The most pressing question regarding sinks in
the land-use change and forestry (LUCF) sector
is whether avoided deforestation can be made a
viable mitigation option under the Kyoto Proto-
col, particularly in the context of the CDM. The
CDM (Article 12) applies only to countries that
have not joined Annex B of the Protocol, and
therefore do not have limitations on their
national emissions. At present, all countries with
substantial areas of tropical forests fall into the
``non-Annex B'' category, making them eligible
for CDM projects but ineligible for other pro-
visions for carbon credit under the Protocol,
such as Joint Implementation (under Article 6)
and emissions trading (under Article 17). At
some time in the future, tropical forest countries
may find it in their interests to join Annex B in
order to capture major potential financial benefits
from carbon credits traded under Article 17 that
could be achieved by slowing deforestation [3].