The cork oak forest is part of one of the world’s 36 biodiversity hotspots, has a recognised protection status, contributes to climate regulation, is a driving force for sustainable development and plays a crucial role in the world's ecological balance.
Preserving cork oak forests and ecosystem services by increasing knowledge, mobilising resources and proposing measures is the objective of the Sustainable by nature programme for biodiversity and ecosystems.
This objective, based on the Promote the environmental characteristics of cork oak products and forests strategic pillar, is aligned with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, specifically with SDGs: 11 - Sustainable cities and communities; 12 - Responsible consumption and production; and 15 - Life on land.
The definition of targets and commitments also took into account the Kunning-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and the relevant aspects of the European Union (EU) Biodiversity Strategy for 2030.
The Programme sets qualitative targets for 2030, applicable to the entire perimeter:
Corticeira Amorim seeks to expand sustainably managed forests in order to protect and improve biodiversity and ecosystem services.
It therefore maintains close, long-term relationships with cork producers, and fosters compliance with the International Code of Cork Stopper Manufacturing Practices and certification of forests. Corticeira Amorim obtained the first certification from the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC®), in 2004, foreseeing the future needs of the wine industry, and has been a pioneer in obtaining this certification in the cork industry.
Corticeira Amorim also continues to contribute to the promotion of cork oak forests and the cork industry as a whole, generating further research in this area. The value of ecosystem services first began to be studied by Corticeira Amorim 10 years ago. Results of the latest study, commissioned from EY in 2019, demonstrate that the ecosystem services associated to the cork oak forest on average provide overall benefits to society of over € 1,300 / ha / year.
Corticeira Amorim has been implementing the Forestry Intervention Project, which aims to preserve, improve and make areas of existing cork oak forest more resilient and at the same time introduce new silvicultural models, technologies and selected plant material that allow for more efficient new installations. and resilient in the face of predicted climate scenarios.
This Project, based on the objectives of developing cork oak stands with irrigation systems at the installation, sequencing the cork oak genome, improving the cork oak and combating pests and diseases saw the first plantations with scale, benefited by the installation of a system of improved irrigation, to start in 2017. The methodology used will be applied until the first cork extraction, at which point it will be removed, and the cork oak will return to its normal growth, with cork extraction being carried out in nine-year cycles.
This installation technique makes it possible to significantly increase the success of the plantation and, at the same time, obtain greater initial plant growth, thus reducing its first exploration cycle from the current 25 years to about half of that period.
The growing need to intervene, associated with the knowledge generated in the first phase of the Forestry Intervention Project, led Corticeira Amorim to invest directly in forestry projects with the aim of studying the impacts of irrigation, fertilization, nutrition and soil in the cork oak. This action will allow, in the future, to define the best protocol to follow for the installation of cork oaks.