Cuppa at risk as tea harvest threatened by climate change
EXTREME weather and rising temperatures are threatening the Great British cuppa, a report warns.
Kenya produces half the black tea that we drink and is the world’s biggest exporter.
But Christian Aid warns that the East African country faces more erratic rainfall, making floods and droughts more common.
The charity says climate change will slash by 26 per cent the best areas for tea production by 2050, while average ones will see a fall of 39 per cent.
Other major producers including India, Sri Lanka and China, the top grower of increasingly popular green tea, also face rising temperatures and extreme weather.
The flavour of tea could also go off the boil, as more rain produces poorer leaves and reduces the compounds that make the brew beneficial to health.
Big British brands and the Fairtrade Foundation have also raised concerns.
The warning comes as the UK prepares to host the G7 meeting of major economies next month – where Boris Johnson has said climate, and finance for poor countries to cope with global warming, will be centre stage – and the key UN COP26 climate talks in Glasgow in November.
Dr Kat Kramer, Christian Aid’s climate policy lead, said: “This year the UK Government has a key role in overseeing the global response to the climate emergency.” She said that as
the host of both summits “the UK can ensure that countries on the front line of this crisis can adapt and respond to the impacts of climate change.
“With countries starting to announce improved climate plans, there is a unique opportunity to accelerate cuts in emissions and boost the finance needed to help countries adapt to the changing climate.” Victor Koskei, 72, a tea farmer from Kericho in Kenya’s Western Highlands, said: “We are proud that the tea that we grow here is the best in the world but climate change poses a real threat to us.
“We cannot predict seasons anymore, temperatures are rising, rainfall is more erratic, more often accompanied by unusual hailstones and longer droughts which was not the case in the past.
“If this continues, then it will make growing tea much harder and life for us extremely difficult.”
He added: “Farmers like us are bearing the brunt of this crisis but we aren’t the ones that have caused it.”
He called on richer countries to cut their emissions and said: “This needs a joint effort from developed countries who enjoy our tea abroad.”
Fiachra Moloney, of PG Tips maker Unilever, said: “In East Africa, where so much of our tea comes from, climate change is putting the livelihoods of those who grow tea for us at risk.
“As Unilever, we call on governments to bring forward ambitious climate targets, policies and plans ahead of COP26 that will help us all work together to limit global average temperature rise to 1.5C.”
Under the 2016 Paris Agreement countries have committed to action to try to limit global warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.