Comment in 2022

The failure of Liberica coffee as a global crop plant by the turn of the twentieth century was due to a number of factors, including the inappropriate selection of material for global dissemination. Renewed interest in this species, particularly in the excelsa variant, is evident across the coffee supply chain. In a warming world, and in an era beset with supply chain disruption, Liberica coffee could re-emerge as a major crop plant.

We identified the function of mangrove ecosystems that underpin ecosystem services, their responses to extreme weather and climatic events, and their role as crucial social-ecological systems as important paradigms shaping mangrove research now and in times to come. Since themes around functions and connectivity, ecological resilience to extreme events, and human–environment interactions are likely to be important underpinnings for other coastal and terrestrial ecosystems too, this paper aims to promote discussion within and beyond the mangrove research community and to help the broader plant science field in viewing and understanding the issue of safeguarding mangrove forests for the future.

At a time when food security is being threatened by climate change and population growth, regulatory systems must be designed to encourage innovation through all available technological means. Proposed changes to the concept of essential derivation will classify all mono-parental varieties as essentially derived, threatening the use of new breeding technologies to deliver crop improvement.

Over 100 of the world’s leaders pledged to end deforestation by 2030 at the COP26 climate summit in a bid to limit global warming to 1.5 °C. The REDD+ scheme is the best hope to achieving this target.