THE clean, green image of forests as the lungs of the planet doesn’t sit well with the idea of trees belching out methane. So when researchers reported in January that living plants are releasing the gas in huge amounts, greenhouse gas experts were suitably stunned.
The finding prompted calls for a rethink of Kyoto rules that allow countries to plant forests to soak up carbon dioxide instead of cutting greenhouse gas emissions (New Scientist, 14 January, p 3 and p 13). “It changed the whole way we looked at tree planting. People questioned its value as a useful strategy,”…
