Slowly getting there: a review of country experience on estimating emissions and removals from forest degradation.

Estimating emissions and removals from forest degradation is important, yet challenging, for many countries. This paper reports results from analysis of country reporting (to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and also to several climate finance initiatives) and key take-aways from a south-south exchange workshop among 17 countries with forest mitigation programmes. During the workshop discussions it became clear that, where forest degradation is a major source of emissions, governments want to include it when reporting on their mitigation efforts.

Exploring the feasibility of conducting a randomised controlled trial of group-based pregnancy care and education: a pilot randomised controlled trial in Melbourne, Australia.

Background: In group-based pregnancy models, antenatal care and childbirth/parenting education are provided in groups of eight to 10 women, usually with two midwives, and six to eight sessions. Current evidence is inconclusive regarding potential benefit or harm. We aimed to explore the feasibility of implementing an adequately powered randomised controlled trial (RCT).

Does urbanisation lead to parallel demographic shifts across the world in a cosmopolitan plant?

Urbanisation is occurring globally, leading to dramatic environmental changes that are altering the ecology and evolution of species. In particular, the expansion of human infrastructure and the loss and fragmentation of natural habitats in cities is predicted to increase genetic drift and reduce gene flow by reducing the size and connectivity of populations. Alternatively, the 'urban facilitation model' suggests that some species will have greater gene flow into and within cities leading to higher diversity and lower differentiation in urban populations.

Coupling remote sensing and eDNA to monitor environmental impact: A pilot to quantify the environmental benefits of sustainable agriculture in the Brazilian Amazon.

Monitoring is essential to ensure that environmental goals are being achieved, including those of sustainable agriculture. Growing interest in environmental monitoring provides an opportunity to improve monitoring practices. Approaches that directly monitor land cover change and biodiversity annually by coupling the wall-to-wall coverage from remote sensing and the site-specific community composition from environmental DNA (eDNA) can provide timely, relevant results for parties interested in the success of sustainable agricultural practices.