Cocoa Resources
Resource Links
Tracking Long Term (1990-2020) Deforestation
Update on Deforestation in Southwest Cote d’Ivoire
Deforestation Throughout the Years in Côte d’Ivoire
Deforestation throughout the years in Côte d’Ivoire
Côte d’Ivoire has struggled with deforestation due to cocoa for more than a century. Following independence from France, Côte d’Ivoire lost more than 70% of its forest cover with even higher rates in protected areas.
From 2015 to 2020, the trend has fluctuated depending on the quality of monitoring and the commitment of actors in forest protection. Despite the promises made by the government and its partners within the CFI framework at the end of 2017, extensive agriculture has remained the main deforestation driver (62% with 38% due to cocoa). If firm measures are not taken, it is expected that Cote d’Ivoire will no longer be considered a forest country in less than 15 years.
However, according to some sources, over the past two years, it has experienced a fragile and relative stabilization.
Supply Chain Research
Mighty Earth and Stand.Earth partnered together to undertake preliminary cocoa supply chain research to improve our understanding of how cocoa enters the U.S.—the biggest chocolate market in the world. Though the results confirm a lot we know already, some new revelations are stunning. Our findings uncovered a damning story of the action of a few dominant traders, the secrecy in cocoa/chocolate imports, an international web of opaque cocoa-laundering, and a cover-up of corporate value captured from poor producer countries.
