Amazon study: protecting standing forests beats restoration for carbon and biodiversity

A new study in Science compared conservation strategies across 3 million hectares in the Brazilian Amazon. It found that preventing wildfires and selective logging in existing forests delivers the biggest biodiversity gains and nearly matches deforestation prevention for protecting carbon. Restoration of cleared land helps, but it is the most expensive approach and works best when combined with protecting what still stands. The researchers looked at two regions in Pará from 2010 to 2020, using satellite imagery and field data on hundreds of species. They built counterfactual models to estimate the impact of each intervention per dollar spent. The takeaway for carbon projects and climate policy: keeping intact forests healthy is a cost-effective way to store carbon, and any restoration effort should be paired with strong protection of existing forests to avoid a 'leaky pot' effect.