Forests the size of France have regenerated over past 20 years

He said: “The science is clear: if we are to avoid dangerous climate change and turn around the loss of nature, we must both halt deforestation and restore natural forests.

“We’ve known for a long time that natural forest regeneration is often cheaper, richer in carbon and better for biodiversity than actively planted forests, and this research tells us where and why regeneration is happening, and how we can recreate those conditions elsewhere.”.

He said: “We can’t take this regeneration for granted – deforestation still claims millions of hectares every year, vastly more than is regenerated.

“To realise the potential of forests as a climate solution, we need support for regeneration in climate delivery plans and must tackle the drivers of deforestation, which in the UK means strong domestic laws to prevent our food causing deforestation overseas.”.

The researchers highlighted the Atlantic Forest in Brazil as one particular area which was seeing considerable regeneration.

Such is the extent of historic deforestation that the area of this unique forest still needs to more than double from currently 12 per cent of its original area to 30 per cent, in order to reach what scientists believe is a minimal threshold for its lasting conservation.

Naikoa Aguilar-Amuchastegui, senior director of forest carbon science at WWF, and who led the data analysis team said: “Even though this is an exploratory effort, it still highlights the potential that enabling and consolidating regeneration has for mitigating climate change and securing its biodiversity benefits?