Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Illegal coffee crops threaten endangered animals

The Guardian

Coffee drinkers have been unknowingly consuming a brew made from beans grown illegally in one of the world's most important natural parks, a report revealed today.
The conservation charity WWF said beans grown in the Bukit Barisan Selatan national park in Sumatra, Indonesia, were being bought by local traders and mixed with legally grown beans before being exported.
The 324,000 hectare (800,620 acre) park is a Unesco world heritage site and one of the few protected areas where three endangered or critically endangered species - Sumatran tigers, elephants and rhinos - coexist. It is also the home of unique and threatened plant species' such as the giant flower amorphophallus spp.

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