A bitter cup: the estimation of spatial distribution of carbon balance in Coffea spp. plantations reveals increased carbon footprint in tropical regions

Abstract

There is an increasing need to mitigate and adapt the agriculture to climate changes with strategies that synergistically allow minimizing the climate impact over the coffee production and contributing to a decrease of coffee cultivation vulnerability to global warming. In this context, the objective of this study was to analyse the carbon balance in systems of coffee production, which can contribute to information to mitigate climate change, by addressing the cultivation and production of Coffea spp. in the tropical regions, such as the Espírito Santo state of the case study (between the meridians 39°38' and 41°50' of western longitude and the parallels 17°52' and 21°19' of southern latitude). For this purpose, data of coffee plantations area (ha), carbon storage, carbon footprint and carbon balance (all in t CO2-equivalent) were recorded for different tropical regions, from 2001-2012. The estimated parameters indicate that 2 239 476 t CO2-eq were sequestrated (positive balance) and 10 320 223 t CO2-eq (negative balance) were emitted. The spatialisation allows estimating that the footprint is reduced in 92% after quantifying the carbon stock in coffee plantations. The carbon balance was negative, with magnitude of 4 815 820 t CO2-eq, which indicates that the carbon balance in coffee plantations in tropical regions is not enough to compensate the carbon footprint.

Keywords

• arabica and robusta coffee
• global warming
• tropical area
• carbon stocks