TVE Press Release – Grounds for Hope

 Earth Report – Grounds for Hope
 
4 March 2008: Feeding the growing global café craze, over half the world’s coffee now comes from Central America. Coffee farming is central to the region’s economy – but it’s also been a major culprit in the pollution of the rivers running through the Guatemala/Mexico border area. Communities living along the banks have compounded the damage by cutting the forests once covering the steep hillsides, eroding the fragile soils by sheep grazing, and using the rivers as a rubbish dump.
 
Now coffee farmers are leading the way in reversing the damage and rebuilding the threatened eco-system - at the same time tapping into a new market for top quality coffee. This week’s Earth Report goes to Guatemala and Mexico to see whether this really is a win-win situation.
 
Earth Report – Grounds for Hope will be broadcast on BBC World:
 
Friday 7 March - 20.30, with repeat broadcasts on Monday 10 March 10.30, Tuesday 11 March 15.30 and Wednesday 12 March 02.30 and 08.30 (All times quoted as GMT)
 
For more information on programme schedules in local time zones visit www.bbcworld.com
 
The Tajumulco and Tacana volcanoes soar high above the coffee plantations that cover the hillsides on the Guatemala-Mexico border - at the heart of a watershed system that is almost a million years old.
 
But the mountainsides once cloaked in trees are stripped bare as the dense, and growing, local population clears the forest for firewood and crop planting. Their sheep herds add to the damage, and – once the vegetation is gone - heavy tropical rainfalls wash the top soil down into the rivers, increasing the risk of devastating mudslides.
 
Coffee has been at the heart of Guatemala’s economy for over 100 years, and today generates a third of the country’s foreign earnings. And coffee farms are now changing the way they use their most precious resource - water. Newly harvested beans have to be soaked in gallons of water to remove the husks, and the acidic waste water is then dumped back in the river, harming aquatic life. One farm, La Igualdad, formerly used three million litres of water to process its yearly harvest of 70 tonnes of beans. Now, in a remarkable turnaround, La Igualdad recycles its water throughout the process – reducing consumption by 93 percent.
 
Farming communities are also doing their bit. In May 2007, they started a tree nursery in Tacana, planting 13,660 trees to replace those chopped down for firewood. Project leader Lazaro Peres hopes to increase this number to 30-40,000 trees planted in 2008. A similar project is replanting mangrove forest further down the river where it meets the sea.
 
“Because we are right at the very top her, this situation also affects the communities below us. Climate change has meant that we now see extremely heavy rain on a regular basis in one afternoon which this soil is unable to cope with.” Jeronimo Navarro, Mayor of Ixchiguan
 
“Farms used to behave very irresponsibly in terms of the environment. We have tried to look at ways of turning this around. This is why we are now working using a totally organic process.” Rene Lopez, Coffee Farmer
 
“[The mangroves] are extremely important as was seen by the recent Hurricanes Mitch and Stan because they were able to absorb large quantities of water. What we are aiming for is to have areas where the mangroves can be managed, areas like this that are stable for growth, and also areas where man’s hand cannot touch the established mangroves.” Martin Sanchez, Guatemala National Forestry Institute
 
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Grounds for Hope was produced with the support of the IUCN Water Programme
 
TVE and its Partners distribute Earth Report programmes for broadcast and educational and campaigning use in countries across Africa, Asia & the Pacific, and Latin America & the Caribbean – to schools, colleges, universities, NGOs, environmental agencies and other ‘multiplier’ organisations.

For further information on the programme, production team and issues raised look up www.tve.org/earthreport