Guatemalan Coffees Are Truly Green

Guatemalan Coffees Are Truly Green by Rudy Girón

Today, I continue learning about the Guatemalan coffees. In the past I have mention how I thought coffee plantations were beneficial for the environment because they provided almost undisturbed forested land for birds like Bushy-crested Jay which is native to Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua. Also, I shared with you the biannual procedure of pruning the gravileas shade trees to keep a balance between shade and sun for the coffee bushes.

In La Antigua Guatemala, wood can be used as fuel as a by-product of the coffee industry. Let me explain, if you recalled the photo about Coffee bushes and Gravileas trees, you would remember that gravileas trees (the large trees on the photo) are used as shadow trees for the coffee bushes. Well, after a while the gravileas trees get to be so big and they need to be pruned. The trimmed branches and old trees can provide the necessary wood to be used as fuel. In the areas that grow coffee, the wood from the shade trees prevents the cutting down of the trees on the rolling hills. These trees provide the much-needed root system which prevents landslides.

Day after day, we hear people talking about climate change, resulting from unmeasured and inappropriate human usage of natural resources.

In the biggest challenge facing mankind in the twenty-first century—how to protect the environment—the future begins today. Tomorrow might just be too late.

For several decades the argument has raged about how to best preserve the wold’s resources and biodiversity. This endless tug-of-war has placed those who work the land in direct opposition with those who feel it is being threatened. But as scientific research has proven, agroforestry systems, like shaded coffee, can bring about a compromise that combines the goals of sustainable agriculture with environmental protection.

Guatemalan Coffees are 98% shade grown, counting more than thirty-eight million shade and coffee trees. The resulting coffee forest extends approximately 270,000 hectares and makes up 6.4 percent of the national forest cover. As expected, Guatemala’s coffee forests bring environmental benefits, like protecting soils, biodiversity, and water resources, and help in diminishing the harming effects of global warming. (source: Guatemalan Coffees/Anacafé)

Anacafé has put together a Green Coffee book and information to show us how verdaderamente verde, truly green, Guatemalan coffee really is.

Want to learn more?

If you are a knowledgable enthusiast, ask for your “Green Book”; a unique jewel for your personal collection that contains all you need to know about Guatemalan Coffees and its symbiotic relation with nature.

This printed material can now be accessed in a digital format (PDF), optimized for web viewing to keep the best level of detail while reducing download times at minimum.

Versions available to download in PDF:

  • Green Book in English (19.8MB)
  • Green Book in Spanish (17.8MB)

© 2010 – 2020, Rudy Giron. All rights reserved.

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