The world’s chocolate cravings speed up deforestation in the Congo Basin: Study

Across West and Central Africa’s tropical agricultural belt — and one of the world’s greatest biodiversity hotspots — cacao farming has taken off as demand for chocolate rises in the Global North. The nearly $9 billion cacao bean industry satiates sweet tooths across Europe and North America with roughly 5 million tons of cacao beans every year.

Now, research finds that higher profits from cacao farming in the Congo Basin’s TRIDOM landscape — which spans Cameroon, Gabon and the Republic of Congo — are linked to seven times more deforestation than other livelihoods. The study was published in PLOS One.

“My main aim was to understand … what is the linkage between the livelihood of the population that are living in this landscape, and then the global agenda of protecting forests and also reducing the greenhouse gas emissions related to deforestation?” said Denis Sonwa, an ecologist and co-author of the study who was at the Center for International Forestry Research before the study was published. (Sonwa is now a research director focused on Africa at the World Resources Institute.)

The study also showed that rising demand for cocoa implies the most successful farmers will clear more land — even though that land is low-yielding.

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