Cortes de la Frontera hosts immersive route to boost cork business opportunities

The Provincial Council of Malaga, through La Noria, organizes on June 30 an immersive route in Cortes de la Frontera to detect economic opportunities around cork, within the European EMBEDED project.

The municipality of Cortes de la Frontera, in the Serranía de Ronda, will host an immersive route on June 30 aimed at entrepreneurs, agroforestry owners, bioconstruction professionals, and public entities. Organized by the Provincial Council of Malaga through its La Noria initiative, the event seeks to identify new business avenues linked to cork transformation and the conservation of cork oak forests.

Dubbed 'Innovation and Industrial Transformation of Cork from the Cork Oak Forests of the Province of Malaga', the route is part of the European EMBEDED project, funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe program. The event is co-organized with the Cortes de la Frontera City Council and counts on the support of the Sierra de las Nieves and Serranía de Ronda Rural Development Group.

Antonia Ledesma, vice-president and deputy for Social Innovation and Depopulation, stated:

'This route will place Cortes de la Frontera at the center of the debate on bioeconomy, innovation, and the future of our rural territories. We share the vision that our towns can generate wealth and employment from their natural and cultural heritage.'

The program includes a demonstration of the traditional cork extraction process, showcasing skilled trades such as hatchet makers, splitters, collectors, muleteers, and weighers. Participants will also visit the Aley storage center and its autoclave facilities for cork cleaning.

Ledesma emphasized the sustainability of cork harvesting:

'Cork extraction is one of the few fully sustainable trades. It does not harm the forest; on the contrary, it contributes to cleaning, fire prevention, and biodiversity maintenance. It supports many families and provides oxygen to municipal coffers.'

Cortes de la Frontera boasts over 17,000 hectares of cork oak forest, making it one of the leading references in Andalusia for this resource.

The EMBEDED project, with 16 partners from Spain, Ireland, Portugal, and the Czech Republic, aims to transform forest residues into high-value biomaterials with a low carbon footprint. The Provincial Council of Malaga actively participates as a partner in this consortium.

Registration is mandatory due to limited capacity and is reserved for technical and business profiles. Interested parties can sign up through the official La Noria website at https://www.lanoriamalaga.es/inscripcion/.