Trees help African coffee growers - 15/12/09

Wales is to help African coffee farmers adapt to climate change under a UN scheme intended to link parts of the developing world to richer nations.

Assembly first minister Carwyn Jones will unveil a three-year partnership between Wales and the Mbale region in Uganda at the global climate change conference in Copenhagen.

The scheme, one of the first under the auspices of the United Nations Development Programme, will provide native trees to shade the coffee bushes and thus reduce the ambient temperature.

Said Mr Jones: "Most people in the region are subsistence farmers whose livelihoods are acutely sensitive to the changes in the weather that they have seen in recent years.

"Coffee is the region's biggest export, providing a livelihood for thousands of people.

"If temperatures in the area rise by just 2?C, then they will be unable to grow the crop. Industrialised countries like ours have a moral duty to help these regions prepare their own plans to adapt and prepare for our changing environment."

Trees help African coffee growers - 15/12/09

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