内容摘要：Indonesia’s Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources did not respond to a request for comment.

Indonesia’s Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources did not respond to a request for comment.

hopes will help solve a paradox at the heart of growing rice: The finicky crop isn’t just vulnerable to climate change but also contributes uniquely to it.Rice must be grown separately from other crops and seedlings have to be individually planted in flooded fields; backbreaking, dirty work requiring a lot of labor and water that generates a lot of methane,

that can trap more than 80-times more heat in the atmosphere in the short term than carbon dioxide.A worker surveys Vo Van Van’s rice fields after spraying fertilizer over the fields using a drone in Long An province in southern Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)A worker surveys Vo Van Van’s rice fields after spraying fertilizer over the fields using a drone in Long An province in southern Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

It’s a problem unique to growing rice, as inundated fields stop oxygen from entering the soil, creating the conditions for methane-producing bacteria. Rice paddies contribute 8% of all human-made methane in the atmosphere,Vietnam is the world’s third-largest rice exporter, and the staple importance to Vietnamese culture is palpable in the Mekong Delta. The fertile patchwork of green fields crisscrossed by silvery waterways has helped stave off famine since the Vietnam War ended in 1975. Rice isn’t just the

, it is considered a gift from the gods and continues to be venerated.

It is molded into noodles and sheets and fermented into wine. In busy markets, motorcyclists lug 10-kilogram (22-pound) bags to their homes. Barges haul mountains of the grain up and down the Mekong River. Rice kernels are then dried and hulled by machines before they’re packed for sale in factories, lined from floor to ceiling with sacks of rice.On a recent day in July, when Esther and her friends spotted elephant footprints on the way from school, they reported it to a wildlife ranger. The animals had cut across a farming field and bush path that they regularly use to and from school. A few days prior, a child was severely injured from a crocodile attack.

Increased wildlife activity near people mean that children in Zimbabwe are at risk of attacks by animals while walking long distances to and from school. Authorities and parents hope an initiative that teaches them how to identify dangers could mitigate the risk. (AP video: Tonderai Gonorenda/Producer: Nqobile Ntshangase)Although no fatalities have been reported, Esther and her friends are still cautious.

“We usually walk in groups to feel safer,” said Esther.Since last year, the privately-owned Save Valley Conservancy and the country’s parks agency have been running a program for school-age children on how to recognize danger signs and how to coexist with wildlife. Dozens of students such as Esther are now able to identify different wildlife footprints, animal sounds and can read wind direction by the blowing sand and know how and when to take cover.