Abstract

Earthwatch Helps Produce Sustainable Coffee in Costa Rica for Starbucks
Track: Agriculture
Author(s): Bernard Traphan, Sebastián Castro Tanzi

In the highlands of Los Santos Region in the Central Pacific of Costa Rica, over two thousand farmers of CoopeTarrazú (a coffee farmers' cooperative) have been producing coffee for more than one hundred years. Their strong linkage to the land, evermore threatened resources, and the need to access better market prices for their product through environmental/social certifications has led the Board of Farmers to create a Sustainability Program. This program focuses on soil/water/biodiversity resource conservation, proper use of agrochemicals and improving the quality of coffee.

To effectively implement this program the cooperative needs to monitor how coffee producers are adopting the new farming strategies throughout Los Santos' heterogeneous landscape. This paper will discuss how scientists from Earthwatch Institute with a grant from Starbucks Coffee Company, are supporting CoopeTarrazú to develop a GIS based spatial temporal information system for monitoring their sustainability goals.

Bernard Traphan
Joint Information Operations Warfare Command
PO Box 761925
San Antonio , Texas 78245
United States
Phone: 210-414-5226
Fax: 888-678-7315
E-mail: Bernard.Traphan@jiowc.osis.gov

Sebastián Castro Tanzi
Earthwatch Institute
PO Box 761925
San Antonio , Texas 78245
United States
Phone: 800-776-0188
E-mail: scastro@earthwatch.org