Coffee plantations using traditional farming methods help maintain forest biodiversity. Sarah Marriott reports
Coffee gets us out of bed in the morning, breaks up the working day and makes the perfect end to a good dinner. Now it may also help to save the rainforest and its wildlife.
"We are losing 100 acres of tropical forest every minute," says Chris Wille of Rainforest Alliance. "Biologists say that a traditional coffee farm with its overstorey of native trees is 'the next best thing to real rainforest'.
"The biggest threat to wildlife in the tropics is loss of habitat. Coffee farms can provide refuge to thousands of species of rare plants and animals, from towering rainforest trees draped with bromeliads and orchids to parrots, toucans, monkeys, ocelots, industrious ants and brilliant butterflies," says Wille.
Coffee can be a haven or a hazard for wildlife, so when Ricardo Fernandez took over a coffee plantation in Panama's western highlands, he was determined to farm using traditional methods. "It's important to protect the environment," says Fernandez.
To be as eco-friendly as possible, the Fernandez family decided to retain old trees that provide shade for coffee bushes and increase biodiversity; to avoid using herbicides to kill grass growing between the plants (instead, workers with machetes cut the grass three times a year) and to strictly limit the use of chemical fungicides.
Fernandez, who has been drinking coffee for more than 60 years, clearly loves his plants. "This tree is more than 50 years old," he says, gently stroking the red cherries peeping out from between glossy green leaves, as small brightly coloured birds twitter and tropical butterflies fly around us. He doesn't use chemical fertilisers - his plant food comes from natural sources such as local rocks and volcanic crystals - and nothing is wasted; the peel of coffee cherries is used to supplement the natural compost of fallen leaves.
To receive Rainforest Alliance certification, the Fernandez family were asked to improve living conditions for their seasonal workers and to plant a vegetation "buffer zone" along the river to prevent sediment and other contaminants affecting people and wildlife downstream - which will also provide an important wildlife habitat.
On the Fernandez farm, between 1,250 and 1,500 metres above sea level near Panama's only volcano, hundreds of orange trees and other types of tree provide shade for the coffee bushes. Naturalists view shade-grown coffee as far more beneficial to wildlife than coffee grown in full sun, since forests provide a habitat for hummingbirds, swallows, warblers, orioles and other native and migratory birds. Researchers at the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center found that shade farms in Colombia have 10 times more species of bird than sun farms and that in Chiapas, Mexico, there are more than 94 per cent fewer bird species on sun coffee than on shaded farms.
"A verdant open-to-the-sun coffee plantation qualifies as a 'green desert' virtually devoid of bird activity," says Robert Rice of the research centre.
Studies of insects, canopy trees, orchids and amphibians also show that shaded coffee plantations can provide refuge for species where there is no longer any forest. In Costa Rica, for example, insect diversity in shaded coffee farms rivals that found in rainforests.
Although Rainforest Alliance promotes sustainable agriculture rather than shade-grown coffee, Wille says the charity prefers to see thickly forested farms that resemble parks. "We encourage farmers to plant trees in and around the coffee. Trees can help fertilise the fields, protect the coffee from sun and rain and provide valuable goods such as fruits and firewood.
"Coffee farms can provide many of the same environmental services as forests: protection of watersheds, providing homes for wildlife, moderating climate and holding hillsides that might otherwise collapse under the torrential tropical rains." The problem with full-sun monoculture farms, Wille points out, is that they need more pesticides and fertilisers, are prone to erosion and do not provide habitat for rainforest wildlife.
"The bomb is ticking," says the Rainforest Alliance. "At least half of the seven million acres of coffee grown in northern Latin America has already been converted to full-sun and is now of no more value to birds and other wildlife than a banana plantation or barren cattle pasture." In the past 10 years, the Rainforest Alliance has certified almost 218,000 acres producing coffee, bananas, oranges and cocoa and is responsible for reforesting some 2,000 acres of key buffer zones, while more than 40,000 farm families benefit directly from its programme.
"Our ECO-OK certification programme is designed to minimise environmental impacts and maximise social benefits," says Wille. "To be sustainable, a farm or any business must attend to the three pillars of sustainability - economics, environment and ethics. Our programme helps farmers find the balance of these three dimensions.
"For us, the 'economics' pillar means that farms should be well managed, efficient, stable and profitable. A sustainable farm, for example, uses fewer costly agrochemicals, workers have fewer accidents and sick days, and the farm invests in its future by making improvements (such as soil conservation) that will pay off in the long term." Environmental sustainability means protecting soil health and quality, protecting wildlife and critical ecosystems, conserving water and energy (including firewood), properly managing waste and strictly managing agrochemicals if a farm uses them.
But sustainability is about more than protecting the environment; it is also about the ethics of how the workers are treated. To receive the ECO-OK tree frog stamp, farmers must ensure workers get the benefits and rights provided by international law, such as fair pay, no discrimination in the workplace and no sexual harassment.
Although consumers may feel torn between Rainforest Alliance and Fair Trade products, the two certification schemes are not in competition.
"Since most coffee on the supermarket shelf is uncertified, shoppers should look for any legitimate certification seal. Buy certified first," says Wille. "If you have a number of certified options, learn about the programmes and support the one that appeals to your interests. For example, some consumers who are interested in changing the conventional trading system buy fair trade, while those who are interested in the rights of farm workers and in wildlife conservation select sustainable."
Saving the rainforest is all very well, but how does the coffee taste?
"It's much better than generic coffee because it comes from a single farm or group of farms," says coffee bean importer, Simon Wakefield. "We import Rainforest Alliance coffee because farmers know they have to create a high quality product to get the premium price and consumers know that they are supporting sustainable, ethical trading and farming practices."
You can buy Rainforest Alliance coffee from www.edenstore.co.uk. It may be available in Irish supermarkets later this year.