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Measurement, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) systems are thought to be essential for effective carbon accounting and joint REDD+ carbon, conservation, and social development goals. Community participation in MRV (PMRV) has been shown to be both cost effective and accurate, as well as a method to potentially advance stakeholder empowerment and perceptions of legitimacy. Recognizing land tenure as a long-standing point of tension in REDD+ planning, we argue that its engagement also has a key role to play in developing a legitimate PMRV. Using household surveys, key informant interviews, and participatory mapping exercises, we present three 'lived' land tenure contexts in Indonesia to highlight their socially and ecologically situated natures and to consider the role of tenure pluralism in shaping PMRV. We then raise and interrogate three questions for incorporating lived land tenure contexts into a legitimate PMRV system: 1) Who holds the right to conduct PMRV activities?; 2) How are the impacts of PMRV differentially distributed within local communities?; and 3) What is the relationship between tenure security and motivation to participate in PMRV? We conclude with implementation lessons for REDD+ practitioners, including the benefits of collaborative practices, and point to critical areas for further research.

The 2011 South African national census shows a cohort of young adults comprising an increasing share of the population. This finding is borne out in longitudinal data from the Agincourt Health and Demographic Surveillance System (HDSS). This primarily descriptive paper uses the Agincourt HDSS to examine the migration, employment and unemployment patterns in young adults. The study reveals high levels of temporary labour migration linking rural areas to metropolitan areas and secondary urban places. The type of work conducted by young adults in the Agincourt population is predominantly unskilled labour for both sexes. However, there is some evidence of female employment increasing in more educated sectors. Across all working ages there is pronounced unemployment, but the main pressure is felt by the younger adult population. Education and skills development for both sexes should be strengthened to support the country’s efforts to vastly improve labour force participation amongst the youth.

Forest inventory data often provide the required base data to enable the large area mapping of biomass over a range of scales. However, spatially explicit estimates of above-ground biomass (AGB) over large areas may be limited by the spatial extent of the forest inventory relative to the area of interest (i.e., inventories not spatially exhaustive), or by the omission of inventory attributes required for biomass estimation. These spatial and attributional gaps in the forest inventory may result in an underestimation of large area AGB. The continuous nature and synoptic coverage of remotely sensed data have led to their increased application for AGB estimation over large areas, although the use of these data remains challenging in complex forest environments. In this paper, we present an approach to generating spatially explicit estimates of large area AGB by integrating AGB estimates from multiple data sources; 1. using a lookup table of conversion factors applied to a non-spatially exhaustive forest inventory dataset (R2 = 0.64; RMSE = 16.95 t/ha), 2. applying a lookup table to unique combinations of land cover and vegetation density outputs derived from remotely sensed data (R2 = 0.52; RMSE = 19.97 t/ha), and 3. hybrid mapping by augmenting forest inventory AGB estimates with remotely sensed AGB estimates where there are spatial or attributional gaps in the forest inventory data. Over our 714,852 ha study area in central Saskatchewan, Canada, the AGB estimate generated from the forest inventory was approximately 40 Mega tonnes (Mt); however, the inventory estimate represents only 51% of the total study area. The AGB estimate generated from the remotely sensed outputs that overlap those made from the forest inventory based approach differ by only 2 %; however in total, the remotely sensed estimate is 30 % greater (58 Mt) than the estimate generated from the forest inventory when the entire study area is accounted for. Finally, using the hybrid approach, whereby the remotely sensed inputs were used to fill spatial gaps in the forest inventory, the total AGB for the study area was estimated at 62 Mt. In the example presented, data integration facilitates comprehensive and spatially explicit estimation of AGB for the entire study area.

We thank Robinson et al. (1) for their thoughtful comments on our article (2). We agree with their main point, which is that our findings about the link between titling and forest cover change are context- and time-specific, and do not necessarily generalize to other countries and other periods. However, it is important to make clear that our article (2): ( i ) does not claim to present generalizable findings, ( ii ) nonetheless significantly advances our understanding of the above-noted link, and ( iii ) includes the four caveats discussed in the Robinson et al. letter (1). Regarding the first point, our article (2) demonstrates that titling indigenous communities in the Peruvian Amazon in the early 2000s … [↵][1]1To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: allenb{at}iadb.org. [1]: #xref-corresp-1-1

Despite its appeal to explain plant invasions, the enemy release hypothesis (ERH) remains largely unexplored for tropical forest trees. Even scarcer are ERH studies conducted on the same host species at both the community and biogeographical scale, irrespective of the system or plant life form. In Cabrits National Park, Dominica, we observed patterns consistent with enemy release of two introduced, congeneric mahogany species, Swietenia macrophylla and S. mahagoni, planted almost 50 years ago. Swietenia populations at Cabrits have reproduced, with S. macrophylla juveniles established in and out of plantation areas at densities much higher than observed in its native range. Swietenia macrophylla juveniles also experienced significantly lower leaf-level herbivory (∼3.0%) than nine co-occurring species native to Dominica (8.4-21.8%), and far lower than conspecific herbivory observed in its native range (11%-43%, on average). These complimentary findings at multiple scales support ERH, and confirm that Swietenia has naturalized at Cabrits. However, Swietenia abundance was positively correlated with native plant diversity at the seedling stage, and only marginally negatively correlated with native plant abundance for stems ≥1-cm dbh. Taken together, these descriptive patterns point to relaxed enemy pressure from specialized enemies, specifically the defoliator Steniscadia poliophaea and the shoot-borer Hypsipyla grandella, as a leading explanation for the enhanced recruitment of Swietenia trees documented at Cabrits.

BACKGROUND Previous serological studies have shown controversial results whether defibrillation or cardioversion can cause myocardial injury. Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (CMR) can be used to detect myocardial edema, hyperemia and capillary leak as features of acute myocardial injury. The aim of this study was to assess for myocardial and skeletal muscle injury in swine following transthoracic shocks. METHODS Seventeen anaesthetized swine were examined, with 11 undergoing five synchronized transthoracic shocks (200J). Myocardial and skeletal muscle injury were assessed at baseline and up to 5h post-shock employing T1 mapping, T2 mapping, early and late gadolinium enhancement. Serologic markers (cFABP, TnI, CK, and CK-MB) and myocardial tissue were assessed by standard histology methods. RESULTS In myocardial regions within the shock path, T1 and T2 were significantly increased compared to remote myocardium in the same animals. The early gadolinium enhancement ratio between the left-ventricular myocardium and the right pectoral muscle was also increased compared to control animals. After the shocks cFABP and CK were significantly elevated. After shock application, the regions identified as abnormal by CMR showed significantly increased interstitial and myocardial cell areas in histological analysis. This increased cell area suggests significant cellular and interstitial edema. CONCLUSION Our pilot study data indicate that serial defibrillator shocks lead to acute skeletal muscle and myocardial injury. CMR is a useful tool to detect and localize myocardial and skeletal muscle injury early after transthoracic shocks in vivo. In the future the technique could potentially be used as an additional tool for quality control such as verifying insufficient local shock application in non-responders after cardioversion or to develop safer shock forms.