Tropical Deforestation and Climate Change: Creating Economic Incentives to Conserve Forests through REDD

REDD policies can establish economic incentives for large-scale tropical forest conservation by valuing standing forests for the ecosystem service they provide to the climate system through carbon storage. Without such incentives for conservation, the powerful economic forces that drive deforestation will continue to cause people to convert living forest to timber, charcoal,
pasture and cropland.