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Coffee plants could be extinct in 70 years

Scientists at the UK's Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in collaboration with colleagues in Ethiopia, are warning climate change could decimate wild Arabica coffee plants before the end of the century.

A study has concluded Arabicas grown by the world’s coffee plantations come from a very limited genetic base and it is unlikely they will be able to cope with hotter temperatures.

Dr Aaron Davis, from the Royal Botanic Gardens, says coffee farmers in countries like Ethiopia, should move plantations higher into the hills, where it is cooler.

(Picture: Coffee beans growing on a plantation. Getty Images.)

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