"The beauty of these principles is that they give growers, conservationists, and planners, wherever coffee is grown, a road map for protecting our shared biological heritage," said Robert Rice of the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center. "Traditional shade coffee farms provide significant habitat value for birds and other species, as well as local economic benefits that can help prevent further destruction of intact natural forests."
Supporting Biodiversity
Protecting the many species of songbirds that migrate between North and South America is a primary concern of the sustainable-coffee movement.
Traditional varieties of coffee grow best in shady, forested surroundings. Maintaining shade-grown coffee plantations can provide high levels of on-farm biodiversity, while helping to restore corridors between undisturbed tropical forests.
Starbucks this year purchased its largest supply of Shade-Grown Mexico coffee to meet increased demand, a company spokesperson said. To dramatize its support for the sustainable-coffee movement, Starbucks has added an interactive on-line feature to its Web site that shows the endangered cloud forest of Chiapas, Mexico, the source of the company's environmentally friendly coffee.
"This consensus allows us to say with confidence, 'Enjoy certified sustainable coffee and help conserve the rain forest, protect wildlife, and sustain farming communities,'" said Sabrina Vigilante of the Rainforest Alliance.
Organizations that include the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Global Environment Facility, and the World Bank are members of an advisory group that helped to develop the sustainable-coffee principles.
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