Scientists from the Royal Botanic Garden, Kew, in the UK, published a study that coffee is officially considered endangered, as 60 percent of the 124 known species in the world are threatened with extinction because of deforestation, diseases, and climate change. The majority of the wild coffee species globally are found in Africa and Madagascar, where deforestation, human encroachment, and disease is increasingly killing wild coffee plants. While the wildly popular coffee species are mass cultivated around the world, the potential extinction for coffee species leads to real problems on the future of the coffee business.
Arabica, responsible for around 70 percent of the world's supply of coffee, is included in the endangered list. This particular coffee is noted for being difficult to grow since it cannot survive under intense heat and droughts-products of climate change. Head of coffee research at Kew and lead author of the Science Advances paper, Aaron Davis, shares, "Among the coffee species threatened with extinction are those that have potential to be used to breed and develop the coffees of the future, including those resistant to disease and capable of withstanding worsening climatic conditions.
