Sources

Sydney Jones

Press Secretary

[email protected]

Carole Mitchell

Global Communications Director

[email protected]
    1. The Ivory Coast is the world’s largest producer of cocoa, Wessel, M., and Quist-Wessel, P.M.F. “Cocoa production in West Africa, a review and analysis of recent developments.” NJAS Wageningen Journal of Life Sciences. 74-75 (2015): 1-7. Available here.
    2. Olam, Cargill, and Barry Callebaut control around half of global cocoa trade, Terazono, Emiko. “Welcome to the world of Big Chocolate.” Financial Times. 18 December 2014. Available here. See also “Market Concentration and Price Formation in the Global Cocoa Value Chain.” SEO Amsterdam Economics. 15 November 2016. Available here.
    3. The chocolate industry has been the primary driver behind the destruction of forests, Kroeger, Alan, et al. “Eliminating Deforestation from the Cocoa Supply Chain.” The World Bank Group. March 2017. Available here. [hereinafter World Bank report, Eliminating Deforestation]. An even more precise calculation of the percentage of total Ivorian deforestation due to cocoa – determined to be approximately 27% – can be found in: BNETD, EtcTerra, RONGEAD, ONU-REDD (FAO/PNUD/PNUE). “Analyse qualitative des facteurs de déforestation et de dégradation des forêts en Côte d’Ivoire.” Rapport Final. 10 novembre 2016; and the Ministere De L’environnement et du Developpement Durable.
    4. 291,254 acres of protected areas have been cleared for cocoa growing operations, this calculation is based on Mighty Earth/MapHubs mapping.
    5. Approximately one quarter of deforestation in Ghana was connected to the chocolate industry, World Bank Report, Eliminating Deforestation.
    6. Only 200-400 elephants remain in the Ivory Coast from an original population of hundreds of thousands, Ivorian elephant numbers were reported to be declining at a rate of around 390 elephants killed per year between 1976 and 1984, leaving only “an estimated 4,840 elephants in 41 isolated groups in 1984…[which] declined to some 270 elephants in 20 isolated groups by the early 2000s.” See Van Kooten, G. “Protecting the African elephant: A dynamic bioeconomic model of ivory trade.” Biological Conservation. 141 (2008). Referencing: Fischer, F. “Elephants in Côte d’Ivoire – a warning for West African conservation.” Pachyderm. 38(2005). 64–75. Today there are an estimated 200 to 400 elephants left nationwide: see “Poaching contributes to forest elephant declines in Côte d’Ivoire, new numbers reveal.” WWF. 05 September 2011. Available  here. “An estimated 189 African forest elephants are now living in The Ivory Coast’s Taï National Park, according to the findings of a recent survey. The last reliable population estimate was conducted nearly 30 years ago and counted 800 elephants. The current population level was determined by counting dung piles throughout the park. Taking into account the estimate’s margin of error, the actual number of elephants in the area could range from 54 to 324… The elephant population survey was conducted by CITES’ Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants programme and WWF’s African Elephant Programme with cooperation from The Ivory Coast’s national park service.”
    7. The world’s largest chocolate companies have begun to acknowledge their responsibility to address deforestation. The initiative to embrace sustainability in the chocolate industry, led by Prince Charles, and coordinated also by the World Cocoa Foundation and the NGO IDH, is typically referred to as the “Cocoa and Forests Initiative.” See the Initiative page on the World Cocoa Foundation website.
    8. Leading chocolate companies have not provided details about their plan to end deforestation, The Cocoa and Forests Initiative’s plan can be found on their website.
    9. Previous cocoa sustainability initiatives have been too weak to produce significant industry-wide results, Barry Callebaut launched Cocoa Horizons Foundation and an Initiative for Sustainable Landscapes, available here, Cargill started its ‘Cocoa Promise’ available here, Cémoi began ‘Transparence Cacao’ available here , Mondelēz International piloted ‘Cocoa Life’ available here. Olam joined with Rainforest Alliance to forge a ‘Climate Cocoa Partnership’ and REDD+ Pilot Project available here, Touton led its ‘Climate Smart Cocoa Program’ available here, and the industry platform the World Cocoa Foundation (WCF) provides an umbrella for various sustainability initiatives through CocoaAction.
    10. The global chocolate market was approximately $100 billion in 2015, Barnato, K. and Graham, L. “Future of the chocolate industry looks sticky.” CNBC. 24 March 2016. Available here. See also Clay, J. “Rainforest Crunch: Cocoa and Deforestation, It’s Time to Shift the Paradigm.” Chicago Council on Global Affairs. 7 July 2016. Available here.
    11. The world consumes close to 3 million tons of chocolate each year, Ibid.
    12. Demand for chocolate and other cocoa products goes up by 2-5% every year, Zhang, Y. “5 Facts About the Chocolate Industry.” Business Journalism. 13 October 2016. Available here; Petroff, A. “Paying more for chocolate? You will be.” CNN. 14 October 2013. Available here.
    13. Most of the world’s chocolate is manufactured and consumed in Europe and North America, McCarthy, Niall. “The World’s Biggest Chocolate Consumers.” Forbes. 22 July 2015. Available here. Americans eat just over 9 lb. of chocolate a year. Western European eat an average of 10.3 lb. = 4.7 kg. The Swiss lead in global consumption, eating nearly 20 lb. of chocolate per year (approximately 9.2 kilos).
    14. The Majority of cocoa is grown in West Africa, Harris, N., Payne, O., Alix Mann, P. “How Much Rainforest Is in That Chocolate Bar?” World Resources Institute. 6 August 2015. Available here.
    15. Most Ivorian cocoa farmers have never tried chocolate, Barclay, E. “These Ivory Coast Cacao Farmers Had Never Tasted Chocolate.” NPR. 2014. Available here.
    16. The Ivory Coast once had the highest rates of biodiversity in Africa, Gockowski, J. and Sonwa, D. “Cocoa Intensification Scenarios and Their Predicted Impact on CO2 Emissions, Biodiversity Conservation, and Rural Livelihoods in the Guinea Rain Forest of West Africa.” Environmental Management. 48 (2011): 307–321. Available here; See also: Myers N. “The biodiversity challenge: expanded hot-spots analysis.” The Environmentalist. 10(1990): 243–256; Also citing: Myers, N. et al. “Biodiversity hotspots for conservation priorities.” Nature. 403(2000): 853–858. Available here.
    17. Less than 11 percent of the Ivory Coast remains forested and less than four percent remains densely forested, this statistic is based on the government’s own maps, BNETD, EtcTerra, RONGEAD, ONU-REDD (FAO/PNUD/PNUE). “Analyse qualitative des facteurs de déforestation et de dégradation des forêts en Côte d’Ivoire.” Rapport Final. 10 November 2016; and the Ministere De L’environnement et du Developpement Durable. In arriving at this analysis, Mighty Earth used the maps in this report, and used the government’s own definitions of forest as well as its own data. Mighty Earth also conducted a separate mapping initiative, using different methodology and using maps from Dr. Hansen (et. al.) at the University of Maryland, full citation details are available here. Mighty Earth’s separate mapping arrived at virtually the same result as the BNETD government mapping (of 3.7%), with a finding that 3.4% of the country remained with dense forest cover (of a density over 67% forest canopy density). Some representatives of the Government of the Ivory Coast have claimed that 11% of the country remains forested, which corresponds to a definition of canopy density of around 30%.
    18. Seven of twenty-three protected areas in Ivory Coast have been almost entirely converted to cocoa, Bitty, A. E., Gonedele, S. B., Koffi Bene, J.C., Kouass, P.Q.I and McGraw, W. S. “Cocoa farming and primate extirpation inside The Ivory Coast’s protected areas.” Tropical Conservation Science. 8.1(2015): 95-113. Available here. [Hereinafter, Cocoa farming and primate extirpation].
    19. Chimpanzees are considered an endangered species in Ivory Coast, Covey, R. and McGraw, W. S. “Monkeys in a West African bushmeat market: implications for cercopithecid conservation in eastern Liberia.” Tropical Conservation Science. 7.1 (2014): 115-125. Available here; Marchesi, P., Marchesi, N., Fruth, B., and Boesch, C. “Census and Distribution of Chimpanzees in Cote D’Ivoire.” PRIMATES. 36.4(1995): 591-607. Available here.
    20. The Ohio Study: Thirteen of twenty-three Ivorian protected areas have lost their entire primate populations and half the primate species have disappeared in five areas, See also: Oates, J.F., Abedy-Lartey, M., McGraw, W.S., Struhsaker, T.T., and Whitesides, G.H. “Extinction of a Western African Red Colobus.” Conservation Biology. 14.5(2000): 1526-1532. Available here.
    21. Thirteen of twenty-three Ivorian protected areas have lost their entire primate populations and half the primate species have disappeared in five areas, See also: Oates, J.F., Abedy-Lartey, M., McGraw, W.S., Struhsaker, T.T., and Whitesides, G.H. “Extinction of a Western African Red Colobus.” Conservation Biology. 14.5(2000): 1526-1532. Available here; See also: Mittermeier, R.A., Wallis, J., Rylands, A.B., Ganzhorn, J.U., Oates, J.F., Williamson, E.A., Palacios, E., Heymann, E.W., Kierulff, M.C.M., Yongcheng, L., Supriatna, J., Roos, C., Walker, S., Cortes-Ortiz, L., and Schwitzer, C. “Primates in Peril: The World’s 25 Most Endangered Primates.” Primate Conservation. 24(2009): 1-57. Available here; See also: Bitty, A. E., Gonedele, S. B., Koffi Bene, J. C., Kouass, P. Q.i and McGraw, W. S. “Cocoa farming and primate extirpation inside The Ivory Coast’s protected areas.” Tropical Conservation Science. 8.1(2015): 95-113. Available here.
    22. Elephants are on the verge of total disappearance, See footnote 6 above regarding elephant disappearance.
    23. Olam, Cargill, and Barry Callebaut buy cocoa grown illegally and sell to the world’s largest chocolate companies like Mars, Hershey, Mondelez, Ferrero, and others, See Annex 1.
    24. Full description of chocolate making process, “From Bean to Bar.” Equal Exchange. Available here.
    25. Forty percent of Ivorian cocoa comes from protected areas, Interview by Mighty Earth in Abidjan, 22 May 2017.
    26. Seven cooperatives bought cocoa from protected areas and confirmed that they sold their cocoa to international traders Cargill, Olam, and Barry Callebaut, Mighty Earth identified seven cooperatives which bought cocoa from protected areas that we visited, and which confirmed that they sold their cocoa on to the major international traders Cargill, Olam, and Barry Callebaut: Mighty Earth identified seven cooperatives which bought cocoa from protected areas that we visited, and which confirmed that they sold their cocoa on to the major international traders Cargill, Olam, and Barry Callebaut: Guiglo: The town of Guiglo is a primary hub for dirty, illegal deforestation cocoa from the protected areas of Scio (especially the southern part) and Goin Débé. The town’s cocoa gets sold onwards to Abidjan or to the port of San Pedro. A leading pisteur with decades of experience explained that Guiglo cocoa is bought primarily by SACO, Cargill, and Touton – and to a lesser extent by Olam. In Guiglo, the following major cocoa stores are buying from forests, and most are selling to major traders: Mohammed – buys from Scio, sells to major traders; CAPUG – purchases from a pisteur/small warehouse owner operating right next to a protected area, sells to Olam; Nasa – buys from Gouin Débé, sells to Cargill; Chifousseini – buys from Gouin Débé, sells to Cargill; Hassan – buys from Scio, involved in SCOAGG, sells to Cargill; SCOAGG – buys from Paris which is a village with several small cocoa stores on the edge of Gouin Débé, where Gouin Débé meets a large road, and where Gouin Débé cocoa gets consolidated, sells to Cargill. Duékoué: The town of Duékoué is a major hub for dirty, illegal deforestation cocoa from the protected areas of Scio (particularly the NE), and Mount Péko. SAFSO SARL: Appears to belong to someone known as Mahmoud, buys cocoa from deep inside Scio park, in a town called Sada. We met a pisteur in Sada and then hours later met him again in this store, arranging a sale. Mahmoud’s store appears to be named SAFSO SARL. We also were shown a receipt from SAFSO from a cocoa store inside the park. SAFSO employees told us their cocoa goes to San Pedro to the port and there it is sold to most major companies, including Olam and Cargill which they named specifically.SABF: Buying from forests, selling to SACO(aka Barry Callebaut), Olam, Cargill according to the drivers outside in the courtyard. Porgo: Buys from the NE part of Scio park, sells especially to SACO (aka Barry Callebaut). He sells to both to San Pedro and Abidjan. Before, he sold to Cargill, and it was unclear if previously sold to Olam but he talked about how Olam refused to buy his cocoa beans under a certain size (‘grainage’) and implied that he had managed to sell the larger size beans to Olam. Small stores in the forest of Scio in the town of Caen and the NE part of Scio park sell to pisteurs from the following larger stores in town:Porgo (this is the same as above, someone known as Ali the Lebanese, SABF, and DAFCI. Québré: Previously, small cocoa stores in the National Park of Mount Péko sold to the big store in Duekoue owned by Québré. However, he has since been shut down, and now the farmers in Péko have had to find other traders to buy their cocoa.
    27. Olam likely sells to Godiva and Starbucks, “Olam to acquire global cocoa business of Archer Daniels Midland for $1.7 billion.” Straits Times. 16 December 2014. Available here.
    28. Quote from Cargill representative acknowledging need for further action, email from Cargill to Mighty Earth, 21 July 2017.
    29. If the same rate of destruction from 1990-2015 persists all Ivorian primary forests will disappear within a few decades, This calculation is based on Mighty Earth’s analysis of the government’s own maps, made by BNETD.
    30. Quote from farmer in Goin Débé, Interview by Mighty Earth of a farmer in Goin Débé, 12 May 2017.
    31. Evictions of cocoa farmers were carried out in violation of human rights standards, “Côte d’Ivoire: Arbitrary Evictions in Protected Forests Forestry Agency Implicated in Violence, Extortion.” Human Rights Watch. 13 June 2016. Available at here.Report by Rassemblement des Acteurs Ivoriens des Droits Humains, RAIDH.
    32. Demand for chocolate increases by two to five percent each year, Zhang, Yu. “5 Facts About the Chocolate Industry.” Business Journalism. 13 October 2016. Available here; Petroff, Alanna. “Paying more for chocolate? You will be.” CNN. 14 October 2013. Available here.
    33. One point seven million acres of Indonesian forest were cleared for cocoa production, FAOSTAT and European Commission. “The impact of EU consumption on deforestation: Comprehensive analysis of the impact EU consumption on deforestation.” Technical Report 063.
    34. Cacao expansion could lead to the loss of 176 to 395 square kilometers of forest in the next decade, especially in the Equatorial Province’s Mbandaka, Bikoro and Lukolela, De Beule, H., Jassogne, L., and van Asten, P. “Cocoa: Driver of Deforestation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo?” CCAFS Working Paper no. 65. CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS). 2014. Available online here, or here, or here; “Taking up The Challenge of Cocoa.” World Bank Feature Story. 8 July 2017. Available here; Elsa M Ordway, et al. “Deforestation risk due to commodity crop expansion in sub-Saharan Africa.” Environmental Research Letters.2017. DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/aa6509.
    35. Cocoa production in South America has increased nearly five-fold between 1990 and 2013, Harris, N., Payne, O., and Alix Mann, S. “How Much Rainforest is in That Chocolate Bar?” World Resources Institute. 6 August 2015. Available here. [hereinafter, WRI, “That Chocolate Bar”].
    36. United Cacao destroyed nearly 5,000 acres of land for a cocoa plantation encroaching on the Amazon rainforest, Satellite images in 2012 showed United Cacao destroying nearly 5000 acres of land for a cocoa plantation, encroaching on the carbon-rich, biodiverse Amazon rainforest in Peru. See: Payne, Octavia and Sarah Alix Mann. “Zooming In: ‘Sustainable’ Cocoa Producer Destroys Pristine Forest in Peru.” World Resources Institute. 9 June 2015. Available here; Cannon, J. “Company chops down rainforest to produce ‘sustainable’ chocolate.” Mongabay. 20 January 2015. Available here; For a source on how Matt Finer of the Amazon Conservation Association used Landsat imagery to chronicle the clearing month-by-month and prove that the area was previously primary forest, see “MAAP #9: Confirming Forest Clearing for Cacao in Tamshiyacu (Loreto, Peru) came from Primary Forest.” Monitoring of the Andean Amazon Project. 30 June 2015. Available here; WRI, “That Chocolate Bar”; See also the website of the Carnegie Airborne Observatory here, in Stanford University’s Carnegie Institution for Science, which mapped deforestation for cocoa in the Amazon cited in the WRI article above, using airborne LiDAR technology to estimate that the patch of forest contained an average of 122 metric tons of carbon per hectare (54.4 tons per acre).
    37. From 1990-2008 the 27 member states of the EU imported an estimated 1.48 million acres of deforestation embedded in cocoa production, World Bank Report, Eliminating Deforestation.
    38. A single dark chocolate bar made with cocoa from deforestation produces the same amount of carbon pollution as driving 4.9 miles in a car, WRI, “That Chocolate Bar”; Goswami, Urmi. “How making chocolate is adding up to deforestation, emissions & climate change.” The Economic Times. 22 August 2015. Available here.
    39. Shade-grown cocoa promotes nutrient cycling, erosion control, water regulation, nitrogen fixing, crop pollination, and reduced weed growth, Schroth, G. and Harvey, C. “Biodiversity conservation in cocoa production landscapes: an overview.” Biodiversity and Conservation. 16.8(2007): 2237-2244. DOI 10.1007/s10531-007-9195-1 (this article states: “Our results show that, contrary to common perceptions, profitability and cost-efficiency are higher for small-scale shaded systems.”); Jeezer, R.E. and Verweij, P.A. “Shade grown coffee – Double dividend for biodiversity and small-scale coffee farmers in Peru.” Hivos. The Hague, the Netherlands; and Jeezer, et al. “Shaded Coffee and Cocoa – Double Dividend for Biodiversity and Small-scale Farmers.” Ecological Economics. · 140(2017): 136–145.
    40. Shade grown systems can have higher average productivity over the full life cycle of a cocoa tree, Clough, Y., Barkmann, J., Juhrbandt, J., Kessler, M., Wanger, TC., Anshary, A., et al. “Combining high biodiversity with high yields in tropical agroforests.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Science in the United States of America. 108.20(2011): 8311-8316. Available at here. This article states, “Moderate shade adequate, adequate labor, and input level can be combined with a complex habitat structure to provide high biodiversity as well as high yields. Although livelihood impacts are held up as a major obstacle for wildlife-friendly farming in the tropics, our results suggest that in some situations, agroforests can be designed to optimize both biodiversity and crop production benefits without adding pressure to convert natural habitat to farmland”; See also, Cassano, C., et al. “Landscape and farm scale management to enhance biodiversity conservation in the cocoa producing region of southern Bahia, Brazil.” Biodiversity Conservation. 18(2009): 577-603. Available here; Moreover, West African cocoa has some of the world’s lowest productivity and worst yields – not because farmers have too much shade or because shade reduces productivity – largely because West African cocoa has some of the industry’s worst agronomic practices worldwide. See “Cocoa Market Update.” World Cocoa Foundation. 1 April 2014. Available here; yields can increase for cocoa in West Africa and even worldwide, by rolling out shade-grown systems alongside agronomic best practices: “Whereas the average global yield is about 460 kilograms of cacao beans per hectare, crops tended using modern farming techniques could easily yield 1,500 kilograms or more per hectare.” See: Schmitz, H. and Howard-Yana Shapiro. “The Race to Save Chocolate: Pests, fungal infections and a changing climate threaten cacao crops and the chocolate they produce; But researchers have strategies to rescue this favorite sweet.” Scientific American. 1 June 2015. Available here.
    41. There are more than 300 million acres of previously deforested lands across the tropics where crops like cocoa can be grown without threatening new deforestation, Campbell, J.E., Lobell, D.B, Genova, R.C, and Field, C.B. “The global potential of bioenergy on abandoned agriculture lands.” Environmental Science and Technology. 42(2008): 5791-5794. Available here; Boucher, D., Elias, P., Lininger, K., May-Tobin, C., Roquemore, S., and Saxon, E. “The Root of the Problem: What’s Driving Tropical Deforestation Today?” Union of Concerned Scientists. 2011. Available at here, noting “There are an estimated 385 million to 472 million hectares of abandoned agricultural land globally, with 97 million to 129 million hectares of it in the tropics, though not all of this is suitable for intensified agriculture (Campbell et al. 2008)”; Butler, R. “Degraded lands hold promise in feeding 9 billion, while preserving forests.” Mongabay. 29 March 2012. Available here.
    42. Cocoa and chocolate companies including Cargill, Olam, Nestle, Mondelez, Mars, Ferrero Rocher and Hershey already apply that criterion to their palm oil purchases, For a description of how Cargill has adopted a strict methodology, known as the High Carbon Stock Approach, to target development of palm oil onto degraded land, see here. For a description of Olam’s commitment to HCSA for its palm oil sourced in Asia from third parties, see here. For a citation noting how Unilever, Nestlé, and Kellogg’s, are all using the HCSA, see here. For a citation on Ferrero’s commitment to HCSA see here. For a citation noting Hershey’s commitment to HCS see here.
    43. Companies that shift to deforestation-free agricultural production identified significant efficiencies that allowed them to increase profitability, Levin, J. “Profitability and Sustainability in Palm Oil Production: Analysis of Incremental Financial Costs and Benefits of RSPO Compliance.” WWF. May 2012. Available here. [Hereinafter WWF, Profitability and Sustainability in Palm Oil]. Soy companies that shifted to deforestation-free agricultural production also profited. After the Brazilian Amazon soy moratorium on all future deforestation, the soy industry saw the value of agriculture and ranching production doubling, even as deforestation plummeted. Soy expanded in the Amazon from 1.35 to 3.65 million ha (2008-2015) without need to deforest. A paper published in Science points out that deforestation rates have declined by 70% between 2005 and 2013, even as land-intensive beef and soy production has continued to grow in the country – See: Nepstad, D. et al., “Slowing Amazon Deforestation Through Public Policy and Interventions in Beef and Soy Supply Chains.” Science 344, no.6188 (6 June 2014): 1118-23. Available here.
    44. Many traders shifting to sustainable production attracted increased market share from manufacturers willing to pay for environmentally responsible raw material supplies, WWF, Profitability and Sustainability in Palm Oil. See also Whelan, T. and Fink, C. “The Comprehensive Business Case for Sustainability.” Harvard Business Review. 21 October 2016. Available here.
    45. Several chocolate companies have launched small-scale sustainability initiatives, See footnote 9.
    46. Even certification programs that chocolate companies use to promote their products as sustainable were found in 2016 to have mostly failed to make a significant difference on a national level, “La face cachée du chocolat.” Le Basic. 2016. Available here.
    47. Prince Charles launched an initiative with 34 of the world’s biggest chocolate and cocoa companies to end deforestation, “Collective Statement of Intent.” The Cocoa and Forests Initiative. 16 March 2017. Available here. See also (a) Varlet, Frederic, and Kouame, Geoerges. “Étude de la production de cacao en zone riveraine du Parc national de Taï.” Rapport Final. Published by GIZ with the Ivorian Ministry of Agriculture and the Cooperation Allemande. February 2013. This study found that Rainforest Alliance had certified cocoa from within protected areas, providing interviews, photographs, and maps. (b)Note that UTZ and Fairtrade protect primary forests but not secondary forests, and they are not deforestation-free – all the more troubling since overwhelmingly Ghanaian and Ivorian forests are not primary. For instance Mighty Earth mapping found only aroun 3.7% of Ivory Coast had dense primary forests. (c)For another assessment of problems with certification, see Ruf. “The Myth of Complex Agroforests: The Case of Ghana.” Human Ecology. 39.3(2011): 373-388, available here. (d) Incomes remain relatively low for smallholder cocoa farmers in certification schemes. See KPMG, 2012. Cocoa Certification. Study on the costs, advantages and disadvantages of cocoa certification commissioned by The International Cocoa Organization (ICCO). KPMG, The Netherlands, p. 48. (e) For another source on concerns about cocoa and certification schemes, see: “Analyse qualitative des facteurs de déforestation et de dégradation des forêts en Côte d’Ivoire, Rapport Final,” 10 novembre 2016. “Pour le moment, la fiabilité des systèmes de certification (type RFA, UTZ) est plutôt faible à l’image de ce que VARLET (2013) a bien démontré en soulignant l’existence de coopératives certifiées RFA ou UTZ dont les membres possèdent des parcelles au sein de forêts classées.” [“For the time being, the reliability of the certification systems (RFA, UTZ) is rather low, as demonstrated by VARLET (2013), highlighting the existence of RFA or UTZ certified cooperatives whose members own parcels within classified forests”]. (f) See also the World Bank report, stating that certification schemes “still contain limitations. Certification has limited impact on addressing the livelihood issue as farmers remain in poverty, the premiums remain unrealistically low, and all three standards lack equivalent criteria for forest protection which creates sourcing complications for companies that use certified cocoa purchases as their strategy to reduce deforestation.”
    48. The government has joined the United Nations program on reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (UN-REDD), See the UN-REDD website, Côte d’Ivoire page, available here; “Mapping the Landscape of REDD+ Finance in Côte d’Ivoire.” UN-REDD. 8 Jun 2017. Available here.
    49. The United Nations has also committed to produce zero deforestation cocoa as of 2017 through the Cocoa Carboneutre initiative, “Alassane Ouattara affiche les ambitions de la Côte d’Ivoire pour s’adapter au changement climatique.” AIP. 24 septembre 2014. Available here.
    50. The Ghanaian government has shown greater willingness to protect forests than in the past, Roth, M., Antwi, Y., and O’Sullivan, R. “Land and Natural Resource Governance and Tenure for Enabling Sustainable Cocoa Cultivation in Ghana.” USAID Tenure and Global Climate Change Program. February 2017. Available here; See also the Government of Ghana’s Cocoa Forest REDD+ Program, and Ghana’s participation in Cocoa Action which was launched in 2014.
    51. The chocolate industry should cease purchasing from suppliers who engage in future clearance of High Carbon Stock and High Conservation Value lands, The High Carbon Stock Approach (a resource site on the HCS Approach), available at highcarbonstock.org.
    52. There are still more than 20 protected areas that remain forested to some degree in Ivory Coast, Mighty Earth and MapHubs worked to create a ranking of all Ivorian protected areas, from best to worst, in terms of percentage of forest remaining and also in terms of volume of forest remaining. The full ranking is available in Annex 2. The ranking shows that there are well over 20 protected areas that remain forested to some degree, and which could be – as a matter of urgency – better protected so that they can thrive once more.
    53. Between five and six million people, largely smallholders, grow cocoa around the world, See “Cocoa Market Update.” World Cocoa Foundation. 1 April 2014. Available here.
    54. Cocoa farmers earn around 50 cents per day in Ivory Coast and around 84 cents per day in Ghana, in both The Ivory Coast and Ghana, anything under $1.25 per day constitutes ‘absolute poverty’. Anything under $2.00 per day constitutes ‘poverty’, according to the World Bank. Officially, the Ivorian minimum wage is around $3.50 per day.
    55. In the 1980s, farmers received an average of 16% of the value of a chocolate bar, see the following references regarding the higher percentages of profits that cocoa farmers got in the 1980s, at around 16%, and also references on the historic drop in farmers’ share of profits since that time: (a) Christopher, G. “Value chain analysis and market power in commodity processing with application to the cocoa and coffee sectors.” Commodity market review. 2007-2008. On page 23 you can find a Table named “Cocoa producer price as a share of the UK chocolate price, 10 year averages”, which shows a decline of the producer share of the chocolate price over time (and where the share for the most important producing country, Côte d’Ivoire, from 1976-85 is indicated as 17.9 percent). Available here. (b) “In 1980 the international cocoa price was $3,750 a tonne — equivalent to $10,000 a tonne in 2013. Nowadays it is considered high at roughly $2,800 a tonne. Over the same period, the value of cocoa within a chocolate bar has halved from 12% to just 6%, so although a farmer’s cocoa is essential to a chocolate bar, its value is a small part of the ultimate cost of production. Most (70%) of a modern-day chocolate bar’s value goes to the manufacturer because the majority of the costs are in marketing, research and development.” Citation from: Percival, M. “Cocoa-nomics: Why chocolate really doesn’t grow on trees.” CNN. April 3, 2015. Available here. (c) Fair Trade: “growers are likely to receive around 6 percent of the final value of a chocolate bar containing their cocoa. This figure is down from 16 percent in the late 1980s,” citation from “Fairtrade Cocoa Facts.” Fair Trade. Available at https://www.fairtrade.net/products/cocoa.html ; See also: “Growers in West Africa – many of whom have never tasted chocolate – are likely to receive just 3.5 to 6.4 per cent of the final value of a chocolate bar, depending on the percentage of cocoa content. This is compared with 16 per cent in the late 1980s. By contrast, the manufacturers’ share has increased from 56 to 70 per cent, and for retailers from 12 to 17 per cent, over the same period.” Citation from “Fairtrade and Cocoa – Commodity Briefing.” Fairtrade Foundation. August 2011. Available here.
    56. Thirty-five percent of revenue goes to chocolate companies and 44% goes to retailers like supermarkets,see the following references regarding the higher percentages of profits that cocoa farmers got in the 1980s, at around 16%, and also references on the historic drop in farmers’ share of profits since that time: (a) Christopher, G. “Value chain analysis and market power in commodity processing with application to the cocoa and coffee sectors.” Commodity market review. 2007-2008. On page 23 you can find a Table named “Cocoa producer price as a share of the UK chocolate price, 10 year averages”, which shows a decline of the producer share of the chocolate price over time (and where the share for the most important producing country, Côte d’Ivoire, from 1976-85 is indicated as 17.9 percent). Available here. (b) “In 1980 the international cocoa price was $3,750 a tonne — equivalent to $10,000 a tonne in 2013. Nowadays it is considered high at roughly $2,800 a tonne. Over the same period, the value of cocoa within a chocolate bar has halved from 12% to just 6%, so although a farmer’s cocoa is essential to a chocolate bar, its value is a small part of the ultimate cost of production. Most (70%) of a modern-day chocolate bar’s value goes to the manufacturer because the majority of the costs are in marketing, research and development.” Citation from: Percival, M. “Cocoa-nomics: Why chocolate really doesn’t grow on trees.” CNN. April 3, 2015. Available here. (c) Fair Trade: “growers are likely to receive around 6 percent of the final value of a chocolate bar containing their cocoa. This figure is down from 16 percent in the late 1980s,” citation from “Fairtrade Cocoa Facts.” Fair Trade. Available at https://www.fairtrade.net/products/cocoa.html ; See also: “Growers in West Africa – many of whom have never tasted chocolate – are likely to receive just 3.5 to 6.4 per cent of the final value of a chocolate bar, depending on the percentage of cocoa content. This is compared with 16 per cent in the late 1980s. By contrast, the manufacturers’ share has increased from 56 to 70 per cent, and for retailers from 12 to 17 per cent, over the same period.” Citation from “Fairtrade and Cocoa – Commodity Briefing.” Fairtrade Foundation. August 2011. Available here.
    57. The chocolate industry is notorious for labor rights abuses including slave labor, The CNN Freedom Project – Ending Modern-Day Slavery: “Cocoa-nomics: documentary 4” March 2014; and “Cocoa-nomics: Will the chocolate industry now end child labor and slavery?” 17 February 2014 in “Chocolate’s Child Slaves: Life In Slavery.” Available here.
    58. The chocolate industry is notorious for labor rights abuses including child labor, Biel, E. “A Story of Chocolate and Child Labor.” Huffington Post. 30 July 2015. Available here; See also “The chocolate industry has a century-long history of forced and child labor in the production of cocoa.” International Labor Rights Forum. Available here; and Haglage, A. “Dark Secret: Lawsuit – Your Candy Bar Was Made By Child Slaves.” The Daily Beas. September 2015. Available here.
    59. 21 percent more children are illegally laboring on cocoa farms in Ghana and The Ivory Coast than five years ago, For the Department of Labor’s 2015 annual Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor, see “Child Labor and Forced Labor Reports Côte d’Ivoire.” available here. See also “Child Labor in the Production of Cocoa.” United States Department of Labor, available here. See also: Wernau, J. “Child Labor On The Rise in West Africa as Demand for Cocoa Grows.” Wall Street Journal. 30 July 2015. Available here.
    60. Rather than eliminate the problem, the industry has merely pledged to reduce child labor in Ivory Coast and Ghana by 70% by 2020, O’Keefe, B. “Big chocolate and child labor.” Fortune. 1 March 2016. Available here.

ANNEX: SUPPLY CHAIN REFERENCES

 

Cargill customers

  • Mondelez: For an article about Mondelez purchasing from Barry Callebaut and Cargill, see: “Mondelez International’s Cocoa Life Partners with FLOCERT to Verify Supply Chain.” Mondelez press release. 3, 2015. Available here. For instance, a quote from this article: “As a cocoa and industrial chocolate supplier to Mondelez International, we have a key role implementing Cocoa Life, alongside non-profit and other partners,” said Nicko Debenham, VP Global Cocoa Sustainability, Barry Callebaut. For an article about how Mondelez purchases from Cargill, see: “Mondelez launches new cocoa supply chain sustainability initiative.” Edie Newsroom. 4 February 2015. Available here. A quote from this article: “Major cocoa processor Cargill, which is a cocoa and industrial chocolate supplier to Mondelez International.”
  • Hershey: For an article on how Hershey is buying cocoa from Cargill, see “Cargill/Hershey Collaboration to Benefit Côte d’Ivoire Cocoa Farmers,” By Chuck Benda, Cargill, September 09, 2014, available here. See also “News & Analysis” by Crystal Lindell for BNP media, available here.
  • Mars: For an article from Cargill about visiting a Mars chocolate factory and referring to Mars as a “customer,” see “Young ‘Cargillians’ land among ‘Marsians’… and go home with new connections, great learnings and happy taste buds,” By Sacha Bongard, Government Relations Advisor, Cargill, October 06, 2016, available here.
  • Nestle: Nestle sold it’s chocolate manufacturing plant to Cargill so in turn Nestle vowed to buy cocoa from Cargill. “As a result of this transaction Nestlé will enter into a long-term agreement with Cargill for the supply of cocoa products to certain of its European confectionery businesses. Cargill is a major cocoa supplier in Europe from its facilities in the Netherlands, France and the Ivory Coast. Nestlé and Cargill have a long-lasting relationship and Cargill supplies Nestlé globally with a range of ingredients such as vegetable oils and speciality starches. The transaction is subject to regulatory approval.” See “Nestlé to Sell Cocoa Processing Activities in York and Hamburg to Cargill Inc.,” Nestle press release. Jun 30, 2004. Available here.
  • Unilever: “Sustainable cocoa & sugar,” Unilever, available here.
  • United Biscuits: “World’s best loved biscuit and confectionery brands unite to form new global business,” United Biscuits/Pladis announcement, available here.
  • Yildiz Holding, CEEMEA’s largest food company, has brought together its core biscuit, chocolate, and confectionery businesses Godiva Chocolatier, United Biscuits, Ulker and DeMet’s Candy Company, to form a new global company, “pladis”, available here.
  • Thronton’s Corporate Social Responsibility website, available here.

 

Olam Customers:

  • Blommer: See “Olam Livelihood Charter 2016: Equipping smallholders to secure their future,” Olam, 2016, available here.
  • Costco: ibid
  • Ferrero: ibid
  • General Mills: ibid
  • Lindt & Sprüngli: ibid
  • Mars Inc: ibid
  • Mondelēz: ibid
  • Nestlé: ibid
  • Hershey: ibid
  • Godiva: Olam acquired the global cocoa business of US-based Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) for US$1.3 billion (S$1.71 billion). ADM was one of the world’s largest processors and suppliers of cocoa liquor, powder and butter with over 2,150 customers in more than 90 countries, including Nestle, Mars, Hersheys, Godiva, Lindt, Ferrero Rocher and Starbucks. See: “Olam to acquire global cocoa business of Archer Daniels Midland for $1.7 billion.” Straits Times. 16 December 2014. Available here.
  • Lindt: ibid
  • Ferrero Rocher: ibid
  • Starbucks: ibid

 

Barry Callebaut Customers:

  • Nestle: Switzerland-based Barry Callebaut, the world’s largest chocolate maker, produces chocolate for groups including Nestle NESN.VX and Hershey (HSY.N). See: “FACTBOX-Who’s who in the cocoa market.” Reuters. July 7, 2010. Available here.
  • Hershey: Ibid
  • Cadbury: Barry Callebaut won three large supply contracts with Nestlé, Hershey and Cadbury. See: “Barry Callebaut expands its operations in Ivory Coast: Significant increase of cocoa processing capacities in Ivory Coast.” Barry Callebaut press release. July 24, 2007. Available here.
  • Guylian: See Depypere, Elisa. “10 Facts about Barry Callebaut: World’s Largest Chocolate Factory.” Belgian Smaak. 27 April 2015. Available here: Thirty to forty trucks come and go from the factory every day, each one of them containing liquid chocolate for a range of clients, including the large multinational brands such as Guylian, Leonidas and Neuhaus.
  • Leonidas: Ibid
  • Neuhaus: Ibid

 

News

View All News
14/Nov/2024
Palm Oil Report 46: Deforestation by Rimbunan Hijau Group and Pure Green Development Sdn Bhd
14/Nov/2024
European Parliament guts and delays EUDR
11/Nov/2024
It’s make or break for European zero deforestation law