Contribution of cork oak plantations installed after 1990 in Portugal to the Kyoto commitments and to the landowners economy

摘要: Abstract Cork oak stands are a part of the agroforestry ecosystem in Portugal, characterized by low crown cover from cork trees, managed towards production, and sometimes combination with grazing. In recent years, European Union policies gave impetus to large area new plantations, which have been established mainly for production purposes, consequently higher stand density than traditional systems. These plantations important not only but also carbon sequestered these slow growing forests that won't be harvested wood production. Thinning operations will needed avoid excessive inter-tree competition extracted thinning may provide income owners. present study, volumes resulting were estimated next 70 years. Three scenarios different annual afforestation rates site indexes tested. The values considered show that, if plantation maintained, an contribution Portuguese commitments providing CO 2 offsets under Kyoto protocol. Additionally, due increasing initial produce significant volume become landowners' income.