Global Coffee Conservation Strategy

Creating a global system to save coffee

Preserving the genetic diversity of coffee is essential to securing the future of a globally important crop. Yet the current system for preserving coffee's genetic resources in ex situ collections is not sustainable, secure or rational. Based on a series of surveys and site visits, World Coffee Research together with The Global Crop Diversity Trust, have created an exhaustive report about the state of coffee genetic resource preservation, and a strategy for how to transform the current system into one that can viable safeguard the future of coffee.

The current system is broken

  • Unfortunately, the current system for securing coffee genetic resources is not a system at all. The current situation is of a set of nationally focused collections that are isolated from each other and from external users.
  • The current “system” is not sustainable, secure, cost effective, or rational. Many plants are not duplicated or are in suboptimal locations, national genebanks lack securing funding, and there is not a global system for sharing data about the plants that have been protected so that breeders can utilize them.

A rational, sustainable global system is possible

In the Coffee Conservation Strategy, six high priority actions are identified to facilitate the transition from the current ‘system’ to a global conservation system that can ensure the sustainability of coffee production now and in the future.

  1. Secure stable funding for long-term conservation of the origin plus CATIE collections through the Crop Trust Endowment Fund
  2. Upgrade facilities and capacity of origin and user collections
  3. Use of an ABS that will facilitate germplasm exchange and use
  4. Establish the global platform for collaboration in coffee genetic resources conservation and use
  5. Ensure the safety duplication of all conserved accessions
  6. Greater complementarity of ex situ and in situ conservation of coffee genetic resources.

Authors: Paula Bramel, Sarada Krishnan, Daniela Horna, Brian Lainoff, Christophe Montagnon