Good practice

Green Heart of Cork: PES in the Portuguese montado

Portugal · Coruche · See the Portugal profile

Since 2011, companies reward cork-oak landowners in Coruche/Chamusca/Ponte de Sor for FSC-certified good management that protects the Tejo-Sado aquifer and montado biodiversity.

Details

Maturity: Established
Promoter: ANP|WWF Portugal & Associação de Produtores Florestais de Coruche (APFC)
Keywords: Mediterranean agroforestry (montado / cork oak), Payments for ecosystem services

Context

Since 2011 the Green Heart of Cork initiative has rewarded cork-oak (montado) landowners in Coruche, Chamusca and Ponte de Sor, Portugal, when companies pay for FSC-certified good management that protects the Tejo-Sado aquifer and montado biodiversity.

Implementation

Implementation detail (cost, timeline, staffing, conditions for success) is not yet available for this practice.

Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

C-NAPSE evaluation — accessed 2026-06-19
ANP|WWF — Green Heart of Cork — accessed 2026-06-19
AMNC — 10 years of Green Heart of Cork — accessed 2026-06-19

Quality score: 87/100

How is this calculated?

Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported

Top 1% in this catalogue (335 scored practices)

Scores cluster high, so position within the catalogue is often more telling than the number alone.

Evaluation

Evaluated by C-NAPSE

Score profile — the dimensions behind the score — how it's computed

Carbon — sequestration / storage, evidenced2/3

Cork oak stores carbon, but sequestration is not the scheme's quantified metric.

Biodiversity — conservation / improvement, evidenced3/3

Explicit High Conservation Value area (~1,257 ha) and montado biodiversity are core objectives.

Water & soil — retention, infiltration, erosion control3/3

Protecting the Tejo-Sado aquifer is the central rewarded service.

Fire resilience — risk reduction, evidenced2/3

Actively managed montado lowers fire risk, though this is not an explicit payment metric.

Governance, certification & transferability3/3

FSC-verified, WWF+APFC governance with recurring corporate buyers since 2011.

Cite this

Evidoria. Green Heart of Cork: PES in the Portuguese montado. Persistent ID: 2185f887-e964-4562-80de-19b18d28670f.

Export as decision brief (PDF)

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