AbstractTropical deforestation is a major driver of climate change accounting for ∼12% of global anthropogenic CO2 emissions. A mitigation strategy named Reduction Emission from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD) has been developed to tackle emissions due to forest loss in developing countries. REDD will be the core instrument in any post-2012 climate agreement according to the final document of the 15th UN Conference of the Parties. Nonetheless, REDD's implementation presents several political and scientific challenges. A review of current and future deforestation estimates in terms of forest surface change, carbon densities, and carbon fluxes is under preparation to aid the scientific community. REDD mitigation potential estimates and a case study have also been examined. Preliminary results of this review are presented.