University of East Anglia's Dr Anthony Ridgewell warned that environmental measures contained in the Kyoto protocol may backfire because governments and their scientific advisors have not considered the full impact of proposed actions. He took the proposed promotion of 'no tillage' farming and new forest planting as examples.

Both reduce carbon dioxide levels, but also the amount of dust in the atmosphere. A lot of dust blown off dry earth lands on the sea, providing the iron essential to the growth of plankton, tiny marine plants which soak up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, reducing global warming.

Ed.- There is very little doubt now that a major part of global warming is caused by excessive human interference with the subtle balance of life nature maintains on the planet. It seems that every new action to reduce global warming considered by humans has unforeseen downsides. Planting new forests, for instance, was initially heralded as a powerful way to reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. When the young trees were growing it would be the case but, considering the full cycle of the trees, the effect on carbon dioxide levels would be neutral. Perhaps humans are simply not yet clever enough to understand the intricate, interactive and interdependent workings of nature. Perhaps they should limit their actions to simply stopping doing things and letting nature repair itself over time.