Additional Context: The Gorilla Coffee Alliance was a public-private partnership between USAID and Nespresso, implemented by Technoserve. The initiative was set to run for five years until August 2026. It was cancelled in early 2025. Mentioned in Ethos Agriculture's 2026 Coffee Barometer Report, the authors note U.S. aid cuts affecting the coffee industry have weakened the sustainability capacity, technical expertise, and institutional support systems on which the sector depends.

Devex Researcher Note: Kahuzi-Biega National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is one of the last remaining habitats of the eastern lowland gorilla, of which an estimated 6,800 survive in the wild. An archived Nespresso news release stated that the project aimed to protect this species from poaching by shifting economic incentives towards sustainable, higher-volume, coffee production. At Nespresso, this project supported its Reviving Origins program, which helps smallholder farmers improve profit and save endangered coffee varieties despite ongoing conflict and political instability. While this program, as well as the associated product, have continued, the biodiversity and gorilla conservation work enabled by the broader partnership has ended.

Source: Ethos Agriculture