Now it’s time to explore in more detail how these common land uses in coffee production impact the natural environment. A global meta-analysis of biodiversity in coffee agroforestry found total species richness was 46% higher in agroforestry systems as compared to monocrop plantation systems. According to the latest edition of the Coffee Barometer, coffee is expected to cause the loss of 10-20 million hectares of forest by 2050, releasing 1.65-3.3 gigatons of carbon. The Moral of the StoryIf we return to the initial question of how coffee can both be regarded as an environmental hero and villain, it’s clear that the answers lie in these two different approaches to cultivation. “The kind of system that is intensive coffee plantations, or very large-scale coffee monocultures, I see that as the crisis,” Perfecto told Vox.

Source: Ethiopian News August 10, 2023 12:59 UTC