The world’s average temperature has risen more in the last 100 years than in the last 10,000 years. Of the 10 recorded warmest years in history, nine were recorded during the last decade. Greenhouse gases from human activities are among the major causes for the alarming trends. Two of the most recent policy instruments devised to address these issues are the United Nations Framework on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol, which offers creative, market-based measures that allow emission producers to offset their emissions by paying others to carry out emission reducing activities. But the solutions offered under the Protocol fail to consider one important source of emissions in developing countries – deforestation and forest degradation. The Kyoto Protocol commitments will be reviewed in 2012, and possible changes are now being debated. This book provides a timely addition to the discussions, and urges the inclusion of avoided deforestation in carbon offset measures in the Framework on Climate Change. Field studies in India and Nepal show how communities can carry out the measurements needed to calculate carbon sequestration, the basis for calculating the impact of avoiding deforestation. Including ‘avoided deforestation’ in climate change policy will not only help the global climate, it will provide a way for millions of poor people in developing countries to benefit directly, and will help stop the destruction of forests and encourage further conservation.