A lot of people think that the only approach to conservation is setting aside land.
Pristine habitat that has to be set aside from any human use, and we do need places
like that, but conservation isn't so limited.
My students and I have been studying birds in shade coffee systems in the Northern Andes
for about ten years.
One of the things that always strikes me the most when I'm working down here is how connected
we are.
We know the birds, of course, are connected.
They're breeding in North America, they're wintering down here, but I'm also struck by
the connectivity of the people.
The choices that we're making about the coffee we buy, are directly affecting the livelihoods
of people here, in the Andes.
Many of the places where we work are what we would call, working landscapes.
And they're also areas where we have really high biodiversity.
That confluence of landscapes where people need to make a living.
They're relying on their land for their livelihoods, makes it really important that we find ways
to both, meet the needs of the communities and conserve.
Shade coffee is one system where what we want to see happen for conservation can be beneficial for the
growers from an economic standpoint.
One of the ways that farmers can distinguish themselves and differentiate their product
from others is by showing that they have a lot of trees on the landscape and that their
farm is contributing to conservation.
And so, by engaging in those conservation practices they might actually be able to get
a higher price for their coffee in the end.
The shade coffee plantations can provide really good foraging habitats for migratory and resident
birds.
The richer the shade coffee farm is in terms of different kinds of trees that are planted,
the better the foraging habitat for birds.
Shade coffee is good for the birds, we know that, but birds are also good for the coffee,
because birds eat the insects that are eating the coffee plants.
And so coffee can actually produce more berries when the birds are there, controlling those
insects.
Whether it's the people, or the birds, the environment, economy, or perhaps you just
want a really good tasting cup of coffee, shade coffee is where all of these things point to.
Sustainability is a word that we use a lot these days.
It can mean a lot of different things.
In the case of shade coffee we can think about it as touching sustainability from multiple directions.
Shade coffee is more sustainable for biodiversity, because of the habitat it's providing.
It's more sustainable for the broader environment, because it's helping to prevent landslides,
it's protecting water quality, and it's also sustainable if we think about communities,
because it's helping them to hopefully get better prices for the coffee they produce.
In order to understand what the outcomes of different coffee management decisions are, we're working
with partners and organizations from people who are good at knowing the quality of the
beans, to economists, to biologists, educators, social scientists.
So there's a really wide group that are participating in this project.
You can by careful management have land that's being used, in a profitable way, in a way
that's legitimately supporting the needs of people and also contributing to conservation.