The Birds and the Beans
For more than 150 years, coffee was widely grown under the leafy canopy of native rainforest trees. When agronomists in the 1970s began promoting a new farm system where the sheltering forest is cleared, and coffee bushes are packed in dense hedgerows and doused with agrochemicals. These monoculture farms produce more beans, but at a tremendous environmental cost. The traditional, agroforestry system is good wildlife habitat. The new monocultures have little habitat, accelerate soil erosion and pollute streams.
Biologists in the SAN have shown that certified, forested coffee farms can be bio-rich buffer zones for parks, protect watersheds and serve as wildlife corridors. These "coffee forests" are also important sources of firewood, construction materials, medicinal plants, fruits, flowers, honey and other goods. Many farms in the certification program protect native forest reserves and community water supplies. Certified farmers in ecosystems that are not naturally forested, such as the "cerrado" in Brazil, are required to conserve the native habitat.
The biodiversity on coffee farms can be awesome. One certified cooperative in El Salvador holds more than 100 tree species. SAN biologists have spotted members of dozens of species of rare birds, wild cats such as ocelots, postcard-size butterflies, Technicolor frogs, seldom-seen orchids, monkeys and (once) a giant anteater. Certification is one way to guarantee that coffee farms maintain wildlife habitat and other environmental benefits.
Rainforest Alliance Certified seal is a guarantee that coffee is grown on farms where forests are protected, rivers, soils and wildlife conserved; workers are treated with respect, paid decent wages, properly equipped and given access to education and medical care. These farms are on a path toward true sustainability. Forested coffee farms are critically important to serve as migration stopovers for birds traveling from as far away as Canada and Alaska. In areas where deforestation is rampant, these coffee farms may be the only habitat available to provide shelter and food for wary birds.
