Country Ecology: Mediterranean cork forests

Here is a new twist for you: buying wine with cork bottle stoppers is good for the environment. Who would think removing bark from cork oaks in Spain or Portugal matters. And this doesn’t hurt this tree’s life as it is being lifted, especially over a long period of time.

Moreover, cork forests contain some of the highest levels of plant diversity in the world. Actually, they come in third after Amazon and Indonesian rainforests. They also provide refuge for endangered species including Barbary apes, Barbary deer and Iberian lynxes — which are the most endangered feline in the world with fewer than 100 remaining individuals.