ABSTRACT
Introduction Brazil could make a substantial contribution to climate change mitigation should the UNFCCC include a ‘reduction of emissions from deforestation and degradation’ (REDD) mechanism in its post-2012 framework. About 75 per cent of Brazil’s CO2 emissions do not result from the burning of fossil fuels, as is the case in the industrialized countries and in countries such as China and India, but rather from land-use changes, specifically deforestation and fires in its tropical forests. This emission profile is similar to that of Indonesia. Thus, Brazil’s most effective potential contribution to climate change mitigation is to reduce deforestation.
