In western Amazonia, secondary forests are not important carbon sinks. • Official estimates of logging in Acre State differ 20-fold. Approximately 90% was illegal in the late 1990s. • Estimates of area deforested in Acre State by different institutions vary by 20 to 40+%. Consequently, uncertainty in rates of deforestation, a critical factor in carbon budgets, is probably greater than 40%. • Carbon stocks in forests of eastern Acre are comparable to those of central Amazonia. • Estimates of hot points (burning) differ 20-fold between those based on NOAA/AVHRR and those based on GOES-8. • Deforestation in Extractive Reserves tends to concentrate in specific areas that may generate conflicting land-uses in the coming decade.