Environment: for the first time, a global mapping of coffee plots will be created for p

This high-resolution map will be created using images captured by satellites capable of monitoring plantations from space. The project aims to “protect coffee cultivation.”

According to France Inter on Thursday, April 23, a first mapping of coffee plots will be developed to prevent deforestation worldwide. This project is a result of the collaboration between Airbus, with its satellites, and JDE Peet’s, an agri-food company specializing in coffee and tea. The initiative is called Coffee Canopy.

This high-resolution map on deforestation will be created using images captured by satellites capable of monitoring plantations from space. “We have two types of satellites, the Pléiades satellites and the Pléiades Neo satellites,” details France Inter Noé Roure, an engineer for the Airbus Defense and Space group. Thanks to “a resolution of 30 cm, we can identify coffee plots, and in satellite images we can differentiate coffee from other plantations, like palm oil based on how it is planted.”

The objective is to inform authorities and industries in order to halt deforestation. “This map of plots will be open source for producing countries,” explains Laurent Sagarra, vice president of engagement at JDE Peet’s. “First to identify all potential deforested plots.” Then it will be necessary to “verify on the ground whether it is indeed deforestation or not. And if we confirm there is advanced deforestation,” solutions to “remedy this deforestation” must be found, he adds. This is about “curbing climate change,” because “we need to protect coffee cultivation and ensure that coffee is not produced at the expense of forests.”

The project, estimated at 15 million euros, is in its pilot phase, particularly in East Africa, “Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia,” specifies Noé Roure, an engineer for the Airbus Defense and Space group. It is planned to “update this map every two years to see if there are new deforestations.” The project developers envision global coverage by the end of 2027. Producers must prepare for the entry into force, by the end of December 2026, of a European regulation against deforestation that will ban the import of coffee from deforested areas.

With 11 million hectares cultivated in over 50 tropical countries, coffee is a crop highly susceptible to causing deforestation. The European Union, “being the largest importer of coffee, would be responsible for 44% of coffee-related deforestation. It is estimated that 7% of the deforestation imported by the European Union is due to coffee, almost as much as for cocoa,” as stated on the Ministry of Ecological Transition website.