Something to think about if you're chocing up this weekend: Your Cocoa, Kissed By DeforestationThe destruction of forests for cocoa...

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A few months old, but just as relevant:

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Your Cocoa, Kissed By Deforestation

The destruction of forests for cocoa in Ivory Coast and Ghana has been well-documented, including in Mighty Earth’s recent report, “Chocolate’s Dark Secret.” Now, new research shows that cocoa is driving ongoing deforestation in other regions of the world, from Asia to the Amazon. Mighty Earth undertook mapping of cocoa-producing regions in four countries outside of West Africa and found a high risk of deforestation in various cocoa-producing areas.

Through detailed satellite mapping and overlaying maps of deforestation and cocoa-producing regions, we found large-scale deforestation within cocoa-producing regions of Indonesia, Cameroon, Peru, and Ecuador.

This Valentine’s Day mapping warrants more detailed investigations into the companies driving cocoa-deforestation worldwide, and research into how much of the deforestation in the cocoa-producing regions can be attributed to cocoa as opposed to other commodities. What is crystal clear however, is that the chocolate industry is expanding right now in countries like Indonesia, Peru, Ecuador, and Cameroon that still boast extensive rainforests. With demand for chocolate increasing, the chocolate industry risks aggressively expanding to rainforest nations around the world; in many places, exporting the same bad practices that contributed to the near-total destruction of West Africa’s forests. Ivory Coast and Ghana stand as a cautionary tale of what could happen in other countries where cocoa is spreading, if the industry does not reform its practices.

After our report in the fall of 2017, 24 leading chocolate companies joined the governments of Ghana and Ivory Coast to commit to No New Deforestation, reforestation, and traceability in West Africa. These companies and the governments have much to do to fulfill these promises. But only a handful of companies have made a global commitment to deforestation-free cocoa. It’s time for the rest of the chocolate industry to do the same.

Olam International and Hershey’s have pledged to zero deforestation for cocoa worldwide effective immediately, and also to agroforestry, and a few more have committed to change soon: Barry Callebaut aims to be deforestation-free for cocoa by 2025 whilst Godiva promised to roll out a cross-commodity No Deforestation policy – that includes cocoa – soon. Still others like Mondelez have committed to No Deforestation Cocoa for several origins beyond West Africa though not worldwide yet. Companies that fight to end deforestation for cocoa and re-green cocoa worldwide are setting a precedent for the industry, going above and beyond the Cocoa & Forests Initiative, and sending a Valentine to endangered animals from Asia to the Amazon.

Hershey’s: “We are proud to commit to ‘no new deforestation’ in our cocoa supply chain by not sourcing cocoa from anywhere in the world where new deforestation has occurred, effective immediately, as well as creating an agroforestry program to support shade-grown cocoa through tree planting programs.”

Barry Callebaut: “Under our Forever Chocolate sustainability vision Barry Callebaut has committed to become Forest positive and Carbon Positive, and to source all our ingredients sustainably, deforestation free, by 2025.”

Godiva: “As part of our overarching commitment to enriching our communities and the planet Godiva is updating our Global Supplier Code of Conduct to ensure that our ingredient suppliers across all of our commodities – including cocoa – continue to establish sourcing programs that combat deforestation and forest degradation.”

Olam International: Olam Cocoa is committed to halting deforestation in its supply chains globally, which includes training farmers on Climate Smart practices and rolling out programs for planting shade trees. In Côte d’Ivoire, Olam scaled up recommendations to farmers on the planting of trees – recommending 100 forestry and 50 shade trees per hectare. In its direct sourcing, Olam Cocoa’s goal is for 100% of volumes to be traceable and sustainable by 2020.

Mondelēz: “Since 2012 our ambition is to source all our cocoa sustainably, mainly from Cocoa Life which operates in six countries including Indonesia with an environmental focus that includes No Deforestation for cocoa; we conduct environmental and forest conservation training in all origins where we source cocoa and support shade-grown cocoa, intercropping and agro-forestry and we already conducted a deforestation baseline in Indonesia to monitor deforestation.”

Halba: Halba doesn’t have a No Deforestation policy for cocoa yet but is working on it; and the company is already committed to offsetting all CO2 emissions in its supply chain through a reforestation agroforestry project in Honduras; so far Halba planted over 350’000 timber trees in Honduras, Peru and Ghana and committed to agroforestry in all countries where it purchases cocoa, aiming for 70 shade trees per ha.

Nestle: “Nestlé is a signatory to the Cocoa & Forests Initiative and we also have a long standing overall no deforestation policy for our key commodities, including cocoa.”

Unilever: “In terms of global commitments to end deforestation for cocoa, commitment to sourcing 100% of our cocoa sustainably is a global commitment and not geography-specific. Similarly, our global position on eliminating deforestation from our supply chains is not commodity-specific.”

It is high time for the whole industry to clean up its act and move fast to implement robust zero deforestation policies worldwide for cocoa – especially those companies that Mighty Earth had already named in our last report as being connected to illegal deforestation cocoa supply chains, with cocoa coming even from inside national parks.

We’re asking the chocolate industry to do the right thing and send a Valentine to sloths in Peru, jaguars in Ecuador, and dwarf buffalos in Indonesia, by saving their forest homes.