Prospects for mitigating climate change through avoided deforestation: Conclusions and outlook

Introduction The chapters presented in this volume, Avoided Deforestation: Prospects for Mitigating Climate Change, highlight the importance of avoided deforestation as part of a global strategy to mitigate the build-up of anthropogenic GHG emissions into the earth’s atmosphere. Not only is deforestation the second largest single source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, accounting for up to one-fifth of global emissions, but it also makes up more than one-third of developing countries’ emissions. Incorporating deforestation could provide an opening for the active participation of developing countries in emission reduction efforts under an international climate change regime (Dutschke and Wolf, 2007).