Unique South African tea faces climate threat

High temperatures and erratic rainfall in Western Cape jeopardise lucrative rooibos tea industry.

The health benefits of a unique tea called rooibos has helped create a multi-million dollar industry in South Africa.

The plant only grows in some parts of the Western Cape. Attempts to grow it in similar dry regions of Australia, China and the United States have all failed.

Experts are now predicting increased temperatures and erratic rainfall in the region, and tea growers say climate change is putting the crop’s future, and the industry as a whole, at risk.

Al Jazeera’s Tania Page reports from South Africa’s Western Cape.

Source: Al Jazeera