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Conservation of wild coffee, wild crops and wild rice is important for the future of our food supply |
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Written by Dr. H. P. Bustami
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Friday, 29 April 2011 |
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Billions of humans have their daily pot of coffee at breakfast or during the day at work. Coffee was brought to Europe (and thus to the New World) by the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century and was first cultivated in Eastern Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. Coffee is now planted all over the world and the most popular breakfast drink. The wild form of coffee however is now limited to some small areas in natural forests in Eastern Africa. Its habitat is endangered by growing deforestation. To maintain the genetic diversity of the coffee plants and their capability and resistance against diseases and parasites it is most important to protect and conserve the habitats and the biodiversity in it.
With the wild forms of cultural plants it is possible
to interbreed and bring new properties into a certain cultivar of a
cultivated plant. Some 150 years ago in Sri Lanka (former Ceylon) a
fungii disease destroyed the whole coffee cultivation because there were
no resistent plants left. The Dutch who brought coffee from Ethiopia to
Ceylon had to switch from coffee cultivation to tea.
Without coffee mankind could survive even if this would be hard for many
people of course. More dramatic consequences could have the breakdown
of crop and rice cultivation for the food supply worldwide. Only three
species of food plants provide 50% of mankinds nutrition: rice, maize
and wheat. And only some cultivar nowadays account for the main world
harvest.
Protection of the habitats important
In this context biodiversity researcher emphasise the importance of
traditional cultivars of this three food plant species and especially
the importance of the wild forms from which our ancestors since 10.000
years bred many different and to regional specifics adapted cultivars.
During the last 100 years probably around 75% of ancient crop cultivars
(more than 50.000 different types are estimated to exist) got lost worldwide and
with it the genetic variety. This genetic treasure of the still remaining one day could save
millions of tons of crop harvest. Their genes could contain important
resistances against diseases or could be used to breed crop which can
better adapt to climate change for example.
The agronomists and botanist suggest two important ways to conserve the
genetic diversity: seed banks to maintain endangered plant cultivars and
what could become much more important: the protection of the natural
habitats where the wild forms grow.
In Ethiopia, the origin of the wild coffee, a promising step has been
made. Together with environmental NGOs Ethiopia recently established a
nature reserve to protect in the mountainous areas in the Southwest of
Ethiopoa the cloud forests where Coffea arabica, the wild coffee plant,
grows. With the cloud forests not only the "forefather"of our daily pot
of coffee is preserved but also numerous endangered animal and plant
species in a fascinating habitat.
So maybe the history of the triumphal procession of coffee - which
began with the expansion of a sunken Empire - will have a happy end and
sign a new beginning of world wide nature protection!
Sources:
- http://idw-online.de/
- http://international.nabu.de/projekte/wildkaffee/projekt/
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