When trees are cut down, he says, it can release years of a forests’ stored carbon back into the atmosphere. Given Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro’s determination to cut down parts of the Amazon rainforest, Jackson says focusing on deforestation is “especially critical” now. “Forests provide many benefits beyond storing carbon,” Jackson says. “They store and recycle our water, they prevent erosion, they harbor biodiversity. There’s a legion of reasons to protect forests, especially in the tropics. When we plant forests, we gain some of those benefits, but it takes years to decades to grow a healthy forest.” Rob Jackson, Earth System Science Department