Carbon sequestration by cork oak forests and raw material to built up post carbon city

Abstract

Over the last few decades, there has been widespread awareness that global warming is linked to the introduction of CO2 into the atmosphere from the use of fossil fuels. Urban areas play a very important role in CO2 emissions. Cork, a natural and renewable material (which in itself is the result of a storage of C) can effectively contribute to improving the quality and the insulation of buildings, reducing energy waste, preserving environment, saving landscape [20, 21], the design of the post-carbon city [12–17, 25]. The increase in the area occupied by the cork oak forests would increase the storage of carbon in a permanent way, as the use of cork does not compromise the forest resource and does not involve the introduction into the atmosphere of CO2: indeed its use in thermal insulation of buildings reduces CO2 emissions for domestic heating and cooling. Cork oak forests take on a multi-functionality that includes economic, environmental and landscape values. Their protection requires the adoption of a territorial governance that takes into account the commitment to lower down climate change.