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Article

28 Sep 2016

Author:
Corey Watts, Climate Institute

Report on need for coffee companies & consumers to aid smallholder farmers adapt to climate change

"A Brewing Storm: The climate change risks to coffee," 29 Aug 2016

Coffee is a key global crop and the second most valuable commodity exported by developing countries…The coffee market…faces big challenges…:

  • There is strong evidence that rising temperatures…are already affecting coffee yields…badly affecting economic security in some coffee regions.
  • …Leading global coffee companies, such as Starbucks and Lavazza, publicly acknowledge the severe risks posed by climate change to the world’s coffee supply…
  • …Most of the world’s 25 million coffee farmers are smallholders. Alone, they have little capacity to adapt to a hotter world in which climate and market volatility conspire against them.
  • Over 120 million people in more than 70 countries rely on the coffee value chain for their livelihoods…
  • Climate change is likely to significantly increase the burden on the health and wellbeing…of coffee producers, labourers, and communities, with consequences for productivity.
  • Crop adaptation strategies include developing more resilient production systems, diversifying crops, and shifting plantations upslope. The global trend, however, is towards intensification as producers seek to lift yields at the expense of more complex and carbon-rich landscapes…