Coffee drinking in danger as plants face risk of extinction

COFFEE drinking is in danger after a study found that 60 per cent of the plants that produce coffee beans are at risk of extinction, including the variety that produces most of the world’s beans.

Researchers at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, have found that 75 of the world’s 124 wild coffee species are under threat from the loss of forests, climate change and the worsening problem of fungal disease and pests.

They include wild arabica, a species from Ethiopia that provides 60 per cent of the global trade in coffee.

Coffee farmers have already begun to report their crops being affected by changing weather patterns, rising temperatures, and pests and diseases.

Dr Aaron Davis, lead author of the study said: “What we’re saying is 60 per cent is just really high, that’s a real wake-up call. For a major global commodity, that starts ringing alarm bells.

“It’s a tragedy losing any wild species, whether it’s a bird or plant or animal, that’s bad enough.

“But when you’ve got a crop that supports the livelihoods of 100million people just in production in coffee farming, then you look at value of high street coffee chains and supermarket coffee, it’s enormous.”

In a study published in Science Advances, scientists assessed wild coffee species against the extinction risk criteria of the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species.

Of the varieties threatened with extinction, 13 are in the most at-risk category, while 40 are endangered and 22 vulnerable to extinction. Fewer than half of the wild coffee species are held in seed banks or living plant collections, and more than a quarter (28 per cent) are not known to occur in any protected areas, the scientists also warn.