HAMBURG, Germany – During the COP21 in Paris in 2015, the world’s governmental officials committed to a landmark agreement, charting a fundamentally new course in the two-decade-old global climate effort by adopting “intended nationally determined contributions” (INDCs).
The aim is to limit global warming to a max. of 2° C. At the last COP held in Marrakech, the parties collectively declared that the “extraordinary momentum on climate change worldwide is irreversible.”
Despite the unsettling situation with the presidential elections of the U.S.A. taking place at the very same time, members dedicated to the next step: moving the action from agreement to implementation.
Climate change poses a substantial threat to global agriculture.
The coffee sector is particularly vulnerable to this, as the change implies decreasing land suitable for coffee production, severe droughts and extreme shifts in rainfall patterns.
Phenomena such as El Niño have already negatively impacted coffee production and resulted in global production losses of approx. 2-3% in some years.
Experts estimate that, including processing and retail, more than 100 million people worldwide are employed in the coffee sector.
Among producers, about 70% of the farmers are smallholder families.
Taking into consideration that about 90% of coffee is produced in developing countries, the coffee sector plays a significant role for economic development and rural livelihoods.
Realizing their role and their responsibility attached to it, key players from the private, the development and the research sector joined forces to address challenges posed by changing climate conditions to the entire coffee value chain.
The result was the foundation of the initiative for coffee & climate in 2010.
Mario Cerutti, Chief Institutional Relations & Sustainability Officer at Lavazza and chairperson of coffee & climate, claims: “We think that the know-how developed in the last years through the coffee & climate initiative needs to be spread to as many producers as possible. Climate Action is among the Sustainable Development Goals and we need to take on the responsibility to respond to this goal with effective solutions.”
Pioneering activities have showcased that productivity, mitigation and adaptation can complement each other. coffee & climate enables coffee farmers in Brazil, Central America, Tanzania and Vietnam to effectively adapt to climate change and enhance the resiliency of their production systems.
In dialogue with both farmers and scientists, the initiative’s objective is to make state-of-the-art scientific innovations available to the farmers, consolidated in a publicly accessible toolbox; thereby allowing them to respond to climate-related challenges quickly and efficiently.
Michael Opitz, Managing Director of Hanns R. Neumann Stiftung and visionary to coffee & climate, states: “The potential and the need to develop, support, and expand this and similar programs are tremendous. This is why we are initiating the second phase of coffee & climate, taking the already unique approach of this initiative to the next level. In the spirit of all the achievements we have accomplished over the last years, I want to express my sincere thanks to all the partners that support this mission. They contribute not only financially but also by sharing their expertise and their passion. By adopting the coffee & climate approach in their operations, our partners are becoming committed drivers of widespread adaptation at farm level.”
The initiative for coffee & climate is now officially launching its second phase. Building on the successful experiences of the first phase, the activities will be put at scale.
An example is an effective water saving irrigation technique, tested in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. One of the participating farmers in Vietnam, Mr. Nguyen Quy Pguoc, explains: “Applying the water saving irrigation technique that I learnt in the project, I have saved a lot of money I would have otherwise spent on gasoline and labor. My 2 ha of land still looks beautiful, full of green and healthy trees, promising a very good harvest.”
Another valuable practice is the use of cover crops as tested in Central America. Planting cover crops helps protecting soil and plant, by reducing the soil temperature and preventing coffee plants of heat stress or even death.
Mauricio Gavarrete (PICTURE), a coffee farmer from Honduras, states: “With the support of coffee & climate, we re-invented our traditional way of farming coffee by introducing cover crops and gypsum. It´s a learning process that we actively participate in, and I am proud to say that my demo plot motivates my fellow farmers to adapt their practices – and are now better prepared to handle the challenges to come”.
Next to direct training, multipliers will be qualified to reach at least out to as many as 70,000 farmer families.
At the same time, the existing methodology will be further refined to raise the efficiency of adaptation and mitigation efforts and combating deforestation in coffee landscapes.
This unique set-up allows for consistent learning and sharing of know-how. It is actively shared with farmer support systems like traders, roasters, cooperatives, and with governmental structures to strengthen them in their efforts to support farmers adapting to climate change.
In many cases adaptation options have raised farmers’ resiliency to climate change and contributed to increase and stabilize income.
The second phase will advance these important achievements.
Additionally, the approach is further expanded to also effectively address mitigation of carbon emissions in coffee production.
In the spirit of promoting Climate Smart Agriculture, cooperation with other relevant actors for upgrading coffee landscapes is essential.
This programming will enhance the efficiency of operations and significantly contributing to support coffee producing countries in meeting their commitments within the INDCs. The initiative for coffee & climate is welcoming new parties to join.
The more support and participation this initiative experiences, the stronger it can dedicate its expertise and know-how to combatting the consequences of climate change for the millions of coffee farmers worldwide.
The initiative for coffee & climate
In 2010, Gustav Paulig Ltd., Joh. Johannson Kaffe AS, Löfbergs Lila AB, Neumann Gruppe GmbH, Tchibo GmbH and Fondazione Giuseppe e Pericle Lavazza Onlus founded the initiative for coffee & climate (c&c) together with the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, as a development partnership with the vision to enable all coffee-farming families worldwide to effectively respond to climate change.
In the meantime, Ecom Coffee, Franck d.d., the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida), Tim Hortons, the Sustainable Coffee Program (SCP), Starbucks and Conservation International have committed themselves to this vision.
The c&c approach is currently implemented in projects in Brazil, Tanzania, Trifinio (Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador) and Vietnam. These regions have been chosen mainly because of their strategic relevance as key coffee producing areas, representing Arabica and Robusta production, intensive and diverse growing system as well as wet and dry processing.
Read more at www.coffeeandclimate.org
