Protecting Ethiopia’s old growth forests by transforming the value chain

Ethiopian forest coffee has the potential to significantly enhance the protection of Ethiopia’s old growth forests by unlocking the value of these areas and incentivising communities to work together to reduce encroachment. This has been made possible through Partnerships for Forests’ (P4F) concerted effort to raise the profile of Ethiopian forest coffee at various stages in the value chain. In doing so, the team has improved coordination between a wider group of stakeholders and created an environment (working with government institutions) that will enable businesses to more easily access Ethiopian forest coffee and, in turn, invest in a variety of coffee that brings environmental and social benefits.

To complement the efforts made in-country, the project has also supported market links to retailers and buyers that will be able to capitalise from this new variety of coffee. The expectation from this is that other interested partners will follow suit and generate greater demand and sales of this sustainable, forest-friendly brand. In the next phase of the project, the goal is to further strengthen the value chain by crowding-in buyers as well as continuing building the capacity of supply actors including farmers, cooperatives and participatory forest management (PFM) groups.

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