Measuring Forest Changes

Abstract
D. Nepstad et al. (“The end of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon,” Policy Forum, 4 December 2009, p. 1350) highlight promising efforts by Brazil to reduce Amazonian\ud deforestation, in part by harnessing funds from international carbon payments—termed REDD (reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation). For a country to engage in REDD, reliable data on past and\ud current changes in its forest carbon stocks are essential (1). Having established in 1989 a world-leading program to monitor its Amazonian deforestation using remotely sensed\ud imagery, Brazil is in many ways uniquely poised for REDD (2)