CORTICEIRA AMORIM's employees will plant 3,400 cork oak trees in Três Minas, Vila Pouca de Aguiar (in inland of north Portugal), an area devastated by forest fires. Such 3400 trees symbolize the number of workers who work for CORTICEIRA AMORIM all over the world. This tree-planting exercise is aimed at directly involving the employee community in preserving the Portuguese forest, thus increasing the area of cork oak, recently considered the National Tree of Portugal.
This tree-planting activity is part of the Company's Sustainability Program called Natural Choice program, and is carried out under Quercus' Forest Project aimed at ensuring the preservation of indigenous forests in Portugal.
The planting of cork trees at Vila Pouca de Aguiar will help create a barrier against the forest fire's advance in the future. It should be pointed out that recreating forest areas with native species such as cork oak trees, naturally fire resistant, is one strategy recommended to prevent forest fires in northern and central areas of Portugal (which have the highest incidence of fires). It should also be stressed that, in the past, vast tracts of land in Portugal were covered with cork oak trees, a native species to the Mediterranean region.
This reforestation project started a year ago, when more than 700 acorns were planted by CORTICEIRA AMORIM's employees, with the support of QUERCUS ("Portuguese Association for Nature Conservation"). This project will be continued in the framework of CORTICEIRA AMORIM's organizational culture, with sustainability being a pillar of the company's business model. A number of other reforestation and nature conservation action plans will be promoted at the same time.
