Newly regrown rainforests can absorb 11 times as much carbon from the atmosphere as old-growth forests, a study has shown.
The researchers have produced a map showing regions in Latin America where regrowing rainforests would deliver the greatest benefits.
However, they added that old-growth forests still needed to be protected as they locked away vast amount of carbon.
In order to maximise access to sunlight, nutrients and water, new trees grow quickly.
This means the plants sequester a much greater amount of carbon from the atmosphere, which it uses as part of the photosynthesis process that uses sunlight to produce the sugars the plant needs to grow.