What’s In Your Cup: Coffee & Deforestation
There’s no doubt that the world’s rainforests are being threatened. This is how coffee farmers in Costa Rica are combating deforestation.
If you’re anything like me, your morning routine probably begins with a steaming cup of coffee. Without it, the whole day seems a little bit “off,” doesn’t it? And if you’re anything like me, you will also probably have a cup in the early afternoon as well, to rectify that after-lunch slump. Indeed, the average American (USA) consumes 2.1 cups of coffee per day, which multiplies to 400 million cups per day, and a staggering 146 billion cups per year. And that’s only in the USA! It’s hard to imagine such vast number, but one thing is certain: the global coffee industry is massive, and all of that coffee has a profound impact on our environment. Since coffee is grown in tropical climate zones, coffee production is often at odds with the rainforest ecosystems.
In the wild, coffee is a species which thrives in a shaded environment. Traditional cultivation of coffee would include large, leafy, trees planted intermittently among the coffee plants, increasing the quality of the crop. However, global demand and fluctuation in global coffee prices have driven farmers in many regions to resort to cultivating “sun coffee.” This type of coffee production clears massive areas of land and plants vast monocultures of coffee plants in order to increase yield and profits. As a result, deforestation levels began to rise unchecked in many tropical countries.
Costa Rica responded immediately to the growing deforestation issue, enacting a cutting ban on mature forests in 1996 which led to an amazing 40 percent drop in the loss of old-growth forest. Costa Rica maintains their strict forest management policies, especially when it comes to coffee production. Cultivation of canephora (robusta) beans, a lower-quality, “sun coffee” species are banned in Costa Rica, and many coffee producers, including our amazing Bean Voyage women, make environmental sustainability a priority on their farms.
The environmental benefits to traditional management of coffee farms are numerous. Incorporation of native tree species can provide crucial bridges between habitats for birds and mammals, combatting habitat fragmentation and allowing them to avoid dangerous urban areas during migrations. Along with supporting biodiversity levels in the tropics, the trees integrated within the coffee plants shade out weed species, prevent erosion, and drop leaves which act as natural fertilizer. Trees, like all plants, also have the unique ability to capture carbon dioxide, a harmful greenhouse gas, from the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide gas enters the tree through the leaves, is transformed, incorporated, and stored in the biomass of the tree (bonus — the oxygen we breathe is the waste product of this process!). Trees which grow large over a long period of time sequester lots of carbon; consequently, forests act as a barrier against climate change. And these are just a few of the amazing benefits that trees can offer on coffee farms. There are many more we aren’t even aware of yet!
Purchasing coffee grown with Bean Voyage standards, you can be sure that not only will you be brewing a delicious cup, but your purchase also supports sustainable agriculture that stands against deforestation. And in such a beautiful, diverse country such as Costa Rica, that’s definitely something to get excited about!
Bean Voyage is a non profit that provides training and market access to female coffee producers in Costa Rica so they can produce specialty coffee, earn better income and lead sustainable lives.
Written by: Catherine Wiersma, a Master’s student studying Sustainable Natural Resource Management in the Environment, Development, and Peace at the University for Peace in San José, Costa Rica. She enjoys hiking, writing, and, of course, drinking coffee.
Huff Post: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/29/americas-coffee-obsession_n_987885.html
Zagat: https://zagat.googleblog.com/2015/02/national-coffee-trends-revealed.html
Veragura: http://www.veraguarainforest.com/blog/agriculture-vs-forest-strikes-a-tricky-balance-in-costa-rica/
Coffee and Conservation: http://www.coffeehabitat.com/2006/02/the_problems_wi/
