Un-redd programme on forest management in Cameroon Thesis

Un-redd programme on forest management in Cameroon - Thesis Example It uses the convening power and expertise of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The UN-REDD Programme has 29 partner countries across Africa, Asia-Pacific and Latin America; of these 13 receive support to National Programme activities. The Central African Republic including Cameroon, besides other countries such as Argentina, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Gabon, Guatemala, Guyana, and several others not receiving direct support to national programmes engage with the Programme in a number of ways such as observers to the Programme’s Policy Board, and through participation in regional workshops and knowledge sharing enabled by the Programme’s interactive online workspace (UN-REDD 2009). Thesis Statement: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the UN-REDD Programme in developing countries, particularly in Cameroon in Central Africa. The UN-REDD, its goals, objectives and targets in Cameroon, the UN-REDD in relation to governance, corruption and sustainable development in Cameroon, as well as the challenges or shortcomings in reducing greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in Cameroon will be examined. Reform in the Rainforests of Cameroon Cameroon, is a tropical country in Central Africa and part of the Congo Basin. â€Å"It contains the largest piece of rainforest on the African continent and the second largest area of contiguous moist tropical forest of the world† (Westholm, Henders, Ostwald & Mattson 2009: 44). Cameroon continues to have vast forest resources, and is at the forefront of forestry sector reform in Africa. It is expected that the country will play a constructive role in Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD). Cameroon has a population of 16.5 million inhabitants, of which about 30,000 indigenous people live on an area of 4,75,000 square kilometers. A part of the vast 198 million hectares Congo Basin rainforest is in Cameroon, covering 16.9 million hectares, forming 40 percent of the national territory. This forest is rich in fauna and flora providing â€Å"food, medicines, fuel wood and construction materials for about 8 million rural Cameroonians† (Aronsen, Lindhjem & Braten 2010: 7). The forestry sector forms the core of the Cameroonian economy, generating about 13,000 formal and 1,50,000 informal jobs, thus becoming the largest employer outside the public sector. Timber is the second largest source of export revenues after petroleum, accounting for 4.8 percent of non-petroleum GDP in 2004 (Aronsen et al 2010). â€Å"The deforestation rate is 1,53,700 hectares per year, or 0.72%, according to the National communication, although latest assessments ha ve yielded much lower rates† (Westholm et al 2009: 44). From the year 1994, Cameroon regulated access to its rainforests, balanced public and private interests in those forests, and combined a broad range of economic, cultural, and environmental approaches to the value of the forests, by introducing regulatory and market-based reforms. According to Topa, Megevand and Karsenty (2009), reports based on evidence from historical data and extensive interviews indicate that the reforms brought order among the most highly competing interests, and addressed vital environmental and social issues; however a significant part of the agenda remains incomplete. The reports provide information to the public on the boundaries, ownership, use rights, and management of Cameroon’s rainforests, together with detection and prosecution of illegal activities. There has been

Vibrators in American society Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Vibrators in American society - Research Paper Example Terming vibrators as massage devices is commonly regarded as a euphemism for having vibrators for sex toys as it is the most usual word applied by those that are found with the said devices. The above is rampant in American societies that do not condone the use of vibrators for sexual pleasure let alone being in possession of the same for massage purposes, while in highly religious American societies; this is shunned upon and termed as evil. Looking at families, the use of this device is common but usually occurs without other people as the use of vibrators is termed as confidential and not public knowledge, which is the same way in which issues of sex are treated. When children come across these devices they are told that these are massagers and are even shown how they work, but not in a sexual manner. In addition to the use of vibrators as massagers, the American society is quite innovative in that it has found novel ways for their use in massage. This can be seen in the case of vo ice coaches using vibrators to massage the throats of singers in an attempt to release tension in the vocal cords for better voice projection (NewsBite, 2013). As a result, these sex partners or sex toys have more uses than just sexual pleasure despite their procurement from sex shops. Another look at vibrators indicates that these devices may be more popular than marriage in the American society based on different studies conducted on Americans. One such study was conducted by Indiana University, where the prevalence of vibrators is higher than the popularity of men. This is especially so amongst women who were found to prefer the use of this device rather than engaging in actual sexual activities with real life men. The above is especially fascinating considering that the studies show a majority of women in the American society as having used a vibrator at one time or the other in their entire life time (Selim, 2009). Further analysis in marriages indicated that women who were mar ried still used the same devices and a comparison of married women at 51% of the entire American female population against 53% of all women that have used the device either in marriage or not shows the popularity of the vibrator. To eliminate gender bias by looking only at the female population, a look at the male population indicates that a large number of men have also used vibrators. The number ranges anything between 40% to 50% of men aged between 18 and 60 and these are just the ones that have used a vibrator at one time of their lives whether individually or with partners (Selim, 2009). The above is also the case for women who used vibrators as sexual partners, where some used them with partners and other just alone. Vibrators over the years have been deemed as an important part of sexual experience in light of their usage by the American society, especially based on early mechanization and electrification of the device. Analysis on the use of vibrators from the early 1900s is indicative of this fact, where there original use was to treat hysteria and other elusive disorders by physicians in the privacy and convenience of their own clinics (Maines, 2001). It is from this that the mechanical use of vibrators

Biological Basis of Morality (Animals) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Biological Basis of Morality (Animals) - Essay Example Animals in circuses can, through programmed behavior, produce incredible performances due to constant practice and strict regimen. These aspects have been discussed in detail in the article through which a reader becomes able to clearly understand the author’s perspective. In general, animals mainly cater to their biological needs like food, sleep, urge for procreation and fear. These are the four factors that the animals share with humans but when one considers the intellectual aspects animals are not bestowed with this faculty. Thus whatever they do depends on their biological needs as emerging from the article, without having an influence from psychological or philosophical needs as opposed to humans. It can be seen that animals do certain activity as discussed below which is common to humans; but how they do it is different because while all acts of animals stem from their biological structure, humans are also motivated and guided by their intellect. I will illustrate below how the arguments in the article are supported from examining the acts common to humans and animals, and how they differ in the context of morality in both groups: - Both animals and humans have to work for satisfying their hunger. While animals hunt for food, human beings work to earn their livelihood. The biological urges in animals force them to kill weaker animals and birds to satisfy their hunger. Therefore, it can be stated that the biological structure is what makes them do this activity. Humans, on the other hand, do not kill out of a biological need to satisfy hunger; if at all a human being kills, it is after a lot of meditation, for a specific purpose and not necessarily to quell his hunger. Sleep is essential for all living beings. It is during this period that they recharge their mental and physical capacities to prepare themselves for work to be performed during the next day. A human

Ethical Issue currently facing the Army Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 1

Ethical Issue currently facing the Army - Essay Example With the attack being at the center stage of making references, this paper unearth on how the American response to the attack related with the ethics as stipulated in the military. The paper then discusses factors that necessitated the emergence of the issue, its impacts in the military and the perceived enemies and civilians. Thus, recommendations after a scrutiny of the above concerns are made in attempt to enable the military amicable strike a suitable balance regarding the ethical conduct and response. Following the chronology given above, this paper tends to account for every stage as considered below. With reference to the abstract, appreciation that in military, the junior officers take orders without questioning is construable. In this case, we will be considering the act of killing in military. Given the level of orders execution in the military, chances are that they can partake in mass killing without justification on the perceived enemies and observes nothing sinister. This is because they are not given the chance to evaluate what is ethical and, which is not. Considering the religious teachings from Christianity, Hindu, and the Buddhist, there is unequivocal respect to the sanctity of life and that none should deprive the other such right. Killing in this context is prohibited and not tolerated-it is immoral and unethical. This consideration has sparked animated debate within the military since the ethical aspect of killing has gained tremendous momentum and it is now being given keen inclusion in the military training. Currently, the military training has been restructured to include stringent observation and adherence to the cardinal principle of respecting life whether it is coming from the direction of the enemy or the civilian. Since the period of World War I and II, Period of the cold war where America and Russia