The recent approval by the Parliament of the Cork Oak as a National Symbol Tree is the motto for the Alentejo, represented by the Regional Tourism Authority of Alentejo, to present the application of the Cork Oak Forest as a World Heritage Site in 2013.
To highlight this fact, an awareness-raising action will take place on May 6, at 10:30 am, at Herdade das Barradas da Serra, promoted by the Festival Terras Sem Sombra – Baixo Alentejo Sacred Music Festival – in collaboration with the Nature Conservation Institute and Biodiversity and the WWF – World Wide Fund for Nature – one of the most influential independent nature conservation organizations in the world and the two NGOs that promoted that pioneering classification – the associations Árvores de Portugal and Transhumance and Nature.
The minister of Agriculture Assunção Cristas and her family will join, as volunteers, the students of the Eco-School of Ameiras and other participants in this open initiative to carry out activities such as placing nests built with straws in cork oaks. virgin cork; the verification of the nest boxes installed in 2011 by the Festival, the exploration of the cork oak's biodiversity (flora and fauna), without forgetting the water courses of the Serra de Grândola, and the sponsorship of new trees.
All of this also involves the rescue of a forgotten part of the rural world, including professions associated with the extraction of cork and the exploitation of other cork resources, such as pastoralism, hunting, mushroom picking or agro-tourism.
This action aims to raise awareness of the uniqueness and representativeness of the cork oak forest as one of the most important ecosystems in Europe, both in environmental and socio-economic terms, and as a refuge habitat for Portuguese biodiversity.
The Cork Oak, also called “full light tree”, is a species with more than 60 million years, occupying 737 hectares of soil, more than 21% of the forest area in Portugal. With an average life expectancy of 300 years, it is responsible for 3% of national exports and produces 806 million euros of cork, making Portugal the world leader, with around half of the global production in the cork sector (INE 2011 data).
Preserving the cork oak forest represents an important responsibility for the Alentejo, a dimension that Terras Sem Sombra has come to value, as expressed by José António Falcão, director-general of the Festival, recalling the words of deputy Miguel Freitas: “From now on, whenever cork oaks are cut down, not only a protected species is cut down, a symbol of the nation is cut down".
Paolo Pinamonti, artistic director of the FTSS, and cellist Irene Lima, who sponsored the nests placed in 2011, will be present in this activity, which promises to make a strong contribution to the defense of Alentejo's biodiversity.
Thus, they pass on the testimonies to their “successors” in the cause of the conservation of natural resources, the conductor Paolo da Col and the singers of the Ensemble Odhecaton, one of the most famous and most awarded vocal music groups in Europe.
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