Friday, 2 September 2016

Coffee Could be Disappeared by 2080

coffee

Our favourite drink coffee could be disappeared by 2080 if global warming continues to worsen, according to a report by The Climate Institute.

It’s expected that half of the world’s coffee farming land will no longer be suitable for plantation by 2050 due to increasing temperatures, fungi and pests. It's also predicted that wild coffee varieties such as Arabica could become extinct within the next 70 years unless climate change is tackled.

The decline in production will not only affect coffee lovers worldwide but also affect the livelihoods of around 120 million people in more than 70 countries that depend on the industry.

Consumers are also likely to see impact on flavour, aroma and prices, as coffee becomes more scarce.

It's not just rising temperature that's affecting crops; climate change has paved the way for fungi such as coffee leaf rust to attack crops. In 2012, Central America was hit by a wave of the fungus which caused a drop in production of around 2.7 million bags, affected 350,000 jobs and cost $500 million (£377 million).

The fungus is still spreading and was recently reported in mountainous areas of Columbia where it was previously too cool for it to survive.

A pest known as the coffee berry borer which is usually found in plantations below 1,500 metres above sea level has also spread upwards harming previously safe plantations. On Mount Kilimanjaro, the borer is now found nearly 300 metres higher than it was last century.

A warming of just one or two degrees could see this insect’s population explode and have a devastating effect on agriculture.

Jim Hanna, sustainability director for Starbucks said: “"What we are really seeing as a company as we look 10, 20, 30 years down the road - if conditions continue as they are - is a potentially significant risk to our supply chain. If we sit by and wait until the impacts of climate change are so severe that is impacting our supply chain then that puts us at a greater risk.”

Mario Cerutti, Green Coffee & Corporate Relations Partner at Lavazza, said: "We have a cloud hovering over our head. It’s dramatically serious. Climate change can have a significant adverse effect in the short term. It’s no longer about the future; it’s the present."

In the next few decades there is likely to be a dramatic shift in coffee production, farmers may move away from the equator and head further up mountains where they could clash with other landowners or affect forests.


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