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Environmental Services in Coffee in Central America, East Africa and India |
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| CATIE, Headqurters, Jan. 8, 2007. The project titled CAFNET (for its acronym in English): Connecting , Enhancing and Sustaining Environmental Services and market Values of Coffee Agroforestry Systems in Central America, East Africa and India, will begin in January, 2007. This four-year international project will be financed by the European Union.
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According to Philippe Vaast, general coordinator of the project, this initiative, this initiative will enhance participative research and development activities in order to add more value to environmental services and products offered by coffee agroforestry systems and thus improve the well-being of coffee-producing communities.
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Agroforestry systems are ones that combine agriculture and forestry. In this manner, trees give shade to the coffee, which translates into different benefit or ecological services, such as protection of the soil against erosion caused by rains and the reestablishment of soil fertility by incorporating fallen leaves back into the soil (nutrient recycling). It also creates a habitat for animals (insects, birds, mammals).
“What we propose with this project is to build a true scientific base for all of these benefits in collaboration with coffee producers,” indicated Vaast. “Today we know that coffee agroforestry systems can play an important role in terms of buffering and protection of protected areas or those connecting biological corridors at the landscape level. But what do we really know about the role played by these systems (...) we really don’t have enough information to ensure better payments for the producers,” he added.
We hope to achieve the following principal results between 2007 and 2010: |
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Development and validation of cost effective methodologies to quantify and value biodiversity and other environmental services from coffee agroforestry systems, |
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Recommendations for economically viable and biodiversity-friendly coffee cultivation practices tailored with respect to specific social and environmental issues in each of the three regions, |
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Recommendations for NGOs and the private coffee sector to improve implementation of market based approaches promoting environmentally and biodiversity-friendly coffee cultivation practices |
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Policy recommendations for governmental and international agencies detailing regulatory actions and institutional support required to promote biodiversity-friendly coffee cultivation practices and development of decision support tools for evaluating policy options. |
The coordinator pointed out that the participation of producers will be vitally important to develop this type of participative research, as well as to work more closely with the different actors involved in the production chain, certification and sale of the coffee. “Through talking with those involved we hope to begin recommending new norms, laws and mechanisms little by little to better evaluate these services and products to benefit coffee producers,” added Philippe Vaast.
This international project is the result of a proposal formulated by CATIE, the Center for International Agricultural Research Cooperation for Development (CIRAD, for its acronym in French), the University of Wales (Great Britain), the International Center for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF), the University of Agricultural Sciences of Bangalore and the Coffee Advisory Board of India. |
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Dr. Philippe Vaast
General Project Coordinator
Tel.: (506) 558 2340
Fax (506) 558 2045
E-mail: pvaast@catie.ac.cr
Also, you can contact to CATIE Communications Unit
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Alexandra Cortés
Communications Unit
CATIE Headquarters 7170
Tel. +506 558 2417
Fax +506 558 2058
E-mail: acortes@catie.ac.cr
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