More than half of the existing wild coffee species are threatened with extinction, according to a study published Wednesday, Jan. 17 in the scientific journal Science Advances. It has been conducted in several African forests, from Sierra Leone to Madagascar. However, the producers of arabica and robusta – the two species on which world coffee production depends – need these wild varieties.
Wild varieties of coffee are essential for coffee growers. They have the genes needed to develop coffee that is resistant to disease and climate change. Irony of the situation, it is not sure that these precious wild coffee trees themselves resist global warming.
Of 124 wild coffee species, 75 are threatened, ie 60%. They suffer from prolonged periods of drought, but also suffer the costs of deforestation which aggravates climate change. So it’s a vicious circle. The spread of diseases and harmful species represents an additional danger.
Researchers warn of the enormous socio-economic risks at stake, if the some 100 million coffee growers in the world lose their ability to produce coffee or profit from it. They therefore call for action: for them, it is necessary at all costs to preserve these wild varieties. How? The reflection is launched.