Climate change to destroy coffee-growing areas by 88 percent till 2050

New Delhi: A study has warned that climate change and global warming could reduce coffee growing areas in Latin America by at least 88 percent by the year 2050.

Latin America is the world's largest coffee-producing region and if this actually happens, all the coffee lovers are going to face a tough time ahead.

The research is the first major study of impacts of impacts climate change on coffee and the bees that help coffee to grow.

"Coffee is one of the most valuable commodities on earth, and needs a suitable climate and pollinating bees to produce well," said Taylor Ricketts, from the University of Vermont in the US.

"This is the first study to show how both will likely change under global warming - in ways that will hit coffee producers hard," said Ricketts.

While other research has explored climate-coffee scenarios, no other study has explored the coupled effects of climate change on coffee and bees at the national or continental scale.

The study forecasts much greater losses of coffee regions than previous global assessments, with the largest declines projected in Nicaragua, Honduras and Venezuela.

"Coffee provides the main income for millions of the rural poor, so yield declines would affect the livelihoods of those already vulnerable people," said Ricketts.

The study also identified future coffee regions where the number and diversity of bees are likely to increase.

This could boost coffee productivity regionally, offsetting some negative climate impacts, the researchers said.

(With Agency inputs)