Deforestation is a major driver of climate change contributing ～ 12% of global anthropogenic CO_2 atmospheric emissions. A climate mitigation mechanism called Reduction Emission from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD) has been developed to tackle emissions due to forest loss in developing countries. In light of the final document agreed at the 15th UN Conference of the Parties, REDD will be central in any post- 2012 climate agreement. Nonetheless, REDD's political, economical and scientific challenges should still be addressed. To aid the scientific community, a review of current and future deforestation estimates in terms of forest surface change, carbon density, and carbon flux has been prepared. In addition, current estimates of REDD mitigation potential and a simple case study have also been examined. Preliminary results are presented here.
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