Climate change can adversely affect tea production and quality
In the next decade, tea production and consumption will grow, mainly due to demand in developing countries. European citizens increasingly prefer coffee or water, but new varieties of tea compete with them. These are the findings of the FAO report (food and agriculture organization of the United Nations) on the tea market. Experts warn that climate change can negatively affect the scale of tea production and its quality.
The growth in tea production is associated with its popularity in emerging economies such as China and India. In turn, the increase in demand for tea there experts explain the increase in income of the population, as well as the emergence of new varieties of this traditional drink: green, herbal, fruit, berry tea, as well as delicatessen varieties.
Overall, black tea production is expected to increase by 2.2% annually over the next ten years. And green tea will gain popularity even faster – its production will grow every year by 7.5%.
The report notes that today the largest exporter of tea is Kenya, but it is catching up with China. There, as in India and Sri Lanka, it is becoming increasingly popular. However, in Europe, tea gives way to coffee and bottled water. The same Europeans who like to indulge in tea, go from bags to loose tea and prefer delicious varieties that are served in trendy cafes and tea.
At the same time, the authors of the report warn that the tea industry is threatened by climate change. For the cultivation of tea requires very specific conditions. Changing temperatures, unpredictable rainfall can affect the yield, quality and cost of tea, and farmers may lose income. FAO calls for adaptation measures to climate change and at the same time reduce greenhouse gas emissions that accompany the tea production process.
In India, build roads from plastic debris
In India, recycled plastic is used for road construction. Only in 2017, 100 thousand km of the roadway was laid from plastic garbage in the country.
Many Indian States are participating in the project. In Kerala, the most active participants in the program were local fishermen. Plastic waste has long been a significant part of their catches, and the establishment of a plastic recycling center in the state was an excellent solution for the disposal of ocean debris.
For the fishermen of the centre the opportunity to earn additional income. Since the beginning of 2018, 5 thousand participants of the project have delivered more than 65 tons of plastic garbage to the center.
In the center, the plastic is crushed and melted at a temperature of about 170 °C. hot bitumen is added to the substance, and the resulting substance is laid as asphalt.
Plastic recycling is one of the most urgent problems of the planet. A possible breakthrough in the fight against plastic pollution — the discovery of an enzyme that can digest plastic — made a team of scientists from the UK and the US in April 2018.
