A new study, by a leading coffee company, has warned that international tea and coffee production is in danger, thanks to climate change.
The study, conducted by Cafedirect, said that tea and coffee lovers across the world would see their favourite drinks becoming a thing of past if the rate of global warming does not slow down.The report said that the availability of water, rising temperatures and extreme weather conditions in some of the world’s key tea and coffee growing areas was threatening livelihoods, and could spell disaster for growers across Asia, Africa and Latin America.
As climate change brings more extreme weather conditions, plantation owners are struggling to save their crops, the study warned.
"Water availability, rising temperatures and extreme weather conditions in some of the world’s key tea and coffee-growing areas are threatening production and livelihoods,” the Daily Snack quoted spokesman Wolfgang Weinmann, as saying.
"In Latin America floods and hurricanes are jeopardising production, while growers in East Africa have been paralysed by drought. This year alone our growers in some parts of Latin America have faced record rains and flooding.
"It is hitting poor smallholder growers the most. Many have ideas on how to cope with climate change, and some have begun their own adaptation projects – but they lack financial and technical support to put these ideas into practice,” he added.
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The findings were released as thousands of delegates from 180 countries gathered to discuss climate change in Bali this week.
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The study, by Global Action Plan and the Environmental IT Leadership Team, said increase in carbon emissions from the IT sector is worsened by government policies requiring more data to be stored.
It said that 86 per cent of IT departments were not aware of the scale of their emissions.
Source-ANI
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