Untitled Document

OUR SOURCE OF LIFE

“Shade coffee farms are therefore fundamental to the conservation of biodiversity in El Salvador. This fact is reflected in the prominent role coffee farms play in the National Biodiversity Management Plan and in El Salvador's contribution to the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor”
From the Coffee and Biodiversity Conservation in El Salvador Project funded by the UK Government's Darwin Initiative and The Natural History Museum of London

The ecologic importance of Salvadoran coffee is undeniable, since coffee forests are the great rainfall producers. Primary forests barely cover 2% of our total surface area, which makes coffee plantations the excellent alternate forest, with almost 9% of the total area. Surrounding our forests, coffee plantations form the natural cover that favours the filtration of rainwater down to the water plateaus, guaranteeing biodiversity and thus reducing ecological risks.

Coffee plantations act as the green ring that mitigates the risks to our forests, it increases precipitation, fixes carbon dioxide, protects our water tables, preserves the flora and fauna, increases the river flow that generates electricity, prevents a lack of safe water and allows for life in all its manifestations. Sixty percent of the coffee grown in the country is in the western region, and it is precisely that region where it rains the most, receiving as an average 2,100 millimeters of rainfall during the 6 winter months.

The lush biodiversity found in shade-grown coffee farms is also an important source of differentiation on an international market that’s becoming more aware of environmental issues. Shade coffee forests are paradises for biodiversity. Given the high degree of deforestation in southern Mexico and Northern Central America, biologists in the Coffee and Biodiversity project claim that forested coffee farms are vital for numerous species of flora and fauna, including salamanders, beetles, bats, ferns and orchids. Shade coffee forests in El Salvador are used by many migratory bird species, as well as native species.

Biologists from the Coffee and Biodiversity Project found in Salvadoran coffee farms a total of 188 bird species, 31 mammal species, 26 reptile species, 8 amphibious and 326 tree and plant species and just recently, scientists with the National History Museum of London discover four new species of wasps. What is more important is many of these species above are endangered and coffee protects them from extinction.

In our country, besides being an economic option that yields social benefits, coffee is now our main ally in the fight against environmental deterioration. If coffee allowed thousands of families to live before, now, it can guarantee the lives of several future generations, since it provides invaluable ecological benefits.