Foreword

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This document was prepared by Technical Committee ISO/TC 87, Cork.

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Introduction

Cork oak forests are the basis of cork value chain, one of the most relevant within the Mediterranean forest area. Cork is a very important forest product whose economic activities are efficient in the use of resources and are integrated into the circular economy and the bioeconomy. Cork production constitutes a basic source of income in these forests being their main use. However, they are also efficiently exploited for acorn production, cattle grazing, firewood and hunting. Cork oak forests are valuable reservoirs of biodiversity and play a key role in the maintenance of other natural resources, such as soils, air and water, as well as, contribute significantly to the rural development of the areas, and ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration.

The ISO Technical Committee 87 (TC 87) deals with the standardization of cork, both raw material and manufactured products. According with its business plan (ISO, 2005), one of the expected benefits of the work developed by the TC 87 is to promote cork oak plantations and protect the existing cork oak forest in order to increase cork production. Therefore, in 2010 the Working Group 15 (WG 15) was created with the main aim of tackle the topic of sustainable management of cork oak forests.

This document has been developed to inform and aid the sustainable management of cork oak forests, by giving management guidelines for protecting cork oak forest while allowing appropriate use of the resources. It describes practices mainly focus on cork production while promoting cork oak forest regeneration, multiple benefits and mitigating global change. The document also points out practices which should be avoided or that are forbidden. The information given in this document could be also used for assessing future development of cork oak forests under different management scenarios as a guidance on how trade-offs between different forest functions should be dealt with.

The target audience for this document are landowners and forest managers, but it can also be useful for other stakeholders of the cork value chain. Since there could be readers without a basic knowledge of forestry, an effort has been made for explaining the basic concepts related to forest management.

It must be highlighted that this document is not a standard. There are standards about forest management available at international and national level developed by FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) and PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification). Regarding ISO, the related currently available standard is the ISO 14055-1 about environmental management.

1 Scope

This document provides guidance to manage cork oak forests in a sustainable way.

This document provides orientation for protecting cork oak forest while allowing appropriate use of the resources. It describes practices mainly focused on cork production while promoting cork oak forest regeneration, multiple benefits and mitigating global change. This document also points out practices to avoid or that are forbidden. The information given in this document can be also used for assessing future development of cork oak forests under different management scenarios as a guidance on how trade-offs between different forest functions should be dealt with.

2 Normative references

3 Terms and definitions

4 Cork oak forests

4.1 General

4.2 Typology

4.3 Management objectives

4.4 Main threats to cork oak forests

5 Legislation and policy

5.1 General

5.2 Spain

5.3 Portugal

5.4 France

5.5 Italy

6 Silvicultural treatments

6.1 General

6.2 Regeneration

6.3 Intermediate treatments

7 Cork harvest

7.1 Debarking operation

7.2 First debarking

7.3 Debarking rotation cycle

7.4 Harvest intensity

7.5 Mechanization and professionalization

8 Climate change

8.1 Impacts of climate change on cork oak forests

8.2 Contribution of cork oak forests to climate change mitigation

Bibliography