REDD+ readiness process in Cameroon: an analysis of multi-stakeholder perspectives

Cameroon has been a keen participant in Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation plus conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of carbon stocks (REDD+) negotiations since 2005 and has engaged in activities to enhance the implementation of REDD+. This article reviews progress on REDD+ readiness in Cameroon based on a multiple REDD+ functions framework. Results show that some progress has been made in terms of planning and coordination, institutional development, and the development of some REDD+ projects. Absence of a legal framework, inadequate procedures for stakeholder participation, slow progress in the development of a national strategy, monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) challenges, and weak financing remain prominent constraints. Despite having one of the slowest REDD Readiness Preparation Proposal (R-PP) processes in the Congo Basin, stakeholders feel strong ownership because the R-PP was done almost entirely by Cameroonian experts. Some opportunities for improving REDD+ can be considered going forward, including the establishment of procedures for a broader participatory process, speeding up the operationalization of the National Observatory on Climate Change, making use of the ongoing forestry law reform, consideration of a carbon concessions concept, tapping from international initiatives to build on MRV, and improving benefit sharing and financing through the development of an appropriate and decentralized mechanism. Enhancing these opportunities is fundamental for successful REDD+ implementation in Cameroon.

Policy relevance

This article offers a new multidimensional approach to assessing the REDD+ readiness process in Cameroon. This critical assessment, which is done using six key functions, provides an opportunity for enhanced understanding of the process by policy makers, decision makers, and professionals with a view to enabling improvements in the readiness process. Furthermore, the article proffers a series of opportunities that the government and other relevant stakeholders can capitalize on to overcome current hurdles affecting the REDD+ readiness process. It is hoped that policy makers driving the REDD+ process in Cameroon will be able to incorporate the findings of this research into their strategic policy, formulated to advance the REDD+ readiness process. More importantly, it is hoped that the multidimensional framework applied in this study could be useful for assessing REDD+ in similar contexts in the Congo Basin.     

Two-frequency timing of the pulsar B1937+21 in Kalyazin and Kashima in 1997–2002

We present the results from our timing of the millisecond pulsar B1937+21, performed jointly since 1997 on two radio telescopes: the RT-64 in Kalyazin (Russia) at a frequency of 0.6GHz and RT-34 in Kashima (Japan) at a frequency of 2.15 GHz. The rms value of the pulse time of arrival (TOA) residuals for the pulsar at the barycenter of the Solar system is 1.8 μs (the relative variation is ≈10^?14 over the observing period). The TOA residuals are shown to be dominated by white phase noise, which allows this pulsar to be used as an independent time scale keeper. The upper limit for the gravitational background energy density Ω_gh² at frequencies ≈6.5 × 10^?9 Hz is estimated to be no higher than 10^?6. Based on the long-term timing of the pulsar, we have improved its parameters and accurately determined the dispersion measure and its time variation over the period 1984–2002, which was, on average, ?0.00114(3) pc cm^?3 yr^?1.     

Reducing model complexity for explanation and prediction

Numerical models can be useful for explaining poorly understood phenomena or for reliable quantitative predictions. When modeling a multi-scale system, a ‘top-down’ approach—basing models on emergent variables and interactions, rather than explicitly on the much faster and smaller scale processes that give rise to them—facilitates both goals. Parameterizations representing emergent interactions range from highly simplified and abstracted to more quantitatively accurate. Empirically based large-scale parameterizations lead more reliably to accurate large-scale behavior than do parameterizations of much smaller scale processes. Conversely, purposefully simplified representations of model interactions can enhance a model's utility for explanation, clarifying the key feedbacks leading to an enigmatic behavior. For such potential insights to be relevant, the interactions in the model need to correspond to those in the ‘real’ system in some straightforward way. Such a correspondence usually holds for models constructed for predictive purposes, although this is not a requirement. The goals motivating a modeling endeavor help determine the most appropriate modeling strategies, as well as the most appropriate criteria for judging model usefulness.     

The vibrational characteristics of a twelve-storey steel frame building

The Ralph M. Parsons World Headquarters building, a twelve-storey steel frame structure, was subjected to a series of forced vibration tests. The natural frequencies, three-dimensional mode shapes and damping coefficients of nine modes of vibration were determined. Other features of this investigation included the study of non-linearities associated with increasing levels of response, detailed measurements of the deformation of the first floor and the ground surrounding the structure, and measurements of strain in one of the columns of the structure during forced excitation. The dynamic characteristics of the building determined by these tests are compared to those predicted by a finite element model of the structure. The properties of primarily translational modes are predicted reasonably well, but adequate prediction of torsional motions is not obtained. The comparison between measured and predicted strains suggests that estimates of stress determined from finite element analyses of buildings might be within 25 per cent of those experienced by the structure for a known excitation.     

A Challenging Solar Eruptive Event of 18 November 2003 and the Causes of the 20 November Geomagnetic Superstorm. III. Catastrophe of the Eruptive Filament at a Magnetic Null Point and Formation of an Opposite-Handedness CME

Our analysis in Papers I and II (Grechnev et al., Solar Phys. 289, 289, 2014b and Solar Phys. 289, 1279, 2014c) of the 18 November 2003 solar event responsible for the 20 November geomagnetic superstorm has revealed a complex chain of eruptions. In particular, the eruptive filament encountered a topological discontinuity located near the solar disk center at a height of about 100 Mm, bifurcated, and transformed into a large cloud, which did not leave the Sun. Concurrently, an additional CME presumably erupted close to the bifurcation region. The conjectures about the responsibility of this compact CME for the superstorm and its disconnection from the Sun are confirmed in Paper IV (Grechnev et al., Solar Phys. submitted, 2014a), which concludes about its probable spheromak-like structure. The present article confirms the presence of a magnetic null point near the bifurcation region and addresses the origin of the magnetic helicity of the interplanetary magnetic clouds and their connection to the Sun. We find that the orientation of a magnetic dipole constituted by dimmed regions with the opposite magnetic polarities away from the parent active region corresponded to the direction of the axial field in the magnetic cloud, while the pre-eruptive filament mismatched it. To combine all of the listed findings, we propose an intrinsically three-dimensional scheme, in which a spheromak-like eruption originates via the interaction of the initially unconnected magnetic fluxes of the eruptive filament and pre-existing ones in the corona. Through a chain of magnetic reconnections their positive mutual helicity was transformed into the self-helicity of the spheromak-like magnetic cloud.     

Orbital dynamics of three-dimensional bars – I. The backbone of three-dimensional bars. A fiducial case

In this series of papers we investigate the orbital structure of three-dimensional (3D) models representing barred galaxies. In the present introductory paper we use a fiducial case to describe all families of periodic orbits that may play a role in the morphology of three-dimensional bars. We show that, in a 3D bar, the backbone of the orbital structure is not just the x1 family, as in two-dimensional (2D) models, but a tree of 2D and 3D families bifurcating from x1. Besides the main tree we have also found another group of families of lesser importance around the radial 3:1 resonance. The families of this group bifurcate from x1 and influence the dynamics of the system only locally. We also find that 3D orbits elongated along the bar minor axis can be formed by bifurcations of the planar x2 family. They can support 3D bar-like structures along the minor axis of the main bar. Banana-like orbits around the stable Lagrangian points build a forest of 2D and 3D families as well. The importance of the 3D x1-tree families at the outer parts of the bar depends critically on whether they are introduced in the system as bifurcations in z or in   z˙   .     

Fluctuations of electron precipitation to the dayside auroral zone modulated by compression and expansion of the magnetosphere

Concurrent variations of CNA fluctuations and geomagnetic fluctuations are classified into Type 1 (substorm-type), Type 2 (Pc5-type), and Type 3 which is the object of the present study. Type 3 apparently has peculiar characteristics in that CNA fluctuations at a certain auroral-zone station show a pronounced positive correlation with magnetic fluctuations at distant low-latitude stations. The magnetic fluctuations of this type are identified to generalized Si which tends to take place much more frequently than the so-called Si. The CNA fluctuations of this type are found to take place on the dayside auroral zone only when preceded by a magnetic substorm on the night side. Considering the change of the growth rate of electron cyclotron instability and enhancement of pitch angle diffusion due to the change of magnetic field intensity, the following model is proposed to explain the occurrence mechanism of Type 3 concurrent variations. The CNA fluctuations take place only when two conditions are satisfied; generation of the accelerated electrons in association with substorm onset and modulation of the precipitation of the electrons by compression and expansion of the magnetosphere, in other words, by generalized Si.     

Relationship between exchangeable cations and palaeosalinity

In Carboniferous shales a relationship has been found between exchangeable cations and palaeosalinity. In the marine shales the concentration of exchangeable Mg is higher than in shales deposited in fresh and brackish water, and the concentrations of exchangeable Ca, Na and K are lower. The same relationships have been observed in modern sediments. When the cation concentrations in the whole rock are compared with the exchangeable cation concentrations, incorporation into the sediment of K and possibly Mg in the marine environment is indicated. Furthermore, the loss of Ca and Na from the sediment can be accounted for by the loss from exchange sites. Reactions taking place during halmyrolysis would appear to be more important than those taking place during diagenesis.