In their Perspective “Abandoning land transforms biodiversity” (12 May, p. 581), G. N. Daskalova and J. Kamp suggest that rural depopulation, environmental degradation, and other factors have led to vast areas of land globally that are available for restoration. We agree that careful planning and management are needed to conserve biodiversity on lands where human activities have ceased. However, by oversimplifying the socioeconomic processes that affect whether land is truly abandoned, the authors overestimate the potential of these lands for biodiversity conservation.