A closed expert workshop, only by invitation, organised by IDDRI, on the following topic: "Deforestation, degradation, conversion: understanding the impact of cocoa production on forests to better protect it".

Context

The development of cocoa production (emblematic forest culture) is closely linked to forest landscapes and their evolution. Can we continue to produce cocoa without deforestation? And under what conditions? Is agroforestry an alternative to deforestation or a form of degradation or even conversion of forest landscapes? The main producing countries, such as the major cocoa-chocolate companies, have been committed for a year to producing "zero deforestation cocoa".
In this context, many initiatives are underway, or in the process of being developed, most of which emphasise agroforestry as a horizon for sustainable cocoa production. However, the term agroforestry covers many realities on the ground, not all of which are compatible with effective biodiversity conservation.


Objective

The aim is to assess an inventory of knowledge on the impact of cocoa on the forest and to identify ways of understanding the extent to which agroforestry may or may not represent an alternative to deforestation in the cocoa sector.


Download the Issue Brief  "Producing sustainable cocoa: under what conditions?"