ROBUSTA'S RECKONING

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

New Report Reveals Massive Deforestation for Coffee in Vietnam; and Mounting Environmental Risks

Satellite mapping shows decades of coffee expansion drove large-scale forest loss in Vietnam

June 17, 2026 — Coffee Watch today released Vietnam’s Robusta Reckoning, a major new investigation revealing the deforestation and other risks tied to Vietnam’s booming coffee sector. The report draws on extensive new satellite mapping data, scientific studies and government records to show decades of intensive farming, climate stress, and unchecked deforestation pushing Vietnam’s coffee heartlands to a breaking point.

“Vietnam is the backbone of the world’s affordable coffee supply,” said Etelle Higonnet, founder of Coffee Watch. “If this system collapses, the shockwaves will be felt in every supermarket and every café. The industry has ignored the warning signs for too long.”

The Epicenter of Destruction

Vietnam produces 1 in 5 cups consumed worldwide, accounting for about 20% of global supply and nearly 40% of robusta exports, yet the foundations of this production model are rapidly eroding because of extensive historical deforestation and pesticide-soaked monoculture.

Vietnam has experienced one of the fastest rates of deforestation in the world. The Central Highlands—home to the country’s robusta belt—has been an epicenter of this destruction. The report finds that approximately 207,428 hectares of tropical forest were cleared between 1990 and 2024 in areas now used for coffee production. In just one generation, coffee has been the driving force behind the loss of 1/3 of the forests in the Central Highlands, where 95% of Vietnamese coffee grows.

Undisturbed forest in the Central Highlands declined from approximately 2.49 million hectares in 1990 to 1.61 million hectares by 2024. Forest cover fell from 42.8% of the regional land area in 1990 to just 19.0% by 2020, before stabilizing at low levels in the early 2020s.

While the rate of annual loss has diminished in recent years, this report’s satellite mapping reveals it is in large part because there is so little remaining forest left to kill.

Rapid Expansion

Coffee cultivation expanded rapidly in Vietnam beginning in the late 20th century. The country’s share of global coffee supply grew from less than 1% in the early 1980s to about one-fifth by 2020. The accompanying coffee deforestation has caused a biodiversity and carbon cataclysm.

In 1943 nearly 80% of the Central Highlands region remained under forest cover. As recently as the 1990s, the region held a large share of Vietnam’s remaining high-biomass, high-biodiversity forests. Coffee expanded rapidly through the 1990s and 2000s, as Vietnam’s share of global supply rose from less than 1% in the early 1980s to one fifth by 2020.

Vietnam became the world’s 2nd largest coffee producer, behind only Brazil. Vietnamese coffee area increased from 50,000 hectares in the mid-1980s to more than 700,000 hectares today, transforming the basaltic plateaus of Đắk Lắk, Gia Lai, Lâm Đồng, Đắk Nông, and Kon Tum into the engine room of the global robusta trade. This transformation did not occur on empty land. It usually took place on forests.

The report finds that deforestation in Vietnam’s coffee belt was driven by policy incentives, development financing and industry expansion, with key responsibility lying with the government of Vietnam, but also the World Bank and coffee industry.

The report also reveals that much hope about afforestation that Vietnamese authorities peddled is likely based on a double lie: national tree cover gains often reflect plantation expansion and definitional changes, including the reduction of the canopy threshold for forest classification in 2008, which complicate official recovery claims.

Environmental Consequences

The consequences of coffee-driven deforestation are severe. Forest loss has fragmented habitats for endangered species, accelerated soil erosion, and reduced water availability in a region already facing climate stress. The report highlights how the clearing of native forests for coffee plantations has disrupted watershed systems, contributing to declining river flows and more frequent droughts. These environmental impacts now threaten the very viability of coffee production in the region, creating a feedback loop in which deforestation undermines the long-term stability of the industry that drove it.

The coffee heartland now faces both a major water crisis, and devastatingly depleted soils. Farmers now face a “nutrient treadmill,” needing more fertilizer each year just to maintain yields in exhausted soils.

Consequences for Labor

As yields decline and production costs rise, many coffee farmers are struggling financially. These pressures contribute to widespread poverty in coffee-growing communities and help explain the persistence of child labor in the sector. Coffee farmer and farmworker poverty undergirds why - by the government’s own admission - thousands of children are trapped in child labor in Vietnamese coffee. Some of this is hazardous child labor, as defined by the ILO.

Climate Risks

Deforestation deepens climate vulnerability: Extreme heat, drought, and erratic rainfall are already reducing harvests and hurting farmers’ finances. With temperatures rising, and forests gone that used to regulate rainfall and soil moisture, half of Vietnam’s robusta belt is projected to become unsuitable for coffee. The report warns that without urgent intervention, Vietnam could thus face both deepening poverty and a new wave of deforestation driven by replanting pressures, climate-driven expansion into higher elevations, and the search for more suitable land.

Supply Chain Risks

Despite sustainability claims, major multinational buyers have continued sourcing from areas with documented historical forest loss, often relying on certification schemes that failed to detect or prevent clearing. Multinational buyers rely heavily on Vietnam’s robusta but have invested little in long-term sustainability or transparency in their Vietnam operations. Certification schemes appear to have failed to address structural problems, leaving farmers exposed to market shocks and environmental decline.

The Path Forward

The report outlines urgent steps needed to stabilize the sector and protect farmers and ecosystems:

• Large-scale investment in soil restoration and agroforestry
• Financial support for replanting and climate adaptation
• Transparent pricing and living-income benchmarks
• Stronger regulation of fertilizer and pesticide use
• Corporate accountability for long-term sustainability
• Forest protection and restoration across the Central Highlands

The report calls on governments, companies, investors, and consumers to recognize that the future of coffee depends on supporting the people and landscapes that produce it. “Protecting Vietnam’s forests and supporting its farmers is now essential to safeguarding the future of coffee and millions of farmers,” Higonnet said. “The world cannot afford to sleepwalk into a coffee crisis.”

About Coffee Watch: Coffee Watch is an independent watchdog organization dedicated to exposing abuses in the global coffee industry and driving systemic change to protect farmers, forests, and the future of coffee.

Media Contact: Etelle Higonnet, info@coffeewatch.org