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Tree plantations are an effective weapon in the struggle against global heating and can help meet the world’s growing need for timber, argues Dr Andrew CameronProf Tim Forsyth’s criticism of productive plantation forests is out of touch with the global value of these forests (Letters, 3 November). Expansion of productive forests remains one of the most cost-effective strategies for removing and storing CO2 from the atmosphere, in addition to producing timber on a sustainable basis. A recent study showed that productive coniferous forests support up to 269% more greenhouse gas mitigation potential than newly planted broadleaf conservation forests.Only 3% of the total global forest area comprises productive plantation forest, yet they produce one-third of the world’s industrial timber. Productive forests leave a smaller environmental footprint by focusing harvesting activity in relatively small areas in comparison with expansive and damaging timber extraction from natural forests. Expansion of productive forests is not keeping pace with global timber demand, with the shortfall increasingly sourced from natural and semi-natural forests that are already under severe pressure. Productive forests yield more than 10 times more wood on an area basis than natural forests. Continue reading...