The Minister of Agriculture, Food and the Environment, Miguel Arias Cañete, inaugurated this morning, together with the Minister of Agriculture and the Sea of Portugal, Assunçao Cristas, the International Conference on Cork Oak Forests and the Cork Sector, organized by the Biodiversity Foundation at the headquarters of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC).

The Minister of Agriculture, Food and the Environment, Miguel Arias Cañete, inaugurated this morning, together with the Minister of Agriculture and the Sea of Portugal, Assunçao Cristas, the International Conference on Cork Oak Forests and the Cork Sector, organized by the Biodiversity Foundation at the headquarters of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC).

In his speech, Arias Cañete pointed out that Spain is the second country in Europe with the largest forest area. In relation to cork oak masses, Spain is also the country with the second largest area, after Portugal, with nearly 480,000 hectares. In addition, Spain is the world’s second largest producer of cork.

He also pointed out that only 7 Mediterranean countries have cork oak formations: Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, which add up to more than 2 million hectares. These are, said the minister, “territories whose traditional activity has drawn the cork landscape”.

For the minister, cork oak forests are diverse and rich ecosystems. However, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has recognized the important environmental services they provide, such as biodiversity and soil conservation, protection of the territory against large fires, resistance to climate change, desertification, carbon fixation or recharge of the water table and control of runoff.

In addition, cork oak forests contribute to the sustainable development of the populations that inhabit them, mainly with the production of cork and the exploitation of cattle, sheep and, above all, pigs, in an extensive regime.

However, Arias Cañete has warned of the different threats facing this ecosystem, such as rural abandonment, the absence of management or conversion for other fundamental uses. “These facts, together with the effects of climate change, negatively affect the health of cork oak forests and increase their vulnerability to diseases and pests, such as the drought phenomenon,” he said.

On the other hand, the minister has expressed the need to address the stagnation of the cork sector. Faced with this situation, and to avoid its effects, the FAO’s “Silva Mediterránea” cork oak network launched the initiative of a commercial seal to promote products made with cork. According to Arias Cañete, “promoting the cork sector through the adoption of a brand is important to guarantee greater international knowledge, a market and, with it, the very ecosystem that supports it”.