Biodiversity Conservation in Coffee: Transforming Productive Practices in the Coffee Sector by Increasing Market Demand for Certified Sustainable Coffee

The overall goal of this demand-driven GEF project is to transform the way that the participating coffee companies source coffee, establishing new, environmentally and socially responsible ways of doing business that the companies can internalize and replicate after the completion of the GEF project. Specifically, the project will promote the following practices: (i) more direct and transparent purchases by traders and roasters from producers, (ii) the payment of higher prices for sustainable coffee that meets buyers’ quality needs, (iii) the use of long-term contracts, and the provision of finance and in-kind investments and/or donations to help coffee farmers meet certification requirements that protect ecosystems, and (iv) improve the quality of life in their communities. This demand-driven GEF project will work with selected coffee companies to scale-up sales of certified sustainable coffee into mainstream and niche markets, providing a stream of economic benefits to coffee farmers and workers on all sizes of farms and promoting biodiversity conservation. The project will work with major coffee roasters, traders, and specialty coffee importers to increase the volumes of Rainforest Alliance (RA)-certified coffee sourced from the identified countries in Latin America. At the end of the project period, it is anticipated that the participating companies will purchase 1-5 % of their total coffee supplies from RA-certified producers; this would represent at least triple the volume of current RA-certified coffee and a very significant increase in the total global volume of all certified coffee.