conservation
ecosystem
Cork and Cultural Landscapes in the Montado Written by Duc L
The montado (as it is known in Portuguese) is a unique agro-forestry ecosystem found
only in the Mediterranean region, known in Spanish as dehesa. This landscape is made up of savanna-like woodlands and is dominated by the cork oak, Quercus suber. Cork is an impermeable buoyant material and is harvested for commercial use, commonly for producing bottle stoppers, timber for building and making charcoal. Cork oak woodlands have also offered grasslands for keeping livestock, while also providing habitats for animals and plants. Not only is there sustenance and income generated from cork and cattle, it provides space for recreation, social communities and culture. However, this precious ecological system is facing numerous pressures: rural abandonment, tree mortality, depreciation of cork market value, overgrazing and climate change. Irene Holm Sørensen (Universities of Kassel in Germany and Copenhagen in Denmark) has studied the cultural landscape of southern Portugal and focuses on how agricultural landscapes change in time. She speaks to us about the montado and some of the socio-cultural traditions that developed around the cultivation of cork, as well as what happening to Portugal’s cork oak forests.
Above: Cork oak trees as they look when freshly harvested. Photo credit José Muñoz-Rojas. Rights are reserved. © NatureVolve digital magazine. All rights reserved.
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