The super-plof-cork-oak
Gert-Jan Nabuurs
Professor European Forest Resources and Coordinating Lead Author 6th IPCC Report
In Dutch there is the term 'plof-chicken', for a chicken that has grown too fast in intensive agriculture. In Dutch forestry we also have the term 'plof birch' for a fast growing birch provenance. But last May the journalist Dion Mebius from #volkskrant apped me a picture of a tree (a cork oak). He said he had bought it in a carbon credit scheme, and apparently it had been planted 3 years ago. He asked me if that was possible. I spontaneously apped him back: "Haha, that is totally impossible. That would be a Super-plof-cork-oak". The moral of this is quite sad: even though global forest are enormously important for the global climate and we need to urgently invest in new forests and better forest management, these semi-malafide organisations do a huge damage to the image of forests and forestry. Unfortunately. The positive vibe around forests and forestry for climate mitigation and adaptation of around 2018 -2022 is being ruined by these organisations.
Head of ISA Pedagogical Board (Univ Lisbon)
1moHi, Gert-Jan Nabuurs . There are currently cork oak plantations - which are not agroforestry systems - that are irrigated. There is a law in Portugal that defines the first debarking according to the perimeter measured at a height of 1.30 metres from the tree. This value is 70 cm and is reached at around 25-30 years of age. In Portugal, some people are planting with irrigation in order to anticipate the first cork debarking, achieving this at the age of 10. The idea is to remove the irrigation after the first debarking. This can explain the tree development.