Chuyên mục: Biến đổi khí hậu – Climate change

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

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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

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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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‘Heated’ debate on fossil fuels as COP28 winds down

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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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Trees alone will not save the world

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economist.com

But better markets and better monitoring will let them do more

An image showing a trio of three-dimensional trees made out of an image of a leaf against a bark background.
image: ben denzer

“Everything you see, as far as the eye can see, belongs to us,” says David Beleznay. “Us” is Mosaic, a forest-management company that looks after the upkeep and logging of much of Vancouver Island; Mr Beleznay is its director of climate and watersheds. “As far as the eye can see” takes in a long, deep valley whose forested flanks rise to the rocky top of Mount Arrowsmith. Towering evergreens—Douglas fir, cedar, hemlock—drape the island from its central peaks to the water’s rocky edge.

This drapery is, though, a bit patchy in places. Directly behind Mr Beleznay’s parked pickup are some “polygons”, as the industry calls them, where the trees have been clear-cut, leaving behind jumbled soil, stumps and woody debris; tiny saplings poke through it higgledy-piggledy. Mosaic has an eye to water quality in forest streams, to maintaining biodiversity, to being a partner to the island’s first nations. But the forest it manages is also the basis of a timber business.

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Corporate Climate Action: Analyzing the Recent Surge of Climate Commitments

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RMI.org
RMI analyzes what this increase in corporate commitments means and introduces a new tool to measure impact.

November 29, 2023 By  James Newcomb,  Adefunke Sonaike,  Daan Walter,  Laurens Speelman

On the eve of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP28), the media buzz about corporate climate action is decidedly mixed. Optimism about the growing numbers of companies setting climate goals is tempered by disappointing news about the pace of many companies’ actions to achieve their goals. We are still creating new structures and systems to guide corporate climate action and working through challenges as these systems mature. Beneath the surface, however, there are encouraging signals. Strong systemic forces are inexorably driving more companies to report greenhouse gas emissions, set independently verified climate action targets, and implement strategies to achieve these goals.

RMI is creating new tools and methods, still under development, to better analyze the potential implications of corporate climate action. In this article, we assess recent developments across this landscape, including preliminary analysis from the Corporate Commitments and Emissions Explorer (Corporate Explorer), a new online tool that allows users to explore sectoral emissions targets and actions.

Snapshot of corporate climate action: 2023
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COP28: The climate crisis is also a health crisis

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UN.org

Malaria and other diseases were on the rise after floods earlier in the year in Sindh province, Pakistan.

COP28: The climate crisis is also a health crisis

© UNICEF/Saiyna Bashir Malaria and other diseases were on the rise after floods earlier in the year in Sindh province, Pakistan.

3 December 2023Climate and Environment

Health has made it onto the agenda of a UN climate conference, and health advocates at COP28 in Dubai on Sunday said the topic was long overdue for discussion as climate inaction is costing lives and impacting health every single day.

Our planet has logged higher mean temperatures each year, with 2023 set to be the hottest on record. Ice sheets are melting at an unprecedented rate. Wildfires have made the air hazardous in some regions, while in others, floods regularly threaten to contaminate drinking water.

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Against this backdrop, more and more people are being affected by disasters, climate-sensitive diseases and other health conditions.

Climate change exacerbates some existing health threats and creates new public health challenges. Worldwide, only considering a few health indicators, an additional 250,000 deaths per year will occur in the next decades because of climate change, according to the UN World Health Organization (WHO).

WHO Director General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told delegates at COP28 that it was long overdue for talks around environmental health, rising sea levels, and melting glaciers to include the direct impacts of such climate shocks on human health.

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British research ship crosses paths with world’s largest iceberg as it drifts out of Antarctica

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APnews.com BY SYLVIA HUIUpdated 4:23 PM GMT+7, December 5, 2023

Britain’s polar research ship RRS Sir David Attenborough has crossed paths with the world’s largest iceberg as it was drifting out of Antarctic waters. (Dec. 5)Photos

BY SYLVIA HUIUpdated 4:23 PM GMT+7, December 5, 2023Share

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s polar research ship has crossed paths with the largest iceberg in the world — a “lucky” encounter that enabled scientists to collect seawater samples around the colossal berg as it drifts out of Antarctic waters, the British Antarctic Survey said Monday.

The RRS Sir David Attenborough, which is on its way to Antarctica for its first scientific mission, passed the mega iceberg known as the A23a on Friday near the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula.

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History fades as rising sea levels slowly destroy Thailand’s temple murals

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theguardian.com Saltwater damage could see precious historical Buddhist artworks dating back hundreds of years slowly fade entirely from view

by Rebecca Ratcliffe and Navaon Siradapuvadol in NonthaburiWed 29 Nov 2023 02.37 GMT

If you look closely, you can just about see the characters and scenes that once stretched across the walls of Wat Prasat, a temple in Nonthaburi. There’s the dark shape of an elephant’s head, a figure slouching on its back; outlines of swords pointing upwards to the centre of the display; patches of curved roofs.

“The mural used to be more vivid,” says Phra Maha Natee, the abbot of Wat Prasat. Even when he was a novice monk, 20 years ago, the image – which shows one of the jātakas stories that recall the Buddha’s past lives – was easier to understand. “The colour was brighter and sharper,” he says.

The murals offer a glimpse into a past era – a time of prosperity but also social upheaval, when a more empowered nobility had emerged, as did a desire, say historians, for Buddhism to play a more stronger role in reinforcing discipline in society. They date back to the mid or later years of the Ayutthaya kingdom in Siam, which existed from 1351 to 1767, in what is now Thailand and are a treasured early example of the art form.

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COP28 climate summit just approved a ‘loss and damage’ fund. What does this mean?

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theconversation.com Published: December 1, 2023 2.24am GMT

Day one of the COP28 climate summit saw the first big breakthrough: agreement on a “loss and damage” fund to compensate poor states for the effects of climate change.

Met with a standing ovation in Dubai, the agreement means wealthy states and major polluters will put millions of dollars towards a fund that will in turn distribute funds to poor states harmed by climate change. The fund will be administered by the World Bank. Initial commitments amount to US$430 million.

It will come as a huge relief to the United Arab Emirates, the summit’s host. The country was under pressure even before talks began about its fossil fuel expansion plans and the fact the president of the climate talks is chief executive of a national oil company. This undoubtedly featured in the UAE’s decision to commit US$100 million to the fund.

Other countries to make initial commitments to the fund include the United Kingdom ($75 million), United States ($24.5 million), Japan ($10 million) and Germany (also US$100 million). Pressure will now build on other wealthy countries, including Australia, to outline their own commitments to the fund.

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COP28: four key issues that will dominate the latest UN climate summit

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theconversation.com Published: November 29, 2023 4.56pm GMT

The United Nations Environment Programme recently published a report with an unusually strong title for a UN body: “Emissions Gap Report 2023: Broken Record – Temperatures hit new highs, yet world fails to cut emissions (again)”. Yet again, it highlights how far countries are off track from safeguarding the planet – and us.

As the world gathers in the United Arab Emirates for the annual UN climate change conference (or, more formally, Conference of the Parties, COP), the stakes are as high as ever. The head of the UN climate change secretariat Simon Stiell has urged for this meeting – COP28 – to be a “turning point.”

Can this COP deliver on that goal? Perhaps.

As an academic focused on international climate governance, I’ve seen how trust is vital for an ambitious outcome. Delegates negotiate all night. They trade off issues against another. And at the end of the long summit, negotiators and ministers rely on each other to uphold bargains made over hundreds of hours of talks. But, though COP28 will be my 11th climate COP, I’ve never seen trust so low among countries.

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Most sponsors of Cop28 have not signed up to UN-backed net zero targets

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theguardian.com

Firms including Bank of America have made no commitment to cut emissions in line with target system, analysis finds

Sandra Laville Environment correspondentWed 29 Nov 2023 06.00 GMT

Most companies sponsoring the UN climate talks in Dubai are not committed to cutting their greenhouse gas emissions in line with globally recognised net zero targets, it has been revealed.

Only one of the more than 20 sponsors of Cop28 has signed up to UN-backed net zero science-based targets, (SBTi), according to an analysis.

Most of the corporate sponsors, which include the oilfield services company Baker Hughes as well as Bank of America, have made no commitment to reduce emissions to net zero in any time period under the target system.

The global accountancy firm EY, formerly Ernst and Young, which has been hired as the independent verifier of the climate record of all the sponsors, has also not set targets with the net zero scheme.

The targets are recognised as one of the leading voluntary global validations of a company’s commitment to tackling global heating.

The targets are clearly defined science-based pathways for companies and financial institutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and they are reviewed and validated by the SBTi.

Six firms sponsoring the Dubai climate talks, which begin on 30 November, including EY, have made a commitment to set net zero targets, by registering with the scheme. This requires them to submit their plans for validation within 24 months.

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What drought in the Amazon means for the planet

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washingtonpost.com By Nicolás Rivero November 10, 2023 at 6:30 a.m. EST

View of an area affected by severe drought in the Rio Negro, Amazonas, Brazil, on Oct. 28. (Andre Coelho/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)

The Amazon — the lush, tropical basin that holds the world’s biggest river, rainforest and a fifth of its fresh water — is running dry.

The region is entering its fifth month of a drought that has been particularly punishing in the northern reaches of the rainforest, in the region around the city of Manaus. The Rio Negro, a northern Amazon tributary, fell to the lowest levels in its recorded history last month. Wildfires have advanced where waterways have retreated.

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