In the Brazilian case,
deforestation avoidance could produce carbon bene®ts worth 6±45 times as much as the destructive ranching and
logging uses to which the forest is now being converted. Capturing the potential value of carbon bene®ts from
avoided deforestation will depend on increasing our understanding of the deforestation process and consequent
ability to reduce the uncertainty associated with the eects of deforestation-avoidance measures. It will also depend
on whether carbon credits are de®ned in terms of a maximum level of uncertainty.