Inclusión social en el proceso REDD en el Perú: una perspectiva de gobernanza en múltiples niveles

REDD is one of the latest additions to a series of incentive-based mechanisms for reducing carbon emissions. Although international negotiations have not eliminated uncertainties regarding its social, economic and political implications, many developing and emerging countries have begun to engage in REDD. Peru, the country with the world’s fourth largest tropical forest area has good reason to participate in REDD: deforestation currently causes about half of Peru’s annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.In the last eight years, public and private actors across scales have undertaken various initiatives – resulting in a multi-level governance patchwork with top-down and bottom-up processes and institutions that operate in parallel. Our study addresses this hotchpotch and its challenges to key aspects of good governance.First, we mapped Peru’s complex REDD governance architecture and the role of major stakeholders. At the national level, we scrutinized Peru’s readiness preparation proposal (R–PP) and its plan for the Forest Investment Programme (FIP), the REDD stakeholders roundtable, decentralization of forest-related competencies, and the dif cult birth of new national laws on forests and full, prior and informed consent (FPIC). At the regional level, the study focuses on the two key regions of San Martín and Madre de Dios, mapping their most important forest policies and forms of stakeholder self-organization. Finally, we investigated four pilot projects with very different legal status that re ect the broad scope of REDD projects in Peru.Second, we conducted a stakeholder-based assessment of different dimensions of social inclusion in Peruvian REDD governance. Despite the exibility offered by the numerous processes, we found areas that need improvement. In some cases these are merely teething problems; others are deeply rooted in socio-economic imbalances and political culture. The challenges include: the insuf cient nancial, technical and human capacities of ministries and regional governments; a legitimacy gap due to the dominance of certain NGOs and companies; information and participation asymmetries of forest users in REDD projects, which can cause social tension; insuf cient consideration of informal settlers; and insecurity regarding the distribution of REDD revenues among investors, NGOs and forest users

Analysis of Ratios in Multivariate Morphometry

The analysis of ratios of body measurements is deeply ingrained in the taxonomic literature. Whether for plants or animals, certain ratios are commonly indicated in identification keys, diagnoses, and descriptions. They often provide the only means for separation of cryptic species that mostly lack distinguishing qualitative characters. Additionally, they provide an obvious way to study differences in body proportions, as ratios reflect geometric shape differences. However, when it comes to multivariate analysis of body measurements, for instance, with linear discriminant analysis (LDA) or principal component analysis (PCA), interpretation using body ratios is difficult. Both techniques are commonly applied for separating similar taxa or for exploring the structure of variation, respectively, and require standardized raw or log-transformed variables as input. Here, we develop statistical procedures for the analysis of body ratios in a consistent multivariate statistical framework. In particular, we present algorithms adapted to LDA and PCA that allow the interpretation of numerical results in terms of body proportions. We first introduce a method called the “LDA ratio extractor,” which reveals the best ratios for separation of two or more groups with the help of discriminant analysis. We also provide measures for deciding how much of the total differences between individuals or groups of individuals is due to size and how much is due to shape. The second method, a graphical tool called the “PCA ratio spectrum,” aims at the interpretation of principal components in terms of body ratios. Based on a similar idea, the “allometry ratio spectrum” is developed which can be used for studying the allometric behavior of ratios. Because size can be defined in different ways, we discuss several concepts of size. Central to this discussion is Jolicoeur's multivariate generalization of the allometry equation, a concept that was derived only with a heuristic argument. Here we present a statistical derivation of the allometric size vector using the method of least squares. The application of the above methods is extensively demonstrated using published data sets from parasitic wasps and rock crabs

Multiscale DNA partitioning: statistical evidence for segments. Bioinformatics

Abstract Motivation: DNA segmentation, i.e. the partitioning of DNA in compositionally homogeneous segments, is a basic task in bioinformatics. Different algorithms have been proposed for various partitioning criteria such as GC content, local ancestry in population genetics, or copy number variation. A critical component of any such method is the choice of an appropriate number of segments. Some methods use model selection criteria, and do not provide a suitable error control. Other methods that are based on simulating a statistic under a null model provide suitable error control only if the correct null model is chosen. Results: Here, we focus on partitioning with respect to GC content and propose a new approach that provides statistical error control: as in statistical hypothesis testing, it guarantees with a user specified probability 1−α that the number of identified segments does not exceed the number of actually present segments. The method is based on a statistical multiscale criterion, rendering this as segmentation method which searches segments of any length (on all scales), simultaneously. It is also very accurate in localizing segments: under bench-mark scenarios, our approach leads to a segmentation that is more accurate than the approaches discussed in the comparative review of Availability: Our method is implemented in function smuceR of the R-package stepR, available fro

Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation in Peru: a challenge to social inclusion and multi-level governance

REDD is one of the latest additions to a series of incentive-based mechanisms for reducing carbon emissions. Although international negotiations have not eliminated uncertainties regarding its social, economic and political implications, many developing and emerging countries have begun to engage in REDD. Peru, the country with the world’s fourth largest tropical forest area has good reason to participate in REDD: deforestation currently causes about half of Peru’s annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.In the last eight years, public and private actors across scales have undertaken various initiatives – resulting in a multi-level governance patchwork with top-down and bottom-up processes and institutions that operate in parallel. Our study addresses this hotchpotch and its challenges to key aspects of good governance.First, we mapped Peru’s complex REDD governance architecture and the role of major stakeholders. At the national level, we scrutinized Peru’s readiness preparation proposal (R–PP) and its plan for the Forest Investment Programme (FIP), the REDD stakeholders roundtable, decentralization of forest-related competencies, and the dif cult birth of new national laws on forests and full, prior and informed consent (FPIC). At the regional level, the study focuses on the two key regions of San Martín and Madre de Dios, mapping their most important forest policies and forms of stakeholder self- organization. Finally, we investigated four pilot projects with very different legal status that re ect the broad scope of REDD projects in Peru.Second, we conducted a stakeholder-based assessment of different dimensions of social inclusion in Peruvian REDD governance. Despite the exibility offered by the numerous processes, we found areas that need improvement. In some cases these are merely teething problems; others are deeply rooted in socio-economic imbalances and political culture. The challenges include: the insuf cient nancial, technical and human capacities of ministries and regional governments; a legitimacy gap due to the dominance of certain NGOs and companies; information and participation asymmetries of forest users in REDD projects, which can cause social tension; insuf cient consideration of informal settlers; and insecurity regarding the distribution of REDD revenues among investors, NGOs and forest users.Third, we introduce and discuss options for addressing some of these challenges, including:• Streamlining REDD processes with policies from other sectors such as agriculture and mining, and improving spatial planning;• Formalizing channels of communication and consultation to ensure fair and equal opportunities for exchanges between civil society and the ministries;• Establishing an independent entity as part of a multi-stakeholder safeguard information system (SIS) that will frequently provide forest users with in-depth information about REDD processes and help users to develop their own ideas about REDD;• Integrating forest users – not just as bene ciaries but rather as co-implementers of REDD projects;• Encompassing push and pull factors, for example, through a levy that channels a portion of REDD revenues towards eradicating poverty in the Andean highlands in an effort to stem migration into forested areas.REDD can only be as socially inclusive as the political, legal and social systems in which it is implemented. In Peru, this implies enhancing the overarching policies of social inclusion in the country, disentangling land titles and their governance, and improving mechanisms for veri cation and enforcement