Tea Leaves from Sri Lanka Hold the Key to Saving the World's Cup of Tea

Strategic Insights -

Thamali Kariyawasam, a PhD student at the University of Bristol, is leading a collaborative research project to protect tea crops from the impacts of climate change. Tea is a significant industry for Sri Lanka, producing up to 300 million tonnes of tea each year, enough for 150 trillion cups, and employing over 2.5 million people. The project involves researchers from the University of Bristol, Ahmad Tea, Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, Tea Research Institute of Sri Lanka, and the University of Peradeniya in Sri Lanka. Their goal is to identify tea cultivars that can grow well using less water, with minimal quality losses, to ensure the sustainability of tea farming even in tough weather conditions.

Key Takeaways:

  • The tea industry in Sri Lanka produces up to 300 million tonnes of tea each year, enough for 150 trillion cups, and employs over 2.5 million people, making livelihoods at stake due to climate change.
  • The collaborative research project involves five organizations: the University of Bristol, Ahmad Tea, Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, Tea Research Institute of Sri Lanka, and the University of Peradeniya in Sri Lanka.
  • tea plants can take two years to graduate from the nursery to the ground and can live for up to 100 years, but are fragile and can be destroyed by longer and more frequent droughts and heatwaves.
  • Climate change is affecting tea production, with droughts and heatwaves causing significant losses, and public visibility of the issue is low.
  • Thamali Kariyawasam's PhD research involves gathering samples from Sri Lanka and studying them in Bristol's laboratories to understand how some tea cultivars manage better than others when water is limited.
  • 7 million dried plant specimens are stored in Kew's herbarium, providing valuable information about past climates, disease, and tea diversity.

Statistics:

  • 300 million: tonnes of tea produced in Sri Lanka each year
  • 150 trillion: cups of tea produced each year
  • 2.5 million: people employed in the tea industry in Sri Lanka
  • 200 years: since tea was introduced to Sri Lanka by the British
  • 7 million: dried plant specimens stored in Kew's herbarium
  • 100 years: maximum lifespan of tea plants
  • 2 years: time for tea plants to graduate from nursery to the ground

Sources:

  • [Author, Date] "Tea industry in Sri Lanka at risk due to climate change" The Sunday Times (Colombo)
  • Thamali Kariyawasam and team, University of Bristol
  • Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew
  • Tea Research Institute of Sri Lanka
  • University of Peradeniya in Sri Lanka
  • Ahmad Tea