Plants use carbon dioxide to grow, absorbing it through the photosynthesis process. Higher concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere could enhance the growth rate of plants, making agriculture more efficient. A greater output of food crops could result - essential if earth's growing population is to be fed. The rate at which we burn fossil fuels and the rate at which processes on land and sea can absorb the carbon this generates. The role of forest management is paramount in this process.
Some people see forestry as an enemy in the push to conserve the planet.
They portray forestry as an evil industry which plunders the earth's resources and rapes and pillages her natural forests, compounding the Greenhouse Effect. In fact there is more truth in the reverse. Scientific evidence indicates that sustainable forest management programs of regeneration, growth and production actually reduce the concentration of carbon in the atmosphere. Like all plant life, forests need carbon dioxide to survive. Absorption of carbon dioxide is highest when they are young, vigorous and growing.