Planting a tree in the Amazon does a lot less for the rainforest than simply leaving one alone. That’s the uncomfortable arithmetic in new research on Brazil’s jungles. …The gap isn’t small: preventing deforestation or stopping logging and fires delivered far more carbon storage and biodiversity than restoration did, for a fraction of the cost, according to new research in Science. …The insights are based on the fate of more than 3 million hectares of land across Santarém and Paragominas, areas in northern Brazil, between 2010 and 2020. …The results showed the biggest benefits came from avoiding deforestation (61% more carbon and 24% more biodiversity compared to the real 2020) or preventing logging and fires (47% for carbon and 69% more biodiversity). Both far outranked the benefits of the newly regrown forest (15% more carbon and 7% more biodiversity). …In addition to being more effective, preventing forest loss is also cheaper.