There has been renewed interest in the issue of growing trees to sequester
carbon following the Kyoto Protocol in 1997. It is a complex issue, raising
many questions. In this paper, the author offers answers to some of the qu
estions commonly asked in the UK. These questions concern: (1) the basic ra
tionale for growing trees to sequester carbon (does it make sense!); (2) th
e size of the reservoirs, sinks and sources of carbon in the UK (how import
ant are the forests?); (3) effects of species, site and management (which i
s most effective at storing carbon?); (4) areas and numbers of trees needed
to offset fossil fuel emissions (how many trees need to be planted per per
son or per car!); and (5) the monetary value of the carbon stored (what is
it worth!). The answers given are taken mostly from published literature.