The Green Climate Fund recently signed off on an approximately $2 million grant to support the design of an ambitious multi-year coffee sustainability program led by the nonprofit Conservation International (CI).
The project preparation facility grant (PPF) is expected to kickstart what will be, if approved, a seven-year, approximately $120 million project designed to build climate change mitigation and adaptation practices among smallholder coffee farmers in Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala and Uganda.
The CI-led project bears the name Alternative Response Options for Mitigation & Adaptation of Coffee Farms, with the acronym AROMA.
According to CI, the proposed AROMA project will be one of numerous initiatives supporting the CI-led Sustainable Coffee Challenge, a 10-year-old, global, non-competitive sustainability platform supported by some of the world’s largest green coffee traders and buyers.
The four countries identified for the AROMA project are home to nearly 20% of the world’s smallholder coffee farmers while representing approximately 11% of all coffee production and 16% of land used for coffee cultivation, according to CI.
The nonprofit said that the AROMA program is designed to “pursue structural changes across the coffee sector” by boosting the resilience of coffee communities while mitigating the carbon footprint of green coffee production.
The Green Climate fund is the largest global climate fund of its kind, receiving financial support from many of the world’s largest nations and private investors. Established by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the fund is designed to equally support climate mitigation and adaptation, largely in developing countries in the Global South.
The total cost for the AROMA project design phase is approximately $2.5 million, which covers activities such as engaging expert consultants, meetings and workshops, and funding for Conservation International staff time and travel, according to the PPF document.
Comments? Questions? News to share? Contact DCN’s editors here. For all the latest coffee industry news, subscribe to the DCN newsletter.
Related Posts
Comment