The news reported in the scientific journal Nature this month that trees might be account for about 10 to 30 per cent of the potent greenhouse gas methane that is entering the atmosphere is a gift to climate skeptics and the oil industry.
For years they have tried to argue that man-made emissions were not to blame. It is also a gift to those people who oppose the UN Kyoto protocol, because part of that agreement is the off-setting of carbon dioxide emissions with the planting of trees.
Watch this space – we will monitor what these groups have to say in the coming days and weeks.