Climate change

The Group of Seven nations on Sunday pledged to rapidly scale up technologies and policies that accelerate the transition away from unabated coal capacity, including ending new government support for coal power by the end of this year.

The countries, in a communique following their summit in Britain, confirmed pledges to increase climate finance contributions as part of efforts to reduce emissions that contribute to climate change and help a move toward cleaner energy, although climate groups said firm cash promises and other details were missing.

“Coal power generation is the single biggest cause of greenhouse gas emissions,” the seven nations – the United States, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan – said, adding “continued global investment in unabated coal power generation is incompatible with keeping 1.5°C within reach.”

“We stress that international investments in unabated coal must stop now and we commit now to an end to new direct government support for unabated international thermal coal power generation by the end of 2021,” they said.

U.S. President Joe Biden, speaking after the summit, noted a commitment of up to $2 billion “to support developing countries as they transition away from unabated coal-fired power.”

The nations, in their statement, vowed to focus on other technologies, including carbon capture, to help speed up the transition away from coal.

“We will focus on accelerating progress on electrification and batteries, hydrogen, carbon capture, usage and storage, zero emission aviation and shipping, and for those countries that opt to use it, nuclear power,” the communique said.

A farmer tends her 2020 – 21 winter – spring vegetable crop in Trà Vinh Province’s Cầu Ngang District. – VNA/VNS Photo Thanh Hoà

TRÀ VINH – The Cửu Long (Mekong) Delta province of Trà Vinh has earmarked VNĐ150 – 200 billion (US$6.6 – 8.7 million) for research into and adoption of processing technologies, especially for its key agricultural products, in 2021 – 25.

It will focus on creating hybrid plant and animal strains that can adapt to climate change, expanding production models that use high technology, bio-technology and organic methods to improve yield and quality, according to Lê Thành Ôi, director of the province Department of Science and Technology.

The research and use of technology would be linked with guaranteed sales of produce, he said.

The department has implemented three projects that used modern agricultural technologies in the first five months of the year.

They include growing a high-yield peanut variety on sand dunes in Trà Cú, Cầu Ngang and Duyên Hải districts, producing bio-products EMTV1 and EMTV2 and using them for breeding shrimp in Duyên Hải District and Duyên Hải Town, and growing honeydew melon in polyhouses equipped with drip irrigation system in Châu Thành District.

It has also worked with localities like Cầu Ngang District and Trà Vinh City for intercropping grapefruit and guava using efficient irrigation systems and growing clean watermelon in Cầu Ngang District and a fresh eating grape variety in combination with offering tourism services on a pilot basis in Trà Vinh City.

It also plans a project to compare the efficiency of models to grow honeydew melon on the ground and on substrates in polyhouses.

Phạm Minh Truyền, director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said the province has more than 17,000ha of hi-tech farming areas, including 10,400ha of aquaculture and 7,000ha of rice, vegetables and fruits.

In hi-tech cultivation, farmers use advanced technologies such as automatic irrigation, nano fertilisers, net houses, hydroponic methods, net houses, tissue culture, and good agricultural practices (GAP) standards.

In aquaculture, farmers use modern facilities for breeding shrimp under intensive and super intensive farming models.

Truyền said the province planned to use 1,500ha of unproductive rice fields and 500ha of sugarcane fields to grow high-value crops or perennial trees or rotate between rice and aquatic species on the same fields this year.

In the first five months of the year more than 1,200ha of rice fields and more than 125ha of sugarcane farms have been converted, with farmers growing vegetables, coconut and fruits and breeding aquatic species.

Sugarcane farmers have struggled in recent years because of low prices, and the province encourages them to switch to other crops.

Trà Vinh is one of the delta’s coastal provinces and has been severely affected by saltwater intrusion in the dry season.

So local authorities have dissuaded farmers from growing rice in coastal areas and those without irrigation, and encouraged them to switch to other crops.

Farmers who grow vegetables, corn and watermelon have earned an average of VNĐ80 – 90 million ($3,500 – 3,900) per hectare per crop this year, according to the province Plant Protection and Cultivation Sub-department.

It has instructed farmers to adopt GAP standards to increase the competitiveness of their produce and incomes. – VNS

Nhan said that in early January 2021, the northern mountain region, including Lao Cai Province, home to popular resort town Sa Pa, was hit by a cold snap resulting from a strong cold front. Responding to the news, he traveled to Lao Cai where he shot this photo of a lonely house inundated with white snow on Nhiu Co San Mountain of Y Ty Commune.

A small house stands alone on a tea hill in Moc Chau Town of northern Son La Province. At an altitude of 1,050 meters above sea level, Moc Chau with a temperate climate is suitable for growing tea.

This detached house is located amid the ripe golden rice terraces of Mu Cang Chai, Yen Bai Province, around seven hours’ drive to the northwest of Hanoi. The town sits at 1,000 meters above sea level at the foot of Hoang Lien Son Mountain Range, with its rice terraces stretching across 2,200 hectares of mountainside.

Nhan was fascinated by the image of a farmer sitting on a craft with his bundle of rice, floating on the jade waters of Quay Son River in Cao Bang Province on the border with China.

A ‘lonely’ house floats on a flooded mound, part of a resort near Dong Mo Lake on the outskirts of Son Tay in Hanoi. The lake at the foot of Ba Vi Mountain is about 40 kilometers from the capital, famous for its charming scenery.

A lone fisherman rows a coracle at dawn in the waters of Thang Binh District, central Quang Nam Province. This seaside fish market grows bustling at dawn when fishing boats flock ashore after a long night at sea. Traders typically resell fish and shrimp at various local markets.

A woman forages near a bridge across the Lai Giang River in Hoai Nhon District of central Binh Dinh Province.

‘A lonely boat’ waits at a wharf, taken at Phu Ngan River in Tuy An District of central Phu Yen Province.

Nhan sits next to a “lonely tree” in the middle of the night, looking at the starry sky near Da Dia Reef, a popular tourist attraction in central Phu Yen Province, his hometown.

A woman in the middle of a green field against a darkening sky, taken in the remote district of Krong Bong in the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak.

A lonely boatman on Tuyen Lam Lake in an early morning, surrounded by a forest of hollong trees during the leave changing season.

A street vendor crosses the hill leaving footprints in the sand in Mui Ne, a popular coastal town in south central Binh Thuan Province.

Photos by Cao Ky Nhan