Birds balk at cork crisis

The United Kingdom is the world's biggest importer of wines

By environment correspondent Alex Kirby

UK conservationists say the increasing the use of plastic stoppers in wine bottles threatens an irreplaceable bird habitat.

The switch from a natural product to a synthetic one makes the retailers' 'green' claims look rather shabby

RSPB

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) believes the trend away from traditional cork puts at risk the future of important forests in Spain and Portugal and the animals that depend on them.

The RSPB says plastic stoppers are expected to capture an estimated 5-7% of the world bottle-stopper market in five years. And on present trends, this could reach 15% by 2015.

The birdlovers say that would precipitate a slump in the cork industry, and do serious damage to the forests.

The RSPB says the UK, the world's largest importer of wines, already has 15-20% of its wine bottles stopped with plastic.

Cork production

The organisation says this is because supermarkets and off-licence chains demand plastic stoppers, in the belief that cork can cause some wines to taste musty.

Eighty thousand people work in the cork industry

In a report, the RSPB says that once plastic stoppers have secured 15% of the bottle-stopper market, the surplus cork available will trigger price falls of up to 25%.

This, it says, will mean cork farmers being forced out of business, or having to grow less environmentally friendly trees like eucalyptus.

It believes such a crash in the market would spell disaster for the birds that live in the cork forests, and for the 80,000 people directly involved in cork production.

Among species which rely on the forests, the report says, are the booted eagle, black kite and turtle dove. The RSPB says they could disappear from large areas of Spain and Portugal, with many other already threatened animals and plants.

Supermarket power

Hannah Bartram of the RSPB said: "The Iberian cork forests have taken thousands of years to develop, but it will take only a few years for them to disappear.

Turtle doves rely on the forests (Photo: Eric Woods)

"We urge anyone that cares about wildlife to complain to the retailer if they find a plastic stopper in their wine bottles this Christmas."

The author of the report, Eduardo Goncalves, said: "Britain's supermarkets are the most important single force in the global wine market. The future of the cork oak forests is now in their hands.

"The switch from a natural product to a synthetic one makes the retailers' 'green' claims look rather shabby, particularly when many consumers clearly prefer real cork."

Future demand

Over half the world's cork forests are on the Iberian peninsula. They cover an area of about 1.2m hectares.

The area is increasing to meet an expected growth in demand for cork, but it takes at least 40 years before an oak produces quality cork suitable for the wine trade.

The corks are made from the outer bark of the tree, which is removed every nine to 10 years without harming the oak.

The report says this makes it hard for the industry to respond quickly to changes in demand, and is one of the factors that make it vulnerable to competition from plastic stoppers.