devil will be in the details and China should set more specific near-term targets and an earlier peaking date, but China’s direction of travel toward a zero-carbon future is coming into focus. Tiếp tục đọc “China Aims For Carbon Neutrality By 2060” →

Vietnam brings cement sector into new climate submission to the UN

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The southeast Asian nation has made slight improvements to its 2030 climate plan but still expects emissions to increase rapidly over the next decade

Bags of cement for export leaving the city of Can Tho, in southern Vietnam’s Mekong Delta region (Photo: Cong Thanh Group)

By 

Vietnam’s greenhouse gas emissions are set to grow significantly by 2030, under an updated climate plan submitted to the UN.

The country’s large cement sector is factored into the plan for the first time, which experts welcomed. But they said the overall target was not substantially more ambitious than the previous version.

Under the new plan, Vietnam committed to cut its emissions growth by 9% or nearly 84 million tonnes of CO2 by 2030 compared with business as usual projections, using a 2014 baseline. Emissions are still expected to grow by 844 million tonnes of CO2 during that time.

With international finance and support, Vietnam said it could increase its emissions cuts to 27% compared with business as usual, which would still see emissions grow by about 677 million tonnes by 2030. Tiếp tục đọc “Vietnam brings cement sector into new climate submission to the UN” →

Vietnam prepares to evacuate 500,000 people as Storm Noul nears

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vnexpress.net

By Nguyen Quy   September 16, 2020 | 05:30 pm GMT+7

Vietnam prepares to evacuate 500,000 people as Storm Noul nears

My Khe beach in Da Nang City, July 2020. Photo by VnExpress/Nguyen Dong.

With Storm Noul set to make landfall in central provinces Friday afternoon, Vietnamese authorities are preparing to evacuate half a million to safety.

As of Wednesday afternoon, the eye of the tropical storm lay around 680 km to the southeast of Vietnam’s Hoang Sa (Paracel) Islands off the central coast, packing winds of 70 kph.

On Wednesday, the storm is expected to move west-northwest at a speed of 15 kph and further intensify.

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Germany supplies equipment to monitor Mekong River dam impact

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By Viet Anh   September 16, 2020 | 10:02 am GMT+7 vnexpressGermany supplies equipment to monitor Mekong River dam impactsThe Xayaburi dam in the lower Mekong River in Laos. Photo by CK Power/Handout via AFP.

Germany has provided equipment to the Mekong River Commission to monitor the environmental impacts of two mainstream dams on the lower reaches of the Mekong River.

The equipment, worth around $600,000, meant to help monitor the impacts of Laos’s Xayaburi and Don Sahong dams, was handed over on Tuesday as part of the German government’s support for the MRC’s Joint Environment Monitoring of Mekong Mainstream Hydropower Projects (JEM) program, which is now in the pilot stage.

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South-east, Mekong Delta regions to prioritise transport infrastructure

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Chia sẻ | FaceBookTwitter Email Copy LinkInterested011/09/2020    06:59 GMT+7

Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung has urged localities in the south-east and Mekong Delta regions to develop transport infrastructure by diversifying the sources of and effectively using capital over the next five years.

 
South-east, Mekong Delta regions to prioritise transport infrastructure
Vam Cong Bridge across Hau River in the Mekong Delta. VNA/VNS Photo

Speaking at a conference on socio-economic development in the two regions, he called on them to lay out their objectives and priorities for public investment in 2021-25 to ensure “focused and effective investment.”

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ALMOST 10 MILLION CHILDREN MAY NEVER RETURN TO SCHOOL FOLLOWING COVID-19 LOCKDOWN

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Buba*, 12, Yobe, Nigeria

New report from Save the Children warns of ‘unprecedented global education emergency’.

    • World is facing a hidden education emergency.
    • COVID-19 leaves estimated $77 billion gap in education spending for world’s poorest children.
    • Children in 12 countries are at extremely high risk of dropping out of school forever.
    • In another 28 countries children are at moderate or high risk of not going back to school.
    • Girls are at increased exposure to gender-based violence and risk of child marriage and teen pregnancy during school closures.
    • Save the Children calls for increased funding of education, including conversion of debt liabilities into investment in children.

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Mekong Delta province declares state of emergency as waves erode embankment

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By Trung Dung   August 28, 2020 | 03:37 pm GMT+7

Mekong Delta province declares state of emergency as waves erode embankment

An embankment section in Tran Van Thoi District of Ca Mau Province in early August, 2020. Photo by VnExpress/Trung Dung.

With its coastal embankment threatened by collapse, Ca Mau Province is seeking urgent solutions to save residential areas and farmland.

The province entered a state of emergency Thursday to respond to any damage occurring as a three kilometer (1.86 miles) coastal embankment along its western coast nears the point of collapse due to wave impact.

Authorities have identified four sections as “especially threatened,” measuring 610 and 315 m each in U Minh District, and 1,900 m and 500 m each in Tran Van Thoi District.

“Those sections receive no forest protection. During extreme weather spells, waves would break directly against the embankment, putting it at great risk,” To Quoc Nam, deputy director of the province’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said.

He confirmed the department is looking into investment projects to help counter the situation.

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The growing power of hurricanes

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New York Times
Trung Nguyen boarded up his brother’s convenience store in Abbeville, La., on Wednesday.Kathleen Flynn/Reuters
Hurricane Laura shares something in common with both Hurricane Florence, a 2018 storm that killed 52 Americans, and Hurricane Katrina, which struck Louisiana 15 years ago this week. All three changed from more typical hurricanes into severe ones in just a day or two.
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Vietnam PM consents to accepting S.Korean ODA for key Mekong Delta road

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Thursday, August 20, 2020, 10:32 GMT+7 tuoitrenews

Vietnam PM consents to accepting S.Korean ODA for key Mekong Delta road
A map details the location of the future My An-Cao Lanh road in the road network of Vietnam’s Mekong Delta region. Graphic: Tuoi Tre

Vietnam’s prime minister has approved a proposal by the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Ministry of Finance to construct a key road in the Mekong Delta using official development assistance (ODA) loans from South Korea.

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THE US AND THE MEKONG REGION: COOPERATION FOR SUSTAINABLE AND INCLUSIVE ECONOMIC GROWTH

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By Satu Limaye, East West Center

HONOLULU (29 July 2020)—In recent years, relations with Southeast Asia have emerged as an important pillar of US engagement with the Indo-Pacific region. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is central to US foreign policy in the region, with a growing focus on the five countries bound together by the Mekong River—Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Fishing boats are unloaded on Tonle Sap Lake, which is fed by the Mekong River in Cambodia. Conservationists warn that dam construction on the Mekong could threaten the food supply of more than 40 million people who rely on fish from the river as an important source of protein. Photo: Jason South/Fairfax Media/Getty Images.

As they emerge from a tumultuous history, these countries must confront new elements of great-power competition even as their youthful populations push for economic growth and integration into the wider region and the world. Among other impacts, urbanization, infrastructure expansion, and climate change all affect the Mekong River, the natural resources along its banks, and the 240 million people who live in the region.

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Analysis: Vietnam’s leadership flex shows how to drive electricity reform

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Mongabay.com
Analysis by on 6 August 2020
  • Vietnam’s Communist Party leadership has instituted a top-down reform of the country’s electricity sector in response to the need to shift away from coal and its growing list of associated problems.
  • The country’s new energy strategy puts greater emphasis on renewables, including wind and solar, abandoning a decade-long commitment to investing in and subsidizing coal.
  • The move is also helped by recent technological developments that have made generating renewable power at scale more economically feasible than ever.

Dealing with climate change should be a no-brainer, right? To paraphrase Greta Thunberg, the science is done and only denial, ignorance and inaction remain. Or is that really all?
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Centenarian kiln kingdom a Mekong Delta cornerstone

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vnexpress.net

By Quynh Tran   August 4, 2020 | 07:30 pm GMT+7

A village in Vinh Long Province, boasting over a thousand historic kilns, is the largest brick manufacturer in the Mekong Delta.