Environment: for the first time, a global mapping of coffee plantations will be developed 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.”

A first mapping of coffee plantations will be developed to prevent deforestation worldwide, as reported by France Inter on Thursday, April 23. This project is made possible through the collaboration between Airbus, and 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, Pléiades satellites and Pléiades Neo satellites,” details France Inter Noé Roure, engineer for the Airbus Defense and Space group. Thanks to “a resolution of 30 cm, we can identify coffee plots, and on satellite images we can differentiate coffee from other plantations, like palm oil based on how it is planted.”

The goal is to inform authorities and industries to stop deforestation. “This mapping of plots will be open source for producing countries,” explains Laurent Sagarra, vice president of engagement at JDE Peet’s. “First to identify all plots, potentially deforested ones.” Then, they will need to “verify on the ground whether it is actual deforestation or not. And if we confirm severe deforestation,” solutions to “remedy this deforestation” will need to be found, he adds. This is about “restraining climate change,” as “we need to protect coffee cultivation and ensure that coffee is not produced at the expense of the forest.”

The project, estimated at 15 million euros, is in its pilot phase, especially in East Africa, “Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia,” specifies Noé Roure, 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’s stakeholders foresee 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 prohibit the import of coffee from deforested areas.

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