A New Way to Think about Climate Change

The climate crisis is the greatest threat to the long-term sustainability of coffee agriculture and to the preservation of the rich diversity of coffee origins that exists today.

But what exactly is the threat, and what are the likely impacts for farmers?

In this "WCR Presents" webinar, climate and agriculture expert Walter E. Baethgen of Colombia University's Earth Institute explores how we should think about the immediate and near threats of climate change for coffee agriculture—not as a distant or incremental rise in overall temperatures occurring over decades, but as a shift to greater and more extreme year-to-year variability of temperature and precipitation. Understanding climate change in this way allow us to more clearly explore opportunities for farmers to lower their climate risk, and illuminates pathways for fruitful research to address the challenge.

Dr. Baethigan's presentation is followed by a brief update from WCR on work in partnership with researchers and farmers to develop varieties and approaches that have the highest chance of success given the rise in variability and extremes that farmers are facing.