Rainforest grown coffee bad for birds

A recent study on Ethiopian coffee cultivation and bird conservation has shed new light on environmental sustainability and certification.

Conducted by Curtin University of Technology, Stockholm University and Addis Abba University, the study – the first of its kind – found that the conventional method of growing "bird-friendly" coffee under a canopy of an otherwise intact rainforest was detrimental to bird conservation in the unique, ecological environment of Ethiopia.

Coffee, an indigenous shrub in Ethiopia, is harvested from forests and farmland where it’s grown in small patches under isolated shade trees.

Curtin Post Doctoral Researcher in Environmental Biology, Aaron Gove, who led the study, found that contrary to existing research, coffee grown in forest patches led to a decline in forest birds, while coffee cultivated on degraded farmland could actually restore bird habitat.

After testing almost 40 farm and forest remnant sites, Dr Gove and his colleagues suggested that coffee cultivation in open farmlands should be encouraged as part of a broader landscape-level conservation scheme.

"This is important because it promotes bird diversity as trees are retained for shade, while coffee cultivation in forests should be limited as the simplification of the forest structure reduces bird diversity. Allowing some coffee cultivation in forests is, however, one important way of ensuring that forests are valued and retained at a local level," he said.

Dr. Gove said that despite being one of Africa’s largest producers of coffee, Ethiopia was still in the early stages of environmental certification and this study was the first to investigate the effects of coffee management practices on bird assemblages in this ecosystem.

"In order to support biodiversity conservation, cultivation practices for ecologically-friendly coffee in Ethiopia should take the region’s complex and distinct ecological needs into account," he said.

"We believe our findings will greatly assist organisations such as the Rainforest Alliance in tailoring an environmental certification program specific to Ethiopian coffee cultivation."