Growth of major greenhouse gas declining

Environmentalists are excited about the decrease in the production of the greenhouse gas Methane in the atmosphere. Dr. Paul Fraser, a chief research scientist at the CSIRO Atmospheric Research, said: "Methane is the second most important gas after carbon dioxide. It is responsible for a fifth of the enhanced greenhouse effect over the past 200 years."

"Over the past four years there has been no growth in atmospheric methane concentrations compared to a 15 per cent rise over the preceding 20 years and a 150 per cent rise since pre-industrial times. This is a very exciting result," he adds.

The results are from Cape Grim, Tasmania, Australia's important greenhouse gas monitoring facility, which is jointly operated by the Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO.