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.     

Parametric cubic splines and geologic shape descriptions

Parametric cubic splines provide a versatile means of describing and sampling shapes and curves commonly found in geology. These splines allow the researcher to treat easily curves which are not single-valued in Cartesian or polar coordinates. In addition, they simultaneously provide approximations to positions, slopes, and curvatures of the curve being considered. In conjunction with simple digitizing equipment and a small computer, the method of parametric cubic spline approximation allows the researcher to analyze curves or outlines in cases where the more rapid technique involving video imaging equipment is either not applicable or not available.     

Coupling hydrogeological with surface runoff model in a Poltva case study in Western Ukraine

This paper presents the hydrological coupling of the software framework OpenGeoSys (OGS) with the EPA Storm Water Management Model (SWMM). Conceptual models include the Saint Venant equation for river flow, the 2D Darcy equations for confined and unconfined groundwater flow, a two-way hydrological coupling flux in a compartment coupling approach (conductance concept), and Lagrangian particles for solute transport in the river course. A SWMM river–OGS aquifer inter-compartment coupling flux is examined for discharging groundwater in a systematic parameter sensitivity analysis. The parameter study involves a small perturbation (first-order) sensitivity analysis and is performed for a synthetic test example base-by-base through a comprehensive range of aquifer parametrizations. Through parametrization, the test cases enables to determine the leakance parameter for simulating streambed clogging and non-ocillatory river-aquifer water exchange rates with the sequential (partitioned) coupling scheme. The implementation is further tested with a hypothetical but realistic 1D river–2D aquifer model of the Poltva catchment, where discharging groundwater in the upland area affects the river–aquifer coupling fluxes downstream in the river course (propagating feedbacks). Groundwater contribution in the moving river water is numerically determined with Lagrangian particles. A numerical experiment demonstrates that the integrated river–aquifer model is a serviceable and realistic constituent in a complete compartment model of the Poltva catchment.     

Further examples of ventifacts and unusual patterned ground from the Falkland Islands, South Atlantic

Abstract Examples of ventifacts and forms of unusual patterned ground that differ in situation, characteristics and/or origin to types reported previously are described from the Falkland Islands, South Atlantic. The ventifacts, represented by clasts projecting from an eroding tillite shore platform, have been grooved by the passage of windblown sand. The patterned ground forms comprise stone polygons on clay loam regolith, stone polygons on peat, peat‐filled desiccation cracks on peat, and clusters of on‐edge clasts (stone packings) on a gravel beach. Aeolian transport of particles is considered responsible for the infill of the polygonal cracks. The clusters of on‐edge clasts are thought to have developed as a result of wave action, in particular backwash and/or undertow. Although these features occupy small surface areas they provide useful information about local geomorphic processes and testify to the marked diversity of such features in nature.     

Reproductive life history stages sensitive to oil and naphthalene in Atlantic croaker

The reproductive effects of chronic exposure to water-soluble fractions (WSF) of diesel fuel oil and naphthalene in female Atlantic croaker during critical periods of their reproductive life history were investigated. Fish were repeatedly exposed to WSF of oil (2.5 or 5%) or naphthalene (0.5 or 1.0 ppm) for 5 or 8 weeks. Both pollutants blocked sexual maturation in some fish and impaired ovarian recrudescence in others. The majority of the oocytes in exposed fish were undeveloped and widespread oocyte atresia was evident at higher concentrations of these polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). The disruption of ovarian growth and oocyte development in croaker after PAH exposure was associated with alterations in reproductive endocrine function at multiple sites on the hypothalamus-pituitarygonadal axis. A third period of increased sensitivity to xenobiotics was observed during final oocyte maturation.