Healthy, productive forests are in everyone’s
best interest, and they’re at the heart of thepartnership between Conservation International(CI) and Starbucks Coffee Company.
Most of the world’s key coffee-growing regions are the same
areas where biological diversity is richest and most threatenedby the combined effects of deforestation and climate change.
Recognizing this overlap, CI and Starbucks began working
together in 1998 to develop a field model for coffee productionthat maintains ecosystem services and protects biodiversity.
In 2008, Starbucks and CI launched a renewed five-year
agreement to address the most important issue facing our world
today – global climate change. The same forests that produce theworld’s best coffee and sustain millions of farmers also extractand store vast amounts of carbon dioxide. In fact, when they’redestroyed, these forests release large amounts of greenhouse gas
into our atmosphere.
In addition to shade-grown coffee, Starbucks and CI are now
investing in and supporting communities across select coffeegrowing landscapes who engage in climate-friendly activities,
including protecting existing forests and helping to restore
degraded landscapes to promote mutually beneficial forest
conservation and the sequestration of carbon.

coffee + carbon

The newest phase of our partnership works with coffee-producing
communities in Chiapas, Mexico, and Sumatra, Indonesia, toimprove coffee production, conserve and restore natural habitatand explore opportunities to facilitate farmer access to forest
carbon markets. Each project illustrates different approaches
to addressing the climate challenges facing coffee producers
while exploring the potential of the carbon market to benefit both
livelihoods and conservation efforts.
As far back as 1998, smallholder coffee farmers in Chiapas,
Mexico, were already practicing the eco-friendly method ofCenter for Environmental Leadership in Businessgrowing coffee in the shade of healthy forests. And their farms formed
a natural protective buffer around some of the region’s most valuable
habitats. In particular, they bordered El Triunfo Biosphere Reserve, a300,000-acre Eden that is home to wildcats, tapir, monkeys and untold
other species, all coexisting within the rich flora of cloud and rainforests.
Starbucks was quick to see the importance of protecting El Triunfoand similar areas worldwide that bordered prized coffee-growing
farms. Together, we launched a three-year program encouraging coffee
growers in Chiapas to continue their sustainable farming practices.
In return, they received technical assistance from CI’s field staff andStarbucks became a dependable buyer of the farmers’ beans. Buildingon this rich history of engagement in the region, CI and local partnerorganizations are working with coffee growers in the region to identify
opportunities to reforest communal lands and sell the carbon credits on
the voluntary market.
Within the provinces of North Sumatra and Aceh in Indonesia, coffee
has historically been one of the drivers of deforestation due primarily
to declines in productivity after several years of coffee production.
To address this challenge, CI and Starbucks are working with coffee
communities to improve production practices in return for an agreement
to respect the forest boundary. These activities improve farmer
livelihoods without needing to continue land clearing in the Northern
Sumatra Biodiversity Corridor.
While the work in Northern Sumatra is still in the pilot phase, theobjective is to identify opportunities to link coffee farmers to carbon
markets as a means of providing additional income and incentives
for forest conservation, and to use potential revenues from Reduced
Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) to provide asustainable source of funding for the delivery of services needed bycoffee growers to improve their productivity without resorting to landclearing for new coffee gardens.
Our partnership with Starbucks is a good example of how CI
collaborates with a multi-national company to bring about a sustainablesupply chain and bring a sustainable economy to smallholder coffee
farmers around the world.

Chiapas Results to Date
3 nurseries built to supply seedlings to the project
92,547 seedlings produced for reforestation activities
Farmers in 13 communities received assistance in developing farm plans
8 community technicians trained on climate change mitigation and adaptation
5,042 tons of CO2 sold at an average price of 9 dollars per ton

For more information contact:
Bambi Semroc, Senior Director, Conservation
Tools for Business; bsemroc@conservation.org
www.conservation.org/celb
Photos (FRONT/BACK): © CI/photo by Miguel Ángelde la Cueva / © Cristina Mittermeier/ilcp

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