OVER recent years our understanding of the environment and our dependence on it has advanced greatly while there are numerous examples which show the disastrous consequences that exploitation of and disregard for the environment has had not just in Britain, but around the world.

So I find it staggering that the coalition Government has ignored all the evidence, recent events and abandoned all sense of reason by proposing the sale of 1.85 million acres of woodland overseen by the Forestry Commission (Echo, Oct 25).

This will reportedly open the way to providing land for golf courses, holiday villages and commercial logging.

While this proposal will provide the Treasury with much-needed money, it will be disastrous not only for the environment, reducing a natural means of combating global warming, but will aid in the decline and extinction of species that are an essential part the eco-system which our species depends upon for its survival.

Margaret Thatcher once described environmentalists as “the enemy within”, but the environmentalists have since been proved right. However, given the disastrous consequences this proposal will have for this country and planet if enacted, it’s clear that the real “enemy within” are those who desire profit no matter the consequences.

CT Riley, Spennymoor, Co Durham.