SIR, – While visiting a beautiful valley in the Scottish Borders, recently, I witnessed the harsh physical reality of a government policy that is being replicated throughout the country.

Thousands of acres of what has been designated as 'poor livestock land', where sheep and cattle once provided employment and food, are becoming bereft of livestock, vanquished by an invincible army of conifer plantations.

If those responsible for this desecration chose to leave their ivory towers and venture beyond the visually appealing margins of hardwoods, they would, in time, find themselves confronted by the impenetrable sunless ranks of spruce devoid of biodiversity. Obviously, the objective is to avert a climate catastrophe by capturing excess carbon dioxide while simultaneously achieving their desired 40% reduction of methane emitting livestock.

The meteoric 78% rise in land values since 2020 has resulted in plantable hill ground reaching £8500 per acre. Consequently, genuine farm buyers are being regularly outbid by big business interests keen to offset their emissions with an eye on a potentially lucrative carbon trading market and handsome returns from timber investments.

They have clearly heeded Sir Mark Carney's words of warning. He is now Special Envoy for Climate Action and stated unequivocally that 'there are industries, sectors and firms that will do very well during this process, but there will be those who lag behind and they will be punished.'

The proposed programme of planting some 33,000 acres per year until 2030 will take well in excess of 40 years to sequester less than 2% of UK fossil fuel emissions. With Scotland being responsible for just 0.13% of global emissions, this is an irrational policy that rings the death knell for many farming communities and businesses.

The instigators insist that this is part of the price we must pay to safeguard the planet's future. Tragically, they are so blinkered that they cannot acknowledge two blindingly obvious facts.

The complex, powerful and chaotic range of natural forces have always been the fundamental drivers of climate change. Also, carbon dioxide comprises just 0.04% of atmospheric gases with the human contribution amounting to barely 4%, thus clearly relegating our role in climate change to one of mere part time actors.

Neil J Bryce, Gateshaw Cottage, Kelso.