A group of environmentally minded people have launched a petition to preserve and promote the natural cork, and in particular the forests that produce the cork bark. A change to screw cap risks damaging the today extensive and well managed cork oak forests. The group says that the oak forests are important for example for the threatened species the Iberian Lynx and the Iberian Imperial Eagle, and that in Portugal the oak forests reduces the CO2 emissions with 5%.
The famous nature photographer Yann Artus-Bertrand (e.g. The Earth Seen From the Sky) and Jean-Marie Pelt, president of the European Ecological Institute are two names behind the petition. The site www.petitionpourleliege.org and the petition text in English.
