Cork from Quercus suber L.: Forest certification system for sustainable management of cork oak forests

Cork is the outer bark of the cork oak (Quercus suber L.), it is a secondary protection structure of tree, and its chemical composition is different from that of other lignocellulosic materials, as wood, agricultural, or forestry wastes. The best cork sheets are used to manufacture natural cork stoppers, vital in the aging process of “great” wines. It is a Mediterranean species covering an overall area of 2,139,942 hectares; Portugal and Spain countries where it occupies a larger area.
This paper was developed to assess the possibility of implementing a system of payment for ecosystem services and/or a certification of forest management for small stands of cork oak privately owned areas of less than 25 hectares. The process is leaded by the Regional Groups of Forest Certification and Chain of Custody, main regional institutions. The system used is the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC). As specified by the multifunctional forestry applied in these ecosystems, its main use is the production of natural cork stoppers for the quality aging wines. The cork oak forests are living representatives of sustainability and a driving force of sustainable development.

Consideration of forest ecosystem services in environmental management accounting

The environmental management accounting aims at capturing economic and environmental benefits and it should include externalities too. The aim of the paper is to propose a methodological approach for how to include non-market forest ecosystem services in the environmental management accounting so that the information could be used in economic analyzes. For this purpose, it is necessary to identify information relevant to related costs, sales revenues and the value of non-production ecosystem services. It is possible to perform the financial analysis needed for decision making in forest management. In the University Forest Establishment, the rated value of non-market ecosystem services was 3.2 million EUR, and this value was estimated to be twice as much as the value of market ecosystem services. In the Forest Plant Židlochovice, the value of non-market ecosystem services was 0.4 million EUR. Profitability increased from 1.346 to 4.093 and from 1.181 to 3.492.