how-coffee-farming-communities-adapt-climate-change-costa-rica-04c5c5cbb0253813.pdf

This policy brief by the World Resources Institute (WRI) examines climate adaptation strategies for coffee farming communities in Costa Rica, specifically focusing on the Coto Brus region. It identifies key enabling factors for resilience, provides six strategic recommendations for the sector, and highlights comparative adaptation practices in Colombia, Guatemala, and Mexico.

• Climate change is projected to reduce global areas suitable for coffee cultivation by approximately 50% by 2050 if adaptation measures are not implemented. In coffee-growing nations, this manifests as warming temperatures, irregular rainfall, and the proliferation of pests and diseases.
• The Coto Brus region in southern Costa Rica is highly vulnerable to climate change, with coffee farming comprising 70% of its economy. Without adaptation, the region faces significant financial and social hardship, and the cultivation of arabica coffee will become increasingly difficult.
• Several factors enable climate resilience in Coto Brus, including the use of farmer associations and cooperatives to scale efforts and lower financial risk, peer-to-peer learning to share best practices, and the formation of cross-sectoral alliances with public, private, and academic institutions.
• WRI proposes six recommendations for building resilience: supporting stakeholder-identified adaptation options (such as diversifying incomes or using resilient varieties), establishing monitoring baselines, mapping future viability to explore transformative pathways (e.g., switching to vanilla or cacao), providing business administration training, improving communication channels, and scaling peer-to-peer learning.
• Other Latin American countries are implementing diverse adaptation mechanisms: Colombia is testing satellite-based weather index insurance; Guatemala is using models to predict suitable tree species for income diversification; and Mexico's Sierra Madre de Chiapas has a broad alliance strategy incorporating vulnerability reduction methodologies into development projects.

APA

World Resources Institute (n.d.). how-coffee-farming-communities-adapt-climate-change-costa-rica-04c5c5cbb0253813.pdf. https://files.wri.org/s3fs-public/how-coffee-farming-communities-adapt-climate-change-costa-rica.pdf

Chicago

World Resources Institute. how-coffee-farming-communities-adapt-climate-change-costa-rica-04c5c5cbb0253813.pdf. n.d. https://files.wri.org/s3fs-public/how-coffee-farming-communities-adapt-climate-change-costa-rica.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=how-coffee-farming-communities-adapt-climate-change-costa-rica-04c5c5cbb0253813.pdf |url=https://files.wri.org/s3fs-public/how-coffee-farming-communities-adapt-climate-change-costa-rica.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitutendhowcoffeefarmingcommunitiesadaptclimatechangecostarica04c5c5cbb0253813pdf, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{how-coffee-farming-communities-adapt-climate-change-costa-rica-04c5c5cbb0253813.pdf}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, url = {https://files.wri.org/s3fs-public/how-coffee-farming-communities-adapt-climate-change-costa-rica.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }