WEBVTT
Kind: captions
Language: en

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Ever since the coffee bean was
discovered in the highlands of Ethiopia

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over a thousand years ago, the act of
drinking coffee shared with friends,

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family, and neighbors remains an integral
part of Ethiopian culture. Today the

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caffeinated crop also plays a crucial
economic role. But climate change puts it

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all at risk. And Ethiopia is not alone.
Nearly all coffee is grown in the "bean

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belt," with Brazil as the leading global
coffee exporter. After oil, coffee ranks

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as the world's most valuable export
commodity and it's produced almost

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exclusively in developing countries. 120
million people in 70 countries count on

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the global coffee industry, worth tens of
billions of dollars, to make a living. Yet

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like wine grapes, coffee plants can be
sensitive and demands specific growing

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conditions to produce flavorful and
balanced beans.

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That's why climate change poses such an
existential threat. Warmer temperatures,

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more frequent droughts, intensified
flooding, and increasingly hospitable

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conditions for insects and fungi that
attack coffee plants all take a heavy

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toll on production. Tanzania, where 2.4
million people earn a living from coffee,

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has seen production cut in half since
the 1960s

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due to hotter temperatures. And globally
half of all land currently used for

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coffee production is projected to be
unsuitable by 2050. Coffee lovers will

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likely feel the effects of supply
shortages through higher prices and

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lower bean quality. A rise in temperature
means less time for a coffee bean to

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ripen and less complexity in flavor
acidity and sweetness. Strategies to

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counteract the worst effects of climate
change include moving coffee plantations

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to higher ground and diversifying crops.
But most coffee farmers are small-scale

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producers without the resources to take
on these measures by themselves.

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The private sector, from Peet's to
Nespresso, has stepped in with funding

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and research support for farmers. And
after coffee producers in Mexico lost

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60% of their crops to leaf rust in 2014,
coffee behemoth Starbucks distributed

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millions of coffee plants bred to be
rust resistant to the region. But to

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stave off a crisis, governments and
institutions need to make a sustained,

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widespread effort to help farmers adapt
to climate change. For 120 million people,

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it's not just about a daily jolt of
caffeine or after-dinner nightcap - its

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economic survival.