Date Palm Plantations: A Future Sustainable Support to Forests

The date palm plantations are among the most dispersedly distributed 
plantations in the world (37 countries in 5 continents). Taking the 
world dates production as a criterion, the cultivation of date palms is 
expanding with time (the paper includes an equation for estimation). 
The date palm represents a Keystone species and the tree of life 
creating in arid and semi-arid regions a microclimate that offsets the 
effects of drought and allows the intensification of agriculture and 
intercropping that increase productivity of water and profits per unit 
area (the paper includes a case study of technical and economic 
feasibility study of intercropping with date palms in New Valley 
governorate, Egypt). The date palm plantations represent a sustainable 
well-managed plantations secure from threats of fire in traditional 
forests. Besides, the date palm is capable of absorbing carbon dioxide 
and thus contributing to decrease the deleterious consequences of 
climate change (the paper includes an estimation of CO2 absorption).
In addition, the fruits of the date palms (dates) could effectively 
contribute in the realization of food security.