Ngo Links Chocolate Giants To Deforestation In Liberia

Credit: Global Witness.

A clutch of nan world’s largest cocoa makers person been linked successful an NGO study to deforestation successful Liberia.

Global Witness has mapped proviso chains it claims has near Mars, Nestlé, Mondelez International, Hershey and Unilever “exposed” to deforestation successful nan westbound African state done nan mass-balance purchasing of cocoa.

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According to nan NGO’s research, awesome commodity firms including Olam and Cargill “have played a important domiciled successful connecting Liberian beans to these chocolatiers”.

Global Witness said it utilized outer imagery, waste and acquisition information and on-the-ground interviews to trace beans from deforested areas successful Liberia to nan cocoa manufacturers done an “opaque, untraceable” proviso chain. 

The study said cocoa linked to wood demolition is being mixed pinch certified beans done nan Rainforest Alliance’s wide equilibrium system, allowing products to transportation a “sustainable” explanation contempt containing deforestation-linked cocoa.

In a connection to Just Food, nan Rainforest Alliance said: “We promote cocoa companies to usage a segregated sourcing exemplary because nan certified ingredients are kept abstracted from non-certified ingredients. At nan aforesaid time, without wide balance, galore smallholder farmers producing certified cocoa would suffer entree to world markets and finance successful sustainable farming and wood protection.”

Liberia hosts nan largest remaining artifact of nan Upper Guinean rainforest and endangered type including chimpanzees and wood elephants.

Between 2021 and 2024, nan country’s main cocoa-producing “cocoa belt” counties – Bong, Nimba and Lofa – mislaid astir 250,000 hectares of forest, according to Global Witness.

Rising world cocoa prices person driven accelerated description of caller farms, nan NGO said.

Global Witness said nan 5 manufacturers do not bargain straight from Liberia but based on informal buying networks routinely operation beans from aggregate sources.

The upcoming EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) bans wide equilibrium and requires afloat traceability for commodities sold successful nan EU.

Yesterday, The European Parliament joined nan EU’s Council successful backing a further hold to nan preamble of EUDR.

Responding to nan Global Witness report, a Nestlé spokesperson told Just Food: “We do not run in, nor root cocoa straight from, Liberia. Traceability is simply a privilege for us, and we are continuously strengthening it. All cocoa beans we root straight travel done nan Nestlé Cocoa Plan aliases our Income Accelerator Program.”

A spokesperson from Mars said: “We understand that forests and different earthy ecosystems are basal for a patient situation and productive proviso chains. 

“Mars does not root cocoa from Liberia and our suppliers are not sourcing cocoa from Liberia for cocoa originated nether nan Mars Responsibly Sourced Cocoa Program.”

Meanwhile, Cargill said it “does not straight root (or different purchase) cocoa of Liberian root from Aya Group, ECOM, aliases Touton.”

“We tin further explain that based connected our information, we person nary knowledge of anterior purchases from these entities.”

Olam pointed Just Food to a connection it provided to Global Witness, which read: “[W]e will measure this cautiously and arsenic required, prosecute pinch our suppliers and analyse suitable mitigation actions.”