Chuyên mục: Biến đổi khí hậu – Climate change

This Buddhist Monk Is An Unsung Hero In The World’s Climate Fight

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này
 01/22/2016 04:04 pm ET
  • Jo ConfinoExecutive Editor, Impact & Innovation, The Huffington Post

The architect of the historic Paris climate negotiations credits the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh with helping broker the deal.

huffingtonpost – DAVOS, SWITZERLAND — One of the guiding forces behind the scenes of theParis climate agreement is an 89-year-old Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk.

Christiana Figueres, who led the climate talks, has credited Thich Nhat Hanh with having played a pivotal role in helping her to develop the strength, wisdom and compassion needed to forge the unprecedented deal backed by 196 countries.

Figueres, the executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, says the teachings of Thay, as he is known to his hundreds of thousands of followers around the world, “literally fell into my lap” when she was going through a deep personal crisis three years ago.

She says the Buddhist philosophy of Thay, who is currently recovering from a serious stroke, helped her to deal with the crisis while also allowing her to maintain her focus on the climate talks.

CYRUS MCCRIMMON VIA GETTY IMAGES
Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh.

Figueres said she realized that “I have to have something here, because otherwise I can’t deal with this and do my job, and it was very clear to me that there was no way that I could take a single day off,” she told The Huffington Post this week at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland.

“This has been a six-year marathon with no rest in between,” she said. “I just really needed something to buttress me, and I don’t think that I would have had the inner stamina, the depth of optimism, the depth of commitment, the depth of the inspiration if I had not been accompanied by the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh.” Tiếp tục đọc “This Buddhist Monk Is An Unsung Hero In The World’s Climate Fight” →

Quyền sở hữu đất cho hộ nông dân – Sức mạnh chống biến đổi khí hậu

~ Lê Thái Hà ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

ENGLISH: The Power of Smallholder Land Rights to Combat Climate Change

Cuối tuần qua thế giới đã trả qua niềm vui mừng mang tính chất lịch sử khi thỏa thuận về biến đổi khí hậu mà chúng ta đã mong đợi từ rất lâu đã đạt được tại Hội nghị khí hậu Paris (COP21). Khi mà sự hợp tác của 190 quốc gia xung quanh một vấn đề, đặc biệt là vấn đề cấp bách như biến đổi khí hậu, nên được hoan nghênh, thì hiệp ước COP21 lại thiếu một phần quan trọng, đó là vai trò của nông nghiệp.

Năm nay được ghi nhân là năm nóng nhất trong lịch sử thế giới. Chỉ vài tháng trước đây, chúng ta vừa chứng kiến hiện tượng El Nino, mà có khả năng là một trong những đợt có cường độ mạnh nhất được ghi nhận, đã tạo ra các mô hình thời tiết hỗn loạn và không thể dự đoán trước, gây ra sự thất thoát mùa màng khủng khiếp và đẩy hàng triệu người vào cảnh nghèo đói cùng cực và an ninh lương thực ở mức độ khẩn cấp. Ethiopia đang trải qua đợt hạn hán tồi tệ nhất trong nhiều thập kỷ qua, với dự đoán là ít nhất 15 triệu người sẽ yêu cầu viện trợ lương thực khẩn cấp vào đầu năm 2016.

Khi mà biến đổi khí hậu tiếp tục đe dọa sự ổn định toàn cầu, thì nó cũng tạo áp lực cho cộng đồng quốc tế phải đưa ra những giải pháp sáng tạo. Một giải pháp không nhận được sự quan tâm thích đáng là tăng quyền đất đai cho những người nông dân sản xuất nhỏ, đặc biệt là cho phụ nữ ở các nước đang phát triển. Tiếp tục đọc “Quyền sở hữu đất cho hộ nông dân – Sức mạnh chống biến đổi khí hậu” →

In Asia, supporting women farmers crucial to fighting poverty, hunger and climate change

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

Oxfam International – Tue, 12 Jan 2016 11:35 GMT

Author: Airah Cadiogan, Oxfam Philippines

At the first Asia Women Farmer Forum, women farmers from 14 developing countries came together to exchange experiences on securing their right to land and enhancing their resilience in the face of climate change. Diah Dwiandani/Oxfam

Thomsonreutersfoundation – At the first Asia Women Farmer Forum, women farmers from 14 developing countries came together to exchange experiences on securing their right to land and enhancing their resilience in the face of climate change. Diah Dwiandani/Oxfam

On that same evening, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, women farmers from 14 developing countries – leaders and climate experts in their own right – were getting ready to head back home. They had just attended the first Asia Women Farmer Forum organized by Oxfam as part of its Asia GROW Campaign to bring women together to discuss the challenges they have faced in securing their rights and enhancing their resilience in a changing climate.

“A woman farmer who goes to bed hungry is just wrong,” said Janice Ian Manlutac, Resilience lead for Oxfam in Asia, “But this is a daily reality in many Asian countries, where women make up 50 per cent of the total agricultural workforce.”

Norly Grace Mercado, Oxfam’s Asia GROW Campaign Coordinator, added: “Women have far less access than men to productive resources like land, livestock, education, and agricultural extension and financial services. Our research has also shown that women farmers work up to 16 hours in the field but only share 10 per cent of the profit.”

To put faces to numbers, participants of the forum shared their struggles and, most importantly, their stories of courage in the face of unfavorable odds. Tiếp tục đọc “In Asia, supporting women farmers crucial to fighting poverty, hunger and climate change” →

The Dubious Promise of Bioenergy Plus Carbon Capture

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

Climate change agreements rest on negative emissions technologies that may be unachievable.

technologyreview – While many scientists and climate change activists hailed December’s Paris agreement as a historic step forward for international efforts to limit global warming, the landmark accord rests on a highly dubious assumption: to achieve the goal of limiting the rise in global average temperature to less than 2 °C (much less the more ambitious goal of 1.5 °C), we don’t just need to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide to essentially zero by the end of this century. We also must remove from the atmosphere huge amounts of carbon dioxide that have already been emitted (see “Paris Climate Agreement Rests on Shaky Technological Foundations”).

Doing so will involve “negative emissions technologies”—systems that capture carbon dioxide and store it, usually deep underground. Such technologies are theoretical at best, but they are considered critical for achieving the Paris goals. Of the 116 scenarios reviewed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to achieve stabilization of carbon in the atmosphere at between 430 and 480 parts per million (the level considered necessary for a maximum 2 °C rise in temperature), 101 involve some form of negative emissions. Tiếp tục đọc “The Dubious Promise of Bioenergy Plus Carbon Capture” →

5 reasons to be worried about health security in Asia

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

Published on Thursday, 17 December 2015

Pharmacy at a health clinic in Poipet, Cambodia.
Pharmacy at a health clinic in Poipet, Cambodia.

blogs.adb.org – If you live in Asia and the Pacific, do you ever wonder how high your risk is of contracting antimicrobial-resistant bacteria or emerging infectious diseases such as a new strain of avian influenza? Unfortunately, I have to tell you that the risk here is higher that in any other region in the world.

1. South and Southeast Asia are epicenters for antimicrobial resistance.

South and Southeast Asia are home to the highest number of major bacterial pathogens for which there is antimicrobial resistance. Most developing countries in the region do not monitor or reinforce standards in antibiotic use and prescription, and the limited available data paints a picture of widespread non-compliance with antibiotic treatment regimen. Self-medication with antibiotics available over-the-counter is common throughout Asia, and an estimated 50% of patients fail to follow the recommended antibiotics course of treatment, mainly because it’s expensive. Traces of antimicrobials used in the animal husbandry sector find their way into the food chain; so most of the meat that was not grown organically was likely treated with antibiotics. Even fish is often bathed in antibiotic solution in many commercial fisheries. And of course the water you drink might also be contaminated due to lack of adequate water treatment plants. Constant exposure to antibiotics increases the risk of developing antimicrobial resistance.

2. Asia is a hotspot for emerging infectious diseases.

Asia as where new emerging infectious diseases are most likely to originate, particularly zoonosis (diseases transmitted from animals), vector-borne diseases and drug-resistant pathogens. This is evident in the increasing frequency of these events over the last decade and is correlated directly with socio-economic, environmental and ecological factors. Numerous outbreaks of emerging infectious diseases have had a huge impact in Asia. SARS rapidly decimated tourism to the region in 2003, costing the industry $18 billion or approximately $2 million per person infected. The H5N1 virus had a profound effect on the poultry industry: in 2003-2004 Viet Nam culled 45 million birds and lost $118 million, while a Thai ban on poultry reduced the country’s income from poultry exports by 93%, from $598 million in 2003 to $44 million in 2004.

3. Health risks are increasing in Asia.

Asia is one of the most globalized, mobile regions in the world, and trade facilitates the rapid spread of diseases that otherwise may have been contained by geographical boundaries. Climate change and the associated rise in temperature and flooding lead to more vector-borne diseases such as chikungunya, malaria and dengue. Pollution and natural disasters are also significant risk factors for respiratory tract infections and water-borne diseases.

4. Fragmented supply chains impact the efficiency of drugs and vaccines.

Too much medicine that needs cold storage but is exposed to heat and humid environments can lead to an overestimation of actual effective vaccination coverage and decreased efficacy of medicines – both contributing to increasing risk of disease outbreaks. You might have seen this affect in your own children, who have been vaccinated in Asia but still developed certain diseases they were supposed to be protected against because the vaccine probably wasn’t effective anymore.

5. Unregulated health service providers.

Chronic under-investment in public health systems has resulted in private sector provision of health services, which are often unregulated (threatening quality) and not required to report routinely to health management information systems. A consequence of this data gap is that critical information on incidence of infectious diseases or drug resistance identified in the private sector takes much longer to reach public health sector officials.

The above risks can only be addressed with strengthened health systems and increased accountability, both of which arise from collaboration between countries and development partners to invest in public health services. To combat health threats and to avoid significant economic losses, we must step up health financing and redouble their efforts in cross-sector, cross-border and regional coordination on health policies and practices.

Investing in health systems today will yield not only direct health and economic benefits tomorrow, but will also help protect populations from emerging health threats both within and beyond the region. Donors outside of the region must continue to support health system strengthening in Asia, as weak health systems in any country can pose threats to their own public health and economic security.

Health is having the same disease as your neighbor – so make sure your neighbor has no diseases.

CSIS Energy Publication | Assessing the Final Clean Power Plan: Emissions Outcomes

~ Trần Đình Hoành ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

FROM THE CSIS ENERGY AND NATIONAL SECURITY PROGRAM

Assessing the Final Clean Power Plan:
Emissions Outcomes

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Clean Power Plan (CPP) is the most significant greenhouse gas (GHG) policy ever undertaken in the United States, and is expected to achieve significant emission reductions by the time it is fully implemented in 2030. However, calculating the ultimate emissions-abatement potential is more difficult than simply adding up the state reduction targets. While the EPA has set a floor on cumulative emissions from existing fossil-fuel-fired power plants, it has not set a ceiling, and projecting the actual emissions outcome on a national level is not straightforward due to the flexibility states have in implementation.

Our analysis deepens the understanding of the potential emissions outcomes of the CPP and what factors could influence that outcome. We start by explaining the primary factor that has the potential to undermine EPA’s emissions floor—leakage—and how EPA is attempting to address this issue. We then turn to a quantitative analysis of two potential pathways for state implementation plans (SIPs) under optimal implementation conditions. Bearing in mind that optimal implementation is unlikely, we also explore key drivers and decisions that could result in emissions that are higher or lower than our initial projections.

To read the full report, click here

By: John Larsen, Director, Rhodium Group, and Non-Resident Senior Associate, Energy and National Security Program, CSIS; Sarah Ladislaw, Director and Senior Fellow, Energy and National Security Program, CSIS; Michelle Melton, Associate Fellow, Energy and National Security Program, CSIS; and Whitney Herndon, Research Analyst, Rhodium Group

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Reinvigorating agricultural productivity in the Lower Mekong

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này
November 27, 2015 1:00 pm JST
Aladdin D. Rillo and Mercedita A. Sombilla

asia.nikkei.com – The green revolution has done wonders for Asia. Yields for most crops, particularly the region’s main staple of rice, have doubled over recent decades. In the Lower Mekong Delta, considered to be Asia’s rice bowl, the new technologies and crop strains that the green revolution brought were a big success.

Cambodian farmers load vegetables onto a cart for transport to market, at a farm in Kandal Province, south of Phnom Penh, on Oct. 16, which was World Food Day. © AP

Rice production in the Lower Mekong countries of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam soared 68% between 1980 and 1995. During the same period, average yields more than doubled from their levels in the 1960s to about 3.5 tons per hectare. Total land area planted with rice also increased by around 25% to 16.3 million hectares between 1996 and 2005.

      By the end of 2013, however, the gains seemed to have leveled off. Between 2006 and 2013, average yield growth slowed to 22% across all of the Lower Mekong countries except Cambodia, as growth in rice production slid to 36%.

The slower trends in yield and production growth were not unique to the Lower Mekong. They also applied to the rest of Asia for various reasons. Chief among them is that green revolution technologies, particularly new rice seed varieties, had become exhausted. Poor land and water quality were also culprits in the drop-off, along with inadequate farm management practices and the rapid conversion of farmland to non-agricultural use. Eroding profit margins due to a decline in the price of rice on global markets exacted a heavy toll as well.

Low productivity

There is reason for alarm at the change. Agriculture still provides 10% of Asia’s value-added output and is an important source of employment as about 45% of jobs in Asia are in rural areas. With declining yields and production, this means that productivity, the value of output per worker, will decline further. Tiếp tục đọc “Reinvigorating agricultural productivity in the Lower Mekong” →

The Power of Smallholder Land Rights to Combat Climate Change

~ Trần Đình Hoành ~ 1 bình luận

CSIS

Photo courtesy of Groman123 from https://www.flickr.com/photos/pkirtz/21038826799/
By Kimberly Flowers, Lisa Bauer
Dec 16, 2015

Last weekend the world rejoiced over the historic, long-awaited climate-change agreement reached at the Paris Climate Conference (COP21). While the cooperation of 190 countries around a singular issue, especially one as pressing as climate change, should be applauded, the COP21 pact is missing something major: the role of agriculture.

This year is on target to be the hottest in recorded history. Just in the past few months, we have watched El Nino, which is likely to be one of the strongest on record, create unpredictable and chaotic weather patterns, taking a tremendous toll on harvests and pushing millions into extreme poverty and emergency levels of food insecurity. Ethiopia is experiencing its worst drought in decades, with predictions of at least 15 million people requiring emergency food assistance by early 2016. As climate change continues to threaten global stability, it pressures the international community to enact creative solutions. One solution that hasn’t received enough attention is increasing land rights for smallholder farmers, particularly for women in the developing world. Tiếp tục đọc “The Power of Smallholder Land Rights to Combat Climate Change” →

Setting the Post-Paris Climate Agenda

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này
Photo courtesy of Kim Seng from https://www.flickr.com/photos/captainkimo/6702244011/
By Sarah Ladislaw
Dec 1, 2015

CSIS – UN climate negotiations are sort of like the holiday season. In the lead up there is always huge amounts of anticipation, lots of planning and logistics, and the promise of something new, merry, and important. The event itself is chaotic with lots of complicated family dynamics and the ever-present threat of someone storming off in a huff. The day after often brings plenty of leftovers to be dealt with, presents to be stored, regifted, or returned, and a sense that it is time to move on to all the things that had been put off while dealing with the big preparations.

There is no denying that for the climate community the last twelve months have been one big crescendo to Paris, a carefully orchestrated set of activities and announcements designed to drive momentum and activity toward the big moment. By any stretch this has been a tremendously successful crescendo. The country pledges that have been rolling in since this past spring total over 180 in number and cover approximately 95 percent of global emissions. By the UN’s own estimates, these pledges, if pursued in earnest, could keep the world in the ballpark of limiting temperature rise to 2.7 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. Over 400 cities, 1,000 plus companies, and countless members of civil society pledged separate and additional actions. The Pope and several other groups of religious leaders weighed in on the moral imperative to tackle climate change and the United States denied the Keystone XL pipeline project – a major North American symbol of the environmentalist struggle to catalyze action on climate change. Unlike five years ago in Copenhagen , there is a lot on the table this time even before the talks get underway. Tiếp tục đọc “Setting the Post-Paris Climate Agenda” →

Germany Could Make $2 Billion By Exporting Electricity

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

November 10th, 2015 by

cleantecnica – The Fraunhofer Institute has found that Germany made about €1.7 billion, or $1.93 billion, in 2014 by selling surplus electricity. In 2015, that amount could reach €2 billion or $2.2 billion. Germany may also achieve a record export surplus of 40 TWh of electricity in 2015. “Over the past years, Germany was able to secure higher prices for its electricity exports than it paid for electricity imports,” explained Fraunhofer professor, Bruno Burger.

germancliffsRenewables added 118 TWh of energy production capacity in Germany from the period beginning in 2010 through 2014. What are some of Germany’s other exports? According to one source, Germany exported about $2.6 billion in pharmaceuticals to Japan in 2014. In 2007, cheese exports were about €2.7 billion. Tiếp tục đọc “Germany Could Make $2 Billion By Exporting Electricity” →

Powering the Internet with renewable energy

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

December 3, 2015

Googleblog – Today we’re announcing the largest, and most diverse, purchase of renewable energy ever made by a non-utility company. Google has already committed to purchase more renewable energy than any other company. Now, through a series of new wind and solar projects around the world, we’re one step closer to our commitment to triple our purchases of renewable energy by 2025 and our goal of powering 100% of our operations with clean energy. 842 MW of renewable energy around the world Today’s agreements will add an additional 842 megawatts of renewable energy capacity to power our data centers. Across three countries, we’re nearly doubling the amount of renewable energy we’ve purchased to date. We’re now up to 2 gigawatts—the equivalent to taking nearly 1 million cars off the road. These additional 842 megawatts represent a range of locations and technologies, from a wind farm in Sweden to a solar plant in Chile.

These long-term contracts range from 10-20 years and provide projects with the financial certainty and scale necessary to build these wind and solar facilities—thus bringing new renewable energy onto the grid in these regions. For our part, these contracts not only help minimize the environmental impact of our services—they also make good business sense by ensuring good prices. Our commitment to a sustainable energy future Since we opened our very first owned data center in 2006, we’ve been working to promote renewable and sustainable energy use in several ways:

  • First, we’re building the world’s most efficient computer infrastructure by designing our data centers to use as little energy as possible.

Tiếp tục đọc “Powering the Internet with renewable energy” →

Đóng góp ý kiến cho Quy hoạch điện VII hiệu chỉnh (Việt Nam)

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

25/11/2015 | 13:40

Xem và tải báo cáo tại đây: Bản tiếng Việt – Bản tiếng Anh

GreenID – “Không cần đầu tư xây dựng mới khoảng 30.000 tới 40.000 MW nhiệt điện than mà có thể dùng nguồn đầu tư này vào việc thực hiện sử dụng hiệu quả năng lượng và phát triển nguồn năng lượng tái tạo trong khi vẫn đáp ứng được nhu cầu”. Đây là một trong những thông tin quan trọng được đề cập trong báo cáo “Phân tích Quy hoạch điện VII và một số khuyến nghị đối với Quy hoạch điện VII hiệu chỉnh – hướng tới phát triển năng lượng bền vững tại Việt Nam” do Trung tâm Phát triển Sáng tạo Xanh (GreenID) thực hiện với sự tham gia và tư vấn của các chuyên gia năng lượng trong nước và quốc tế.

Sau hơn 4 năm thực hiện Quyết định Phê duyệt Quy hoạch phát triển điện lực Quốc gia giai đoạn 2011-2020 có xét đến năm 2030 số 1208/QĐ-TTg ngày 21/7/2011 của Thủ tướng Chính phủ, ngành điện đạt được một số thành tựu đáng ghi nhận, từ chỗ phải tiết giảm điện trong các năm 2010-2011 do thiếu điện đến nay ngành điện không những đã cung cấp được đủ điện cho sản xuất và sinh hoạt của nhân dân mà còn có dự phòng. Tuy nhiên, Quy hoạch điện VII cũng đã bộc lộ một số vấn đề mang tính vĩ mô và ảnh hưởng tới tính khả thi như dự báo nhu cầu điện năng quá lớn khiến nhu cầu vốn đầu tư quá nhiều mà nền kinh tế không chịu nổi; huy động nhà máy nhiệt điện chạy than quá cao, nhu cầu than cung cấp cho điện quá lớn, có thể dẫn tới không đủ nguồn cung cấp kể cả nhập khẩu, không đảm bảo môi trường và phát triển bền vững; chưa chú trọng đúng mức tới nguồn năng lượng tái tạo. Tiếp tục đọc “Đóng góp ý kiến cho Quy hoạch điện VII hiệu chỉnh (Việt Nam)” →

Carbon capture analyst: ‘Coal should stay in the ground’

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

Date:December 2, 2015

Source:University of Michigan

Summary:Serious flaws have been found in a decade’s worth of studies about the best way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and stabilize the climate, report experts in a new article.

—

Serious flaws have been found in a decade’s worth of studies about the best way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and stabilize the climate.

sciencedaily – The findings, from the University of Michigan, are released as world leaders at COP21 attempt to negotiate the globe’s first internationally binding climate agreement.

The U-M researchers have found that most economic analysis of carbon capture and storage, or CCS, technology for coal-fired power plants severely underestimates the technique’s costs and overestimates its energy efficiency. CCS involves sucking carbon out of coal-fired power plants’ flue gases, compressing it and then injecting it deep underground.

The new analysis puts the cost of reducing carbon emissions with CCS-equipped coal plants higher than any previous study — and most importantly, higher than wind and comparable to solar power. It’s the first study to confront the so-called ‘energy loop’ inherent in the CCS process. Tiếp tục đọc “Carbon capture analyst: ‘Coal should stay in the ground’” →

El Nino và La Nina

~ Phạm Thu Hương ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

PCLB – El Nino và La Nina  (gọi tắt là ENSO: Nino Southern Oscillation (El Nino – Dao động Nam) dùng để chỉ hai hiện tượng El Nino và La Nina ).

I. Khái niệm

1. El Nino

“El Nino” (theo tiếng Tây Ban Nha có nghĩa là đứa con của Chúa hay còn gọi là bé Hài Đồng nam) là từ được dùng để chỉ hiện tượng nóng lên dị thường của lớp nước biển bề mặt ở khu vực xích đạo trung tâm và Đông Thái Bình Dương, kéo dài 8 – 12 tháng, hoặc lâu hơn, thường xuất hiện 3 – 4 năm 1 lần, song cũng có khi dày hơn hoặc thưa hơn. Tiếp tục đọc “El Nino và La Nina” →