The World Cocoa Foundation, an international organization with more than 100 cocoa industry members representing more than 85% of the cocoa value chain, is working with its members and stakeholders to define biodiversity concepts within its Cocoa Measurement and Progress (CocoaMAP) initiative.

Cocoa Farmer Applying GAP
Cocoa farmer applying good agricultural practices. Photo by World Cocoa Foundation.

 

Biodiversity and Sustainability

 

The World Cocoa Foundation (WCF) and the International Finance Corporation’s Biodiversity and Agricultural Commodities Program (IFC-BACP) have teamed up to focus on measuring biodiversity as part of WCF’s Cocoa Measurement and Progress (CocoaMAP) initiative. The partnership represents the first sector-wide effort to monitor, measure, and share information about cocoa sustainability and biodiversity.

 

CocoaMAP is a web-based information-hub for tracking global efforts to achieve sustainability in cocoa production. It is a collaborative initiative, including chocolate industry partners, cocoa producing country governments, and civil society partners. CocoaMAP draws on existing and newly collected information to look at trends and progress towards sustainability in three core areas:  People (socio-economic); Planet (environment, including biodiversity); and Profit (economic). It provides strategic, evidence-based guidance for improving farm level efforts to achieve sustainable cocoa production.

 

Measuring Biodiversity

Four inter-related biodiversity indicators have been defined for CocoaMAP. They are:

  • Shade Trees: Number of Shade Trees Per Hectare of Cocoa Land (# of trees >12 meters in height per hectare of cocoa land)
  • Shade Cover: Percentage Shade Cover in Cocoa Fields (% of area in cocoa covered by foliage during the dry season)
  • Species Diversity: Average Number of Tree Species Per Hectare of Cocoa Land (# of tree and shrub species per hectare of cocoa land)
  • On-Farm Forest: Average Area of Cocoa Farms in Forest or Native Vegetation (Hectares of land on cocoa farms still covered in forest, native vegetation or late secondary regeneration)

The four biodiversity measures within the Planet component of CocoaMAP represent a significant achievement for sector-wide awareness and progress towards evidence based platforms that help steer the cocoa sector towards sustainability.  The associated farm level methods for collecting information about biodiversity for CocoaMAP are being tested in cocoa growing regions of Ghana for eventual wider use. This will enable WCF and its private, public, and civil society partners to promote IFC-BACP's efforts and the larger goal of cocoa sustainability.