‘Heated’ debate on fossil fuels as COP28 winds down

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

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.

Tiếp tục đọc “‘Heated’ debate on fossil fuels as COP28 winds down” →

Giáo dục cho trẻ dân tộc thiểu số: Bất cập và cản trở

~ Phạm Thu Hương ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

Tia sáng – ĐỖ THỊ NGỌC QUYÊN

Trong bối cảnh các nguồn lực tài chính ở vùng dân tộc thiểu số rất hạn hẹp, nguồn lực tự nhiên ngày càng suy kiệt thì cơ hội vươn lên với từng cá nhân, từng gia đình, cơ hội phát triển với các vùng dân tộc thiểu số nằm ở nguồn lực con người. Tuy nhiên, trẻ em ở vùng trũng về giáo dục này khó có cơ hội vươn lên, nếu chính sách giáo dục cho vùng dân tộc thiểu số chưa thay đổi cách tiếp cận.

Tỷ lệ trẻ không đi học ở các DTTS Khmer, Mông và các dân tộc ít người khác cao gấp 4-7 lần so với trẻ thuộc nhóm người Kinh – Hoa, Tày, Thái, Mường, Nùng. Ảnh: Shutter

Tiếp tục đọc “Giáo dục cho trẻ dân tộc thiểu số: Bất cập và cản trở” →

Argentina: Ông Milei và chủ nghĩa tự do tuyệt đối

~ Phạm Thu Hương ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

TƯỜNG ANH – 10/12/2023 15:28 GMT+7

TTCT – Cuộc bầu cử vừa qua ở Argentina đưa một vị tổng thống theo chủ nghĩa tự do cá nhân tuyệt đối lên nắm quyền. Cuộc đảo chiều này liệu có định hình lại đất nước nhiều vấn đề ở Nam Mỹ và ảnh hưởng đến trật tự thế giới?

Ông Javier Milei và chiếc cưa máy thương hiệu. Ảnh: Reuters

Ngày 19-11, Đảng Tự do của Javier Milei giành chiến thắng ở vòng hai cuộc bầu cử tổng thống Argentina. Milei trở thành tổng thống theo chủ nghĩa tự do tuyệt đối đầu tiên trên thế giới.

Tiếp tục đọc “Argentina: Ông Milei và chủ nghĩa tự do tuyệt đối” →

Chuyện cũ mùa Giáng sinh

~ Phạm Thu Hương ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

SÁNG ÁNH – 10/12/2023 15:26 GMT+7

TTCT – Thế giới toàn cầu, Giáng sinh dần phai nhạt màu sắc nghi lễ tôn giáo, mà được ăn mừng ở khắp nơi, như một hình thức văn hóa và tiêu thụ, có tính phong trào và thời trang.

Thánh Nicolas, tức ông già Noel, là giám mục thành Myra vào thế kỷ thứ 4, hiện là Demre ở Thổ Nhĩ Kỳ. Nhà thờ nguyên thủy của giám mục không còn nữa, nhà thờ này được xây trên nền cũ nhưng 200 năm sau. Ảnh: Đỗ Kh.

Tiếp tục đọc “Chuyện cũ mùa Giáng sinh” →

Climate change adaptation commitments so far lacking at COP28

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

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.

Tiếp tục đọc “Climate change adaptation commitments so far lacking at COP28” →

Coastal economic zones need breakthrough policies to attract investment

~ Phạm Thu Hương ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

VNN – December 05, 2023 – 10:09

Coastal EZs have contributed significantly to the region’s socio-economic development but there exist limitations which must be tackled comprehensively to make coastal EZs a driving force for the regional development.

A view of Dung Quất Economic Zone. There are 19 coastal EZs in Việt Nam, 11 of which are in the central part of the country. — VNA/VNS Photo Danh Lam

HÀ NỘI — Coastal economic zones need breakthrough policies to attract investment and promote their role in accelerating socio-economic development.

Statistics from the Ministry of Planning and Investment show that there are 19 coastal EZs in Việt Nam, 11 of which are in the central part of the country.

Tiếp tục đọc “Coastal economic zones need breakthrough policies to attract investment” →

Wars create opportunities for peaceful change: Will the Gaza war serve as a case in point?

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

mei.edu

December 7, 2023 Elie Podeh

Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images

History teaches us that wars, unfortunate as they are, can sometimes create opportunities for major changes that were previously unthinkable, improbable, or impossible. World War I, World War II, the First Gulf War, and many other conflagrations led to formidable political, military, and economic changes. Some of these conflicts and their immediate consequences laid the ground for future wars (like the punitive Versailles peace treaty following World War I), but others gave rise to peaceful arrangements (like the multilateral political and economic institutions as well as security alliance systems that emerged after World War II). The history of the Arab-Israeli conflict is no different. Indeed, all the major Israeli-Arab wars, as well as the many violent Israeli-Palestinian clashes, offered opportunities for change. Some were seized; others were squandered.

When a chain of circumstances produces a favorable opportunity, a liminal period is created, which makes it possible to achieve a breakthrough in a deadlocked conflict. The opportunity may arise from a military or political event that significantly affects the status quo. Particularly when this event causes a traumatic experience affecting both leadership and society, the likelihood of significant change occurring increases. If this moment — or opportunity — is not seized, it is likely to disappear.

While war is still raging in Gaza following Hamas’ brutal Oct. 7 attack on Israel, it nonetheless arguably offers an opportunity for a profound shift in the modalities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which looked unlikely in the period preceding the war. Based on analysis of several examples from the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, one can assert that in order to seize the opportunity, both sides will need legitimate leaderships that enjoy international support and are willing and determined to make concessions and build trust.

Opportunities seized

Tiếp tục đọc “Wars create opportunities for peaceful change: Will the Gaza war serve as a case in point?” →

The Responsibility to Protect populations from genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

GlobalR2P.org

WHAT IS R2P?

The Responsibility to Protect populations from genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing has emerged as an important global principle since the adoption of the UN World Summit Outcome Document in 2005.

null

Background Briefing on R2P

Responsibility to Protect

The Responsibility to Protect – known as R2P – is an international norm that seeks to ensure that the international community never again fails to halt the mass atrocity crimes of genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity. The concept emerged in response to the failure of the international community to adequately respond to mass atrocities committed in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia during the 1990s. The International Committee on Intervention and State Sovereignty developed the concept of R2P during 2001.

The Responsibility to Protect was unanimously adopted in 2005 at the UN World Summit, the largest gathering of Heads of State and Government in history. It is articulated in paragraphs 138 and 139 of the World Summit Outcome Document:

World Summit Outcome Document

Tiếp tục đọc “The Responsibility to Protect populations from genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing” →

STATEMENT OF THE NATIONAL TASK FORCE FOR THE WEST PHILIPPINE SEA

~ Trần Đình Hoành ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

9 December 2023
Manila, Philippines

The National Task Force West Philippine Sea (NTFWPS) vehemently condemns the illegal and aggressive actions carried out by the Chinese Coast Guard and Chinese Maritime Militia against the civilian Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) vessels Datu Sanday, Datu Bankaw, and Datu Tamblot today during a regular BFAR humanitarian and support mission of providing oil subsidy and grocery packs to over 30 Filipino fishing vessels near Bajo De Masinloc in the West Philippine Sea. As of this reporting the mission is on-going. Tiếp tục đọc “STATEMENT OF THE NATIONAL TASK FORCE FOR THE WEST PHILIPPINE SEA” →

What were the death tolls from pandemics in history?

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

ourworldindata.org

Pandemics have killed millions of people throughout history. How many deaths were caused by different pandemics, and how have researchers estimated their death tolls?

By: Saloni Dattani December 7, 2023

COVID-19 has brought the reality of pandemics to the forefront of public consciousness. But pandemics have afflicted humanity for millennia. Time and again, people faced outbreaks of diseases – including influenza, cholera, bubonic plague, smallpox, and measles – that spread far and caused death and devastation.

Our ancestors were largely powerless against these diseases and unable to evaluate their true toll on the population. Without good record-keeping of the number of cases and deaths, the impact of outbreaks was underrecognized or even forgotten. The result is that we tend to underestimate the frequency and severity of pandemics in history.

Tiếp tục đọc “What were the death tolls from pandemics in history?” →

CFR: Ten Most Significant World Events in 2023

~ Trần Đình Hoành ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

As 2023 comes to a close, here are the top ten most notable world events of the year.

The Statue of Liberty hidden behind smoke from Canadian wildfires on June 30, 2023.
The Statue of Liberty hidden behind smoke from Canadian wildfires on June 30, 2023. Brendan McDermid/Reuters

Blog Post by James M. Lindsay

December 8, 2023 9:21 am (EST) CFR

You are not alone if 2023 has you feeling worn down. It has been a trying year on the world scene, as the forces of disarray grew stronger. Ongoing wars ground on, while new ones erupted. Geopolitical competition increased, to the point where a meeting between rival heads of state became front-page news even though their talks yielded little tangible progress. In all, good news has been in short supply. So here are my top ten world events in 2023. You may want to read what follows closely. Many of these stories will continue into 2024 and beyond.

And if you would like visuals to go along with the list, here is the companion video my colleagues in CFR Digital have created recounting all ten events.

Ten Significant World Events 2023

10. The global democratic recession continues. Optimists are predicting a fourth wave of global democratic expansion. That prediction was a bust in 2023.Freedom House started the year by announcing that 2022 marked the seventeenth straight year in which global freedom and democracy declined.As if to prove the point, Africa’s coup epidemic continued. In July, Niger’s military ousted the country’s democratically-elected president. Neighboring states threatened to intervene if the coup wasn’t reversed, but the military juntas running Mali and Burkina Faso threatened war in response. In August, Gabon’s military took power and made vague promises to eventually hold elections. A new progressive party won the most seats in Thailand’s May election. However, a backroom deal produced a pro-military government that left the election’s biggest winner on the outside looking in. India’s government continued to use the law and intimidation to silence critics, and many other democracies restricted freedom of expression. The trend of candidates claiming they would lose their election only if the vote were rigged continued. Far-right parties fared well across Europe, reviving memories of how European democracies collapsed a century ago. Guatemala’s attorney general tried to keep the country’s president-elect from taking office, while Peru’s attorney general used corruption investigations to pressure lawmakers to help her allies. Donald Trump called his opponents “vermin,” said that if he regained the White House he would not be a dictator “except for Day One,” and suggested he would use the presidency to target his political enemies. All in all, not a good year for democracy.

More on:

Tiếp tục đọc “CFR: Ten Most Significant World Events in 2023” →

Gaza: UN chief invokes ‘most powerful tool’ Article 99, in bid for humanitarian ceasefire

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

UN Steps Up Pressure for Gaza Cease-Fire With Strongest Move Since 1971

United Nations chief Antonio Guterres, in a letter to the Security Council, invoked the use of Article 99 of the Charter of the UN over the war in Gaza. Article 99 states that “the Secretary-General may bring to the attention of the Security Council any matter which in his opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security,” according to Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres used a rarely exercised power to warn the Security Council on Wednesday of an impending “humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza and urged its members to demand an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. The UN Security Council – of which most members are favourable to a ceasefire – is likely to meet Friday to discuss the matte

UN.org

People search for their belongings in the rubble in the Nuseirat refugee camp in Gaza.

© UNRWA/Ashraf Amra People search for their belongings in the rubble in the Nuseirat refugee camp in Gaza

Peace and Security

Invoking a rarely used article of the UN Charter, Secretary-General António Guterres on Wednesday called on the Security Council to “press to avert a humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza and unite in a call for a full humanitarian ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militants.

In a letter to the Council, Mr. Guterres invoked Article 99, contained in Chapter XV of the Charter.

This says that the UN chief “may bring to attention of the Security Council any matter which in his opinion, may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security.”

In a statement to journalists along with the letter, UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said that this was the first time Mr. Guterres had felt compelled to invoke Chapter 99, since taking office in 2017.

Scale of loss

Tiếp tục đọc “Gaza: UN chief invokes ‘most powerful tool’ Article 99, in bid for humanitarian ceasefire” →

Trees alone will not save the world

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

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.

Tiếp tục đọc “Trees alone will not save the world” →