Stimulating environmental degradation: A global study of resource use in cocoa, coffee, tea and tobacco supply chains

Abstract

Stimulants play a central role in modern human society. Consumption of stimulants transcends culture, demography, and income group. As cash crops, stimulants (such as cocoa, coffee, tea and tobacco) also act as a source of economic security for producers in low-income countries. However, satisfying the demand for stimulants entails a potentially large environmental cost. This burden demands careful attention given the potentially negative impact of stimulant production on local food security. To date, stimulants have been peripheral to the research and policy agenda on sustainable food systems. We undertake the first global assessment of water, land and fertiliser use associated with cocoa, coffee, tea and tobacco production, consumption and trade, across 254 countries, between 2002 and 2017. Globally, resource use associated with these stimulants (except for tobacco) grew substantially over this period. In 2017, the stimulant economy required i) land use equivalent to the total land area of Italy; ii) green and blue water equivalent to the food sectors of Brazil and Portugal, respectively; and iii) fertiliser use equivalent to India's total fertiliser demand in the same year. We show that the main centres of resource use and demand associated with stimulants implicate a few major countries, presenting management opportunities through supply chain screening of resource-intensive production sources and targeted demand-side policies. Differences between stimulant's resource use also highlights the potential for substitution of consumption to reduce environmental pressures across this system.

Keywords

• Stimulant crops
• Water footprint
• Land footprint
• Fertiliser use
• International trade
• Material Flow Accounting