TY - JOUR

T1 - A coffee corridor for biodiversity and livelihoods

T2 - climatic feasibility of shade coffee cultivation in western Rwanda

AU - Reckmann, Tom

AU - Frietsch, Marina

AU - Schwenck, Christoph

AU - Mukuralinda, Athanase

AU - Duguma, Dula Wakassa

AU - Fischer, Joern

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2025 The Author(s)

PY - 2025/9

Y1 - 2025/9

N2 - Around the world, restoration activities are underway to halt and reverse ecosystem degradation. A key challenge is to identify restoration approaches that work for both people and nature – i.e. approaches that can sustain livelihoods as well as biodiversity. Here, we focused on a mosaic landscape in western Rwanda. The landscape features two strictly protected remnant patches of Afromontane rainforest (Gishwati and Mukura forests), which are of high conservation value, but are isolated from one another by some 30 km of smallholder farmland. Connecting Gishwati and Mukura forests would be valuable from a biodiversity perspective, but to date, it is unclear how this could be done in a way that is consistent with local people's livelihoods. To that end, we modelled the climatic suitability for growing shade coffee in the area between Gishwati and Mukura forests. We systematically evaluated plausible scenarios of future climate change and found that much of the study area is already suitable for growing coffee, and will become increasingly suitable in the future. In addition, we identified a series of local species that could be used as shade trees. With the study area becoming increasingly suitable for growing coffee over the coming decades, and with suitable shade trees being native to the study area, we argue there is high potential for establishing a shade coffee corridor between Gishwati and Mukura forests. Such a corridor, in turn, could provide a win-win opportunity for biodiversity conservation and local people's livelihoods.

AB - Around the world, restoration activities are underway to halt and reverse ecosystem degradation. A key challenge is to identify restoration approaches that work for both people and nature – i.e. approaches that can sustain livelihoods as well as biodiversity. Here, we focused on a mosaic landscape in western Rwanda. The landscape features two strictly protected remnant patches of Afromontane rainforest (Gishwati and Mukura forests), which are of high conservation value, but are isolated from one another by some 30 km of smallholder farmland. Connecting Gishwati and Mukura forests would be valuable from a biodiversity perspective, but to date, it is unclear how this could be done in a way that is consistent with local people's livelihoods. To that end, we modelled the climatic suitability for growing shade coffee in the area between Gishwati and Mukura forests. We systematically evaluated plausible scenarios of future climate change and found that much of the study area is already suitable for growing coffee, and will become increasingly suitable in the future. In addition, we identified a series of local species that could be used as shade trees. With the study area becoming increasingly suitable for growing coffee over the coming decades, and with suitable shade trees being native to the study area, we argue there is high potential for establishing a shade coffee corridor between Gishwati and Mukura forests. Such a corridor, in turn, could provide a win-win opportunity for biodiversity conservation and local people's livelihoods.

KW - Coffee

KW - Connectivity

KW - Corridor

KW - Restoration

KW - Shade coffee

KW - Shade trees

KW - Environmental Governance

KW - Environmental planning

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=105010613293&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.tfp.2025.100941

DO - 10.1016/j.tfp.2025.100941

M3 - Journal articles

AN - SCOPUS:105010613293

VL - 21

JO - Trees, Forests and People

JF - Trees, Forests and People

SN - 2666-7193

M1 - 100941

ER -