About the Alliance for Wild Coffee
A global network, rooted in science and grounded in place.
The Alliance for Wild Coffee is a UK Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) in formation. We are being registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales.
Our purpose is to transform fragmented wild coffee conservation into a coordinated, resourced, and globally connected effort. We do this by building a mutual support network of researchers, practitioners, and communities working with wild Coffea species across their native ranges — tropical Africa, Madagascar, the Indian Ocean islands, Asia, and Australasia.
What we exist to do
The AWC’s charitable objects are:
To promote the conservation of wild Coffea species and their natural habitats within their native range, for the benefit of the public.
To advance scientific research in wild coffee ecology, genetics, and biodiversity, and to make the results available to the public.
To advance public and sector education on the importance of wild coffee biodiversity and the threats it faces, including through advocacy and policy influence.
To promote sustainable livelihoods for farming communities whose well-being is connected to wild coffee habitats and ecosystems, including through the responsible domestication and harvesting of wild Coffea species in support of conservation.
Paying it forward
When someone buys a cup of wild coffee, they are doing more than enjoying something exceptional. Every purchase flows back to protect the habitats and populations that made it possible. This principle — pleasure and purpose aligned — runs through everything the AWC does. It is not just a funding model; it is an ethic we hope members will share.
Grounded in real fieldwork
The AWC grows out of active conservation work. Project Wightiana — our founding conservation programme — has been working at Silence Forest, Auroville, Tamil Nadu since 2023. Coffea wightiana is one of India’s endemic wild coffee species, with its only confirmed wild population at this site: a biodiverse Tropical Dry Evergreen Forest under pressure from development. The project combines habitat protection, nursery production, genetics, ecology, and post-harvest research.
This work is both the AWC’s proof of concept and its first member project.
Scientific grounding
Our work is informed by peer-reviewed research on wild coffee extinction risk, including the findings of Davis et al. (2019, Science Advances) — the most comprehensive IUCN-aligned assessment of wild Coffea to date. We are in ongoing discussions with scientific partners including Kew Gardens, and we are building towards a formal scientific advisory network as the AWC develops.