The new study is just the first drop in the coffee pot. The news is better for coffee farmers, though, as virtually all coffee-producing areas are still likely to maintain at least five bee species, and about half the areas will be home to 10 species, the study found. Overall, the average number of bee species per hectare could plummet to no more than three in Latin America.
The opposite-“negative coupling”, or a decrease in both coffee suitability and bee species richness-is likely to occur in 34% to 51% of future coffee-producing zones.Ībout one-third of future coffee-growing zones show an increase in coffee suitability and a decrease in bee species, while no more than 10% show more bee species in areas that lose suitability for coffee production.
In 10% to 22% of future coffee-producing zones, coffee suitability will increase and the number of bee species will increase, an effect known as “positive coupling.” That is especially true in Central America, the study found. Meanwhile, up to 30% of areas suitable for coffee production in the future will be places where coffee is not currently cultivated, giving other farmers a chance to grow an important cash crop. ‘Forests are well and truly on the global food security agenda’ In a region where 80 percent of coffee crops are grown on plots of less than four hectares, that could have a big impact on small-scale, low-income farmers.Īreas currently suitable for coffee production in the region will shrink by 73% to 88% under scenarios of moderate to high warming, according to the study, which examined the impact of 19 climate variables on areas suitable for coffee crops and 39 bee species in Latin America. With climate change in Latin America, though, the places where coffee is grown and where bees thrive today could shift in the future. The plants set more fruit, the fruit weight is higher, and yield is greater. As the number of bee species-called “species richness”-found on a coffee farm increases, so does the farm’s productivity. “Our idea was to look not only at how conditions suitable for coffee crops might change with climate change, but how that would couple with changes in ecosystem services-pollination services, in this case.”īecause arabica coffee, which accounts for two-thirds of the world’s coffee production, is self-pollinating, it technically does not need bees at all, Imbach says.īut bees, especially native species, give the plants a boost. “We wanted to take a different approach,” he says. While people generally associate forests with ecosystem services such as maintaining water quality or moderating temperatures, their role as a home for bees often flies under the radar, Imbach says. Some farmers may have to shift crops to higher ground, while others may need to change to other products that are more suitable to their new growing conditions.īut few studies have examined the combined impacts of climate change on crops and the ecosystem services important to farmers, says Pablo Imbach, a climate and ecosystems scientist at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT). Other studies have shown that climate change is likely to affect agriculture. “At a time when agricultural production is threatened by climate change, the ecosystem services provided by forests-in this case, pollination-can help farmers cope and adapt,” says Bruno Locatelli, an expert on ecosystem services and climate change adaptation at the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and a co-author of the study.
There’s some good news for coffee lovers, though: maintaining healthy forests near those crops could help keep the buzz in your morning joe, according to a new study. Climate change could also affect bees that pollinate the bushes that produce the little red beans that jolt millions awake in the morning. And around the world, from Brazil to Ethiopia to Vietnam, small farmers depend on the aromatic bean for a livelihood.īut a warming climate could stir up the coffee world.Ĭhanges in temperature and rainfall may reduce coffee production in some areas, while making new places suitable for the crop.
#COFFEE BUZZ FACE ZIP#
Saving the branch we’re sitting on? Protecting the Amazon, for all of usįrom friends meeting over cappuccino in the local café to students pulling all-nighters, we humans count on coffee to put zip in our lives.
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