UPDATE January 2018:
Great news: 22 major chocolate companies just made a promise to end forest destruction in West Africa. This is a huge step to save the rainforest. But this is only the start: We need to use the momentum and get the chocolate industry to stop deforestation globally. Please sign the petition to ask Cadbury and Ferrero to stop deforestation worldwide.
Chocolate companies are funding an environmental crisis in West Africa by buying illegally-grown cocoa beans from the area, a new investigation has revealed.
Mondelez, which owns Cadbury, and Ferrero -- makers of Kinder Surprise -- have been sourcing beans that come from protected areas and national parks in Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana, driving rainforest destruction for cocoa production.
If this goes on, in just 13 years there will be almost no rainforest left at all.
And the crisis is having a huge impact on local wildlife too -- chimpanzees are being from their habitats, and while the country was once home to tens of thousands of elephants, there are now just a few hundred left.
Tell Cadbury and Ferrero to commit to no new deforestation for cocoa worldwide.
Cocoa illegally grown in protected areas and national parks makes its way to these traders through middlemen, who then pass it on to companies like Cadbury and Ferrero to make it into our favourite treats.
Every company in the supply chain is aware of this. They simply care more about their profits than the exploitation on the ground -- and the only way we can stop the cycle is to stop demand from chocolate manufacturers.
There’s no doubt as to the responsibility of cocoa for the colossal environmental damage. “The ancient forests of our nation, once a paradise for wildlife like chimpanzees, leopards, hippopotamus, and elephants, have been degraded and deforested to the point that they’re almost entirely gone”, says Kouamé Soulago Fernand, General Secretary of ROSCIDET, a network of Ivorian NGOs.
“This deforestation is due principally to the cultivation of cocoa.”
The figures couldn’t be more worrying -- Cote d’Ivoire has seen its rainforest cover reduced by more than 85% since 1990, while some protected areas have seen as much as 90% of land turned over to cocoa production. The slash-and-burn deforestation will have devastating effects for the future of the region, with the loss of trees contributing to more hot, parched seasons.
That’s why we need to act fast -- and stop the demand for illegal cocoa.
If we all come together now, we can do the same for cocoa too.
Tell Cadbury and Ferrero -- commit to a plan of no new deforestation for cocoa worldwide.
More information
Mighty Earth. 13 September 2017.
Huffington Post . 7 September 2017.
The Guardian. 13 September 2017.
