Sustainability

How can we prevent future coffee crises? How can we restore stability and balance to the world coffee market? The answer is sustainable development.

Sustainable development is not a new concept, nor does it apply only to coffee. It is defined by the United Nation (UN) as "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs". When applied to coffee, sustainable development means "producing qualities that guarantee both long-term scales and adequate income for the producers". (International Coffee Organization - ICO)

According to the UN declaration signed in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, there are three pillars of coffee sustainable development: environmental, social and economic. In September 2004, the ICO proposed the Common Code for the Coffee Community (4C), to create a common global code to cover the economic, social, and environmental standards for achieving greater sustainability in the production, post-harvest processing and trading of coffee.

Below, we take a look at each of the three pillars in further detail:

Environmental issues

• Farming
  The type of management used in farming largely determines whether a farm is environmental friendly or not. Shaded plantations help in protecting the environment, but they give lower yield than the favoured sun plantation.
• Processing
  There are three main issues to consider in processing coffee: wastewater treatment, utilising by-products, and conserving energy. These issues cause a battle between socio-economic issues and environmental issues.

Social issues

In some countries, such as Brazil and Guatemala, the labourers work under extremely poor conditions. Their health and living conditions are not considered important. Child labour is shockingly common, and children do not receive proper education. These issues need to be resolved. But how?

Economic issues

The global crisis has clearly demonstrated the economic issues affecting coffee. What is the global coffee crisis? What caused it? What are the consequences, and what are the remedies? These questions are answered in the Crisis section of our site.

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