Environment

Solutions to boost sustainable development of agriculture in response to climate change are among issues that delegates of APEC member economies have spent time discussing over the last few days of the APEC Economic Leaders’ Week in Da Nang city.

A new study based on the first global survey of marine life by scuba divers has provided fresh insights into how climate change is affecting the distribution of marine life. The research predicts that as the oceans warm fish -- which appear to be superior predators in warm water -- will extend their ranges away from the equator and cause a decline in the diversity of invertebrates such as crabs, lobsters, sea urchins and whelks.

Brazil’s soybean crop is 20% planted vs. 29% year ago.

Nitrification inhibitors can protect fall nitrogen against loss and increase the amount of nitrogen present in the ammonium form the following spring.

EPA will monitor the success of these changes to help inform its decision whether to allow the continued over the top use of dicamba beyond the 2018 growing season.

Over 130 oxen have died from severe drought while thousands of other cattle and poultry are struggling with the lack of water and nutrition in a Dak Lak Province district in Vietnam’s Central Highlands. The devastating climate has caused 83 oxen in Ia Lop Commune and 50 more in Ia Rve Commune in Ea Sup District to die, while destroying hundreds of hectares of crops and draining 91 drilled wells in the locality, the local Office of Agriculture and Rural Development said on Wednesday.

ĐẮK LẮK – More than 130 cows and thousands of chickens and ducks died from drought in Ea Súp District in the Central Highlands province of Đắk Lắk, according to the latest statistics from the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. The cows and birds died due to a shortage of drinking water and nutrition. In Ia Lốp Commune alone, more than 80 cows died, whereas Ia Rvê Commune had more than 50 cow deaths.

All forces should be mobilised to cope with severe drought and saline intrusion in order to ensure food and fresh water for daily usage, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat said at a meeting yesterday. Topics addressed by the Central Steering Committee for Natural Calamities Preparedness and Control included measures to confront drought and saline intrusion in the Central Highlands, southern central and Mekong Delta regions. Phat asked localities to closely watch weather and saline intrusion developments and water resources to adequately promote effective measures that would minimise production losses and stabilise incomes.

Losses from the severe drought that is parching central and southern Vietnam have risen to almost US$250 million as it ravages vast plantations and seafood farms, officials said. The number was compiled by the Central Steering Committee on Natural Disasters Prevention which surveyed the impact on agriculture in the Central Highlands, south central provinces and the Mekong Delta in the last three and a half months. The drought, the worst in the country in 90 years, has destroyed nearly 260,000 hectares of rice and vegetables, more than 160,000 hectares of orchards and cash crops and more than 4,500 hectares of seafood farms, according to the report.

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — As China opened one of its six dams on the upper Mekong River last month to help parched Southeast Asian countries down river cope with a record drought, it was hailed as benevolent water diplomacy. But to critics of hydroelectric dams built on the Mekong over the concerns of governments and activists, it was the self-serving act of a country that, along with hydropower-exporting Laos, has helped worsen the region’s water and environmental problems.

The worst drought ever recorded in Vietnam is stoking fears of a food security crisis. In a meeting with government officials next week, researchers with the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT)’s Asia regional office in Hanoi will unveil maps showing how water scarcity and climate change may imperil key crops—rice, cassava, maize, coffee, and cashew nuts—across the country. 

Rice production in Vietnam has increased significantly over the last few decades such that enough rice is produced there not only to supply Vietnam’s needs but also to support a major export industry. About half the rice in Vietnam is grown in the Mekong Delta, at the southern end of the country; The water-rich Mekong Delta with its tropical climate is well suited to rice production in flooded paddies. However, flooded rice paddies also result in substantial emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Rice grown in the Mekong Delta alone is responsible for about 8 to 9% of the Vietnam’s total GHG emissions, according to the Vietnam 2014 Biennial Report to the UNFCCC and this is a conservative estimate.

A new study by Vietnam predicts adverse effects along the Mekong River if 11 proposed dams are built on its lower mainstream. Experts have long warned that the Mekong River, which flows from China into mainland Southeast Asia and provides food, water, and transportation to tens of millions of people, could be at risk as riparian nations build a string of dams to fuel their economic development.

HÀ NỘI — Central Highlands province of Đắk Lắk has invested VNĐ26 billion (US$1.15 million) on drilling bore wells and building water supply projects. The move aims to provide water against drought to save dry plants and help local residents who face shortage of water for domestic use. According to Nguyá»…n Tuấn Hà, deputy chairman of the provincial People’s Committee, as of April 4, the province has nearly 37,000ha of dry plants, whose productivity has plunged by 30 per cent to 70 per cent. The total plant loss has been valued at more than VNĐ1.1 trillion ($49 million). Coffee, pepper and wet rice are among the crops that face the maximum devastation.