<
https://theconversation.com/coffee-brought-to-you-by-bees-a-case-study-in-how-restoring-habitat-is-a-win-win-for-forests-and-farmers-205932>
"Bees are crucial for producing many of our beloved foods and beverages. Coffee
is one crop that benefits from bee pollination.
Unfortunately, pollinator numbers are falling worldwide. Many are facing
extinction. This decline is due in part to ever-expanding farmland covered by a
single kind of crop plant – agricultural monocultures.
Restoring pollinators’ habitat is essential, both to stop their decline and to
maintain food production. Calls for large-scale restoration, such as the UN
Decade of Restoration, are ambitious and may compete with other land uses. In
addition, restoration often has an upfront cost, while its benefits could take
time to obtain.
However, our new research shows that coffee farmers who restore patches of
forest across their properties can nearly double their profits with just a 15%
increase in natural habitat over five years. The benefits, a result of higher
pollinator numbers, continue to increase for both farmers and forest over the
long term (40 years). This is the first study that assessed such benefits in
the long term and at a large scale."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
