Grounding the REDD+ debate: Preliminary evidence from pilot initiatives in the Brazilian Amazon

An international mechanism to reduce emission for deforestation and forest degradation and increased carbon stocks through improved forest management (REDD+) is likely to become part of a post-2012 international convention on climate change. Meanwhile, the academic and public debate on the role od forest conservation in climate change mitigation has become increasingly polirized. Many of these conflicting positions are based on conceptual models of assumptions about how REDD+ will be put into practice; linking the debate to the large number of pilot REDD+ initiatives currently underway.