The role of the carob tree in the voluntary carbon market in Portugal

By: Pedro José Correia, Maribela Pestana MED – Mediterranean Institute for Agriculture, Environment and Development and CHANGE Associate Laboratory, University of Algarve, Faculty of Science and Technology INTRODUCTION The carob tree (Ceratonia siliqua L.; Fabaceae family) is a tree species particularly adapted to water deficit and marginal soils with little organic matter. In Portugal it is cultivated essentially in the Algarve, but its area has been expanding in Baixo Alentejo as well. For decades, cultivation was carried out, essentially, in a dryland regime, in irregular orchards and in association with almond, olive and fig trees, constituting the traditional rainfed orchard. In this agro-system, planting densities are very low (< 70 trees per hectare) and yields are very irregular due to lack of watering and mineral fertilization. The carob tree has different morphological and physiological mechanisms of adaptation to abiotic stress and, therefore, can be easily exploited in ...