Quick Take — Coffee at risk of extinction: researchers’ challenge begins with forgotten species

Coffee, the world’s most popular drink, is under threat. Global warming, soil depletion, wars, genetic erosion and other interrelated factors are threatening its survival – and not just in the case of the two most widely used varieties, Arabica (Coffea arabica), which is particularly vulnerable to excessive heat, and Robusta (Coffea canephora), which requires large quantities of water, but also for all the others. These are varieties about which, until recently, little was known; not all are suitable for roasting, yet they too are at risk.

According to a 2019 study, which analysed 124 species of wild coffee according to the criteria of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and its ‘Red List’, in germplasm collections (where seeds are preserved) and in protected areas around the world, 60 per cent of species are at risk of extinction, 45 per cent are not present in any collection (and could therefore easily be lost forever) and 28 per cent are not present in any protected area. Furthermore, current conservation measures are insufficient and inadequate to address the current risks…

We have already discussed this.

The Invasion of Alien Species and Other ‘Stories’ from the Sea

The alien does not come from some distant planet, but simply from the other side of the world. From Japan, for example, or from Egypt, the Atlantic, or sometimes from nearby Greece. And in Italian waters — where everything is already in place and the conditions are ideally warm — more often than not it decides to stay for good: the problem is the impact it could have, especially in the long term, on both biodiversity and our lives

Quick Take — The invasion of poisonous pufferfish in Greece

A fish capable of snapping soft-drink cans in half is destroying fishing nets and livelihoods.

For Greek small-scale fishermen, the invasion of pufferfish represents yet another blow to a sector already under severe strain from rising costs, depleted fish stocks, warming seas and decades of overfishing.

“The pufferfish is responsible for 80 per cent of the damage to the sea”… “The sea is dead and dying,” say the fishermen.

Below: the bite mark of a pufferfish shown in the first image taken from Wikipedia.

Lagocephalus sceleratus has now reached the northern Adriatic: it is poisonous and can bite humans.

Read this article on invasive species in the Mediterranean too

Written on 7 August, updated on 22 August 2026

Quick Take — France, climate change and the grape harvest: fewer grapes and difficulties in finding grape pickers

In mid-August, many seasonal workers are still on holiday: Joël Boueilh, a winegrower from the Gers and president of the Vignerons Coopérateurs de France, told *Le Monde* that he has 25 per cent fewer workers than his usual team.

The problem with yields is even more serious. The prolonged drought and water stress are resulting in smaller grapes with less juice; in the most vulnerable plots, some grapes are scorched by the sun or are being removed to protect the vine. In Champagne, a harvest of just 6–7 thousand kilos of grapes per hectare is forecast, compared with the appellation’s maximum limit of around 9 thousand, resulting in a significant financial loss. In Alsace, where the soil retains less water, yields are feared to be halved; at Château de Fontenille, in the Bordeaux region, a loss of 25–30 per cent compared with the average of recent years is estimated…