Summary

Coffee is second only to oil as the most valuable internationally traded commodity in the world. Commercial coffee had traditionally been produced under the natural canopies of the tropical forests of Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean and Colombia. The sun-filtering canopies supported effective nutrient cycles, which served to protect soils from erosion. The leaf-fall from the canopies provided a natural mulch and trees fixed their own nitrogen and sequestered carbon. Additionally, the rainforests provided homes to diverse flora and fauna and provided a habitat for migrating birds. However, in the 1970's, partly through financial concerns and partly because of disease fears, countries took to clearing large expanses of the rainforest to create "full sun" "open fields" to grow their coffee. This deforestation has had devastating effects, both on local ecosystems and on the environment as a whole. The shrinking mid-elevation habitat for migrating birds, has seen a big fall in numbers - and an increase in predatory insects (on which the birds would naturally feed) With the falling bird numbers and disappearance of tree canopy to provide natural mulch, chemical fertilizers and pesticides have had to be greatly increased, resulting in run off, water pollution and soil erosion. Shade-grown coffee farming is now being advocated by concerned environmental organisations - and it is this approach which I will be looking at with a view to evaluating its claims towards sustainability. [2, 5, 6, 7]

Images source: Songbird Foundation [7] - accessed 20/04/05

Introduction

Evaluation of sustainability

References and links