Ngớ ngẩn về thức ăn: lãng phí, đói kém và biến đổi khí hậu

English: Food foolish: Waste, hunger and climate change

Một phần ba hoặc hơn 1/3 lượng thực phẩm chúng ta sản xuất mỗi năm không bao giờ được tiêu thụ.

Hơn 1 tỷ tấn thực phẩm bị mất mát hoặc lãng phí, chưa bao giờ được đưa từ trang trại tới bàn ăn của chúng ta.

Thông thường ở các nước đang phát triển lượng thực phẩm trên bị phân rã trên các cánh đồng trước khi thu hoạch hoặc bị hư hỏng trong quá trình vận chuyển. Một số thì bị mất mát ở các thị trường bán lẻ trước khi người tiêu dùng có thể mua. Trong khi đó, ở các nước phát triển, con người thường mua quá nhiều và sau đó vứt đi. Họ từ chối loại thực phẩm hoản hảo về dinh dưỡng mà không nhìn hoàn hảo về thẩm mỹ.

Chúng ta thường xuyên được phục vụ những bữa ăn quá khổ, phần lớn trong số đó lại bị bỏ đi. Mặc dù có nhiều lý do khác nhau, chúng ta lãng phí thực phẩm ở khắp mọi nơi, thường theo những cách mà không lường trước được nhưng có vẻ lại dại dột cho nhu cầu cơ bản của chúng ta đối với tài nguyên quý giá này. Tiếp tục đọc “Ngớ ngẩn về thức ăn: lãng phí, đói kém và biến đổi khí hậu”

Food foolish: Waste, hunger and climate change

Saturday, September 5, 2015 – 1:20am

The following is an excerpt from the book Food Foolish.

GreenBiz – One-third or more of the food we produce each year is never eaten.

More than 1 billion metric tons of food is lost or wasted, never making it from the farm to our fork.

Often in developing countries it decays in fields before harvest or spoils while being transported. Some is lost in retail markets before consumers can buy it. Meanwhile, in developed countries people buy too much and then throw it away. They reject perfectly nutritious food that is cosmetically imperfect. Tiếp tục đọc “Food foolish: Waste, hunger and climate change”

Water Scarcity: Examining impact around the world

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“Climate change” is a politically charged phrase in some parts of the world – but whether you believe in the concept or not, there’s one indisputable fact: Many countries today are struggling with increasing water stress or outright scarcity of fresh water.

The causes are many – ranging from prolonged drought to expanding populations or growing industrial uses. The solutions are few, but there are some promising concepts.

Download this free slide show to learn more about this critical issue, including:

  • What are common contributors to water stress and scarcity?
  • What are the most common impacts of freshwater shortages?
  • Will water eventually be traded like other commodities, including energy?
  • What are the most feasible solutions – and who stands to benefit?

Vice premier prefers Vietnam to better cope with natural disasters

Tuoi Tre News

Updated : 09/15/2015 16:33 GMT + 7

Boats are anchored on the Han River in the central city of Da Nang during the landfall of tropical storm Vam Co in central Vietnam on September 14, 2015.
Competent agencies should review their precautionary work to better respond to natural disasters, which have killed 98 people, and caused damage totaling nearly US$243 million in Vietnam in the past eight months, Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai has said.

Tiếp tục đọc “Vice premier prefers Vietnam to better cope with natural disasters”

Google lays bare overlooked deforestation ‘hotspots’

Search giant and researchers map emerging clusters of tropical forest loss in Southeast Asia, South America and Africa

Deforestation in Bhutan. Forests are vital stocks of carbon and water resources (Flickr/ World Bank)

By Alex Pashley

Forests are being cut down at a rapid clip in previously spared territories, data from the University of Maryland and Google reveals.

RCCT – New hotspots are appearing in Southeast Asia’s Mekong Basin, South America’s Gran Chaco region and Madagascar, high-resolution satellite mapping released by Global Forest Watch shows.

The world lost more than 18 million hectares of forest in 2014, an area twice the size of Portugal.

Over 2012-14, the three-year average was the worst since records began in 2001, in a troubling trend as rates reverse after years of decline.

An interactive map shows advances in tree cover loss and gain worldwide between 2001-2014 (Credit: Global Forest Watch)

Carbon-rich forests hacked down for cash crops, such as beef, soy and palm oil, together with weak governance, are the main drivers of tree cover loss, said Nigel Sizer at the World Resources Institute. Tiếp tục đọc “Google lays bare overlooked deforestation ‘hotspots’”

Viet Nam special report on managing the risks of extreme events and disasters to advance climate change adaptation

Viet Nam special report on managing the risks of extreme events and disasters to advance climate change adaptation

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02 Feb 2015

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Viet Nam is one of the countries most affected by natural disasters and climate change. Storms and floods are the most frequent and severe natural disasters affecting Viet Nam. Viet Nam is suffering 6 to 7 typhoons every year, on average. Between 1990 and 2010, 74 floods have occurred in the river systems of Viet Nam. Severe drought, saline water intrusion, landslides and other natural disasters are hindering the development of Viet Nam. Extreme disasters are more frequent in recent years, causing more damage to people and impacting significantly on the economy.

The report assesses extreme events and their impact on the natural environment, social economic development and sustainable development of Viet Nam; the future changes in extreme climate events due to climate change; interactions between climatic, environmental and human factors; and promote adaptation to climate change and management of risks of disaster and extreme events in Viet Nam.

UNEP: Vietnam Assessment Report on Climate Change

Vietnam Assessment Report on Climate Change

The report shows that the trend of recent climate change in Viet Nam is beyond the level of natural change.  Temperatures have increased by 0.05-0.20°C and sea level has increased by 2-4 cm per decade in the last 50 years.  According to projections, by the end of the 21st century, the annual temperature in Viet Nam will increase by between 1.1-1.9°C and 2.1-3.6°C rainfall is likely to increase by 1.0-5.2% and 1.8-10.1%, and sea level is likely to rise between 65 and 100cm, in comparison with the period 1980-1999, under low and high emission scenarios respectively. The potential impacts of climate change for the seven climatic zones of Vietnam are likely to be different, but are likely to be critical in the water resources and key socio-economic sectors such as agriculture, forestry, fishery, energy, transportation and health.  Vietnam is currently developing a low carbon economy and mitigation policies aimed to reduce the GHG emissions in these sectors. It is also developing a number of strategies to adapt to the impacts of climate change so as to reduce the vulnerability of society.

Click here to download the report

City Century – Why Municipalities Are the Key to Fighting Climate Change

Foreign Affairs
Essay September/October 2015 Issue Climate Change
City Century
Why Municipalities Are the Key to Fighting Climate Change
By Michael Bloomberg

Although history is not usually taught this way, one could argue that cities have played a more important role in shaping the world than empires. From Athens and Rome to Paris and Venice to Baghdad and Beijing, urban ideas and innovators have left indelible marks on human life. By concentrating the brainpower of humanity in relatively small geographic areas, cities have promoted the kinds of interactions that nurture creativity and technological advances. They have been the drivers of progress throughout history, and now—as the knowledge economy takes full flight—they are poised to play a leading role in addressing the challenges of the twenty-first century. Tiếp tục đọc “City Century – Why Municipalities Are the Key to Fighting Climate Change”

Int’l workshop looks to curb coastal erosion

Updated  September, 09 2015 08:41:00
Quang Nam Province is building a sand bag revetment along the beach as a temporary solution to protect its tourism industry and cope with the erosion at Cua Dai beach that has become more severe in recent years. — VNS Photo Xuan Hiep

QUANG NAM (VNS) — Climate change and a reduction in sediment supply and river discharge along the Thu Bon River are the primary causes of coastal erosion in the central region, particularly Cua Dai Beach in Hoi An, speakers said at an international seminar held in Hoi An on Monday. Tiếp tục đọc “Int’l workshop looks to curb coastal erosion”

Extreme Weather and Food Shocks

09 September 2015

Rob BaileyRob Bailey Research Director, Energy, Environment and Resources
Tim Benton Professor of Population Ecology, University of Leeds
Taking smart and practical steps to ease the impact of the changing climate on food supplies is vital to ride out the droughts and storms that will impact food prices.
The US midwest was hit by its worst drought in over 50 years in 2012. Photo via Getty Images.The US midwest was hit by its worst drought in over 50 years in 2012. Photo via Getty Images.

chathamhouse – Recent events highlight concerns about the risks to global food security posed by changing patterns of extreme weather affecting the world’s ‘breadbasket’ regions such as the American midwest, South America’s southern cone, the Black Sea and the Yangtze River valley. In 2012, the worst drought to hit the US midwest in half a century sent international maize and soybean prices to record levels. In 2011, wheat prices nearly doubled after an unprecedented heat wave devastated the Russian harvest. The global food price crisis of 2007-08 had its roots in a run of poor harvests in previous years.

Tiếp tục đọc “Extreme Weather and Food Shocks”

How kids in Vietnam, other countries embark on extreme journeys to school (photos)

TUOI TRE NEWS

Updated : 09/07/2015 18:16 GMT + 7

As the world marks the 48th annual International Literacy Day on Tuesday, have a look at how children in Vietnam and several Asian countries go to school in this photo feature provided by World Vision Vietnam.

Millions of children across Asia returned to school this month, pursuing their right to education. The new school year in Vietnam officially kicked off on September 5.

While many have schools in their own communities, others have to go on long and difficult journeys to access their education, which is a major challenge in Asia and the Pacific.

In remote villages, schools are often far away and difficult to reach. The distance from home to school is one of the reasons why 26.3 million children are out of school in Asia and the Pacific, according to UNESCO. Tiếp tục đọc “How kids in Vietnam, other countries embark on extreme journeys to school (photos)”

World must avert devastating flood of climate refugees

kosovo-refugees-UNphotoservice

A senior British politician says we face a humanitarian crisis on an immense scale if millions of people have to flee the impacts of global warming.

By Alex Kirby

Global-net – LONDON, 8 September, 2015 – The former leader of one of the UK’s main political parties says the world will undergo more resource wars and huge movements of desperate people unless it tackles climate change effectively.

Lord Ashdown, who was leader of Britain’s Liberal Democrats for 11 years, describes the present flight of refugees from Syria and other conflict areas as a “rehearsal” for the vast humanitarian disaster he believes will soon unfold. Tiếp tục đọc “World must avert devastating flood of climate refugees”

New centre promotes clean technology for Asia-Pacific

The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) opened (1 September) its first Asia-Pacific regional hub to promote clean technology.The UNFCCC Regional Collaboration Centre (RCC), formed in partnership with the non-profit Institute for Global Environmental Strategies in Japan, will help developing countries in the region to identify and develop clean development mechanism (CDM) projects to help limit damage from climate change. Tiếp tục đọc “New centre promotes clean technology for Asia-Pacific”

Ministry to measure cities’ resilience to climate change

Updated September, 07 2015 08:46:00
 VNS
A flood sweeps a dyke construction site away in Lao Cai last year. An urban climate resilience index for Lao Cai and other localities was introduced last week. — VNA/VNS Photo Van Toan

HA NOI (VNS) — A project to develop an urban climate resilience index in Viet Nam was introduced last Friday in Ha Noi. It comes as part of a long-term programme to make urban areas more prepared for and adaptive to the effects of climate change. Tiếp tục đọc “Ministry to measure cities’ resilience to climate change”