Environment
The coffee forests under pressure
Wild arabica holds the genetic variation the world's coffee will need. It grows in forests that are shrinking.
7 min readDawit Mengistu
Global arabica is genetically narrow — descended from a small founding population that left Ethiopia centuries ago. The wild populations in Kafa, Sheka and Illubabor are where the remaining variation lives.
That variation is the raw material for resistance to leaf rust, tolerance of drought and adaptation to warmer growing seasons. Losing it is not an Ethiopian loss; it is a loss to every producing country.
Forest coffee is a land-use question
- Shade-grown forest coffee pays farmers less per hectare than clearing does
- Biosphere reserve status only works with enforcement and alternative income
- Premium origin pricing can make standing forest the profitable option
The policy problem is therefore an economic one: make the forest worth more standing than felled, and the genetic reservoir looks after itself.
Back to Top StoriesEnvironment
