26 CLIMATE CHANGE
Farmers, the people in the coffee supply chain most directly affected by climate change, are already aware of its effects on their livelihoods. Now, a new project plans to help them to ‘retool’ and adapt the way they grow coffee as weather patterns change
relating to coffee production problems caused by bad weather.
T
Heat Damages Colombia Coffee, Raising Prices’
‘Coffee farms wilt as weather shifts in Costa Rica’
‘Drought might harm Uganda's coffee harvest’
‘Labor Shortages on Some Farms, Poor Weather Mean Fewer Beans Hit Market’ (Mexico)
‘Kenya Drought Cuts Coffee, Tea Output; Growth May Slow’
‘Bad weather may further slash coffee production’ (Indonesia)
‘Guatemala's coffee producers breach contracts’
‘Climate change brews coffee trouble in Southern states’ (India)
‘Vietnam Coffee Output May Drop 20% on Rains, Vicofa Head Says’
A preliminary problem tree for climate change and coffee in Minas Gerais, Brazil
The question is: are these problems
caused by climate change, or is it just part of natural weather variations such as El Niño? The climatologist’s stock answer is: we can’t be sure, but what we are seeing and meas- uring in the field is consistent with what cli- mate models are predicting. One response to this situation is ‘wait and
see’ because we can’t be sure. Another is to take a more proactive view that the most useful working hypothesis is thus: climate change is now affecting coffee production, problems will get worse and we should con- certedly start helping farmers adapt to this new reality by offering practical, science- based advice. This is the overall aim of a new project launched in Frankfurt on 6 April. The Initiative
on Coffee and Climate (IC&C), is a public- private partnership comprising as founding members the companies Gustav Paulig, Joh Johannson, Löfbergs Lila, Neumann Gruppe and Tchibo as well as the foundation Fondazione Guiseppe e Pericle Lavazza Onlus and GIZ (formerly GTZ). GIZ’s previ- ous projects on coffee and climate change (
AdapCC.org and Sangana PPP) have pro- vided much of the initial ground work on this subject which now needs to be taken to the next level. The objective of the project is to provide
producers and service providers along green coffee supply chains in key coffee regions with adequate knowledge and instruments that enable them to apply effective climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies. The project will map likely climate change
scenarios for coffee in four key countries (Guatemala, Brazil, Vietnam and Tanzania) and combine effective adaptation and miti- gation approaches in a toolbox to be adapt- ed to local specific conditions. The aim is also to train producers and service providers on the use of the toolbox and run capacity building activities for stakeholders along the green coffee supply chains. These aims are easy to state, but translat-
ing them into useful ways to adapt to climate change will be a challenge, or in reality a series of challenges that we will now look at in more detail.
he following headlines all come from reputable newspapers within the last four months, all of them specifically
Retooling coffee farmers to confront climate change*
The aim of the IC&C project is to provide pro- ducers and service providers with ways to adapt to climate change
May 2011 C&CI
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