The

environmental impact Environmental issues are disruptions in the usual function of ecosystems. Further, these issues can be caused by humans ( human impact on the environment) or they can be natural. These issues are considered serious when the ecosystem cannot reco ...

cocoa production Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cocoa beans that can be a liquid, solid, or paste, either by itself or to flavor other foods. Cocoa beans are the processed seeds of the cacao tree (''Theobroma cacao''); unprocessed, they ta ...

includes

deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal and destruction of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. Ab ...

soil contamination Soil contamination, soil pollution, or land pollution as a part of land degradation is caused by the presence of xenobiotic (human-made) chemicals or other alteration in the natural soil environment. It is typically caused by industrial activit ...

, and herbicide resistance. The majority of cocoa farms are now located in

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest List of ci ...

and

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

Background

Cocoa bean The cocoa bean, also known as cocoa () or cacao (), is the dried and fully fermented seed of ''Theobroma cacao'', the cacao tree, from which cocoa solids (a mixture of nonfat substances) and cocoa butter (the fat) can be extracted. Cacao tree ...

s are a high

demand In economics, demand is the quantity of a goods, good that consumers are willing and able to purchase at various prices during a given time. In economics "demand" for a commodity is not the same thing as "desire" for it. It refers to both the desi ...

consumer item all over the world. They are used in products such as

chocolate Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cocoa beans that can be a liquid, solid, or paste, either by itself or to flavoring, flavor other foods. Cocoa beans are the processed seeds of the cacao tree (''Theobroma cacao''); unprocesse ...

, candy bars, drinks and

cocoa powder Dry cocoa solids are the components of cocoa beans remaining after cocoa butter, the fatty component of the bean, is extracted from chocolate liquor, roasted cocoa beans that have been ground into a liquid state. Cocoa butter is 46% to 57% of the ...

. However, cocoa farming and the production of cocoa beans are extremely fragile and labour-intensive processes. The cocoa trees are also called Cacao trees. The process begins with a Cacao plant, or ''

Theobroma cacao ''Theobroma cacao'' (cacao tree or cocoa tree) is a small ( tall) evergreen tree in the Malvaceae family. Its seedscocoa beansare used to make chocolate liquor, cocoa solids, cocoa butter and chocolate. Although the tree is native to the tropi ...

'', in which the beans are

extract An extract (essence) is a substance made by extracting a part of a raw material, often by using a solvent such as ethanol, oil or water. Extracts may be sold as tinctures or absolutes or dried and powdered. The aromatic principles of ma ...

ed from pods that grow directly on the cocoa trees branches. Each pod contains roughly 30 to 50 beans.The European Chocolate and Cocoa Industry. (n.d.). Cocoa Farming: an Overview. http://www.cocoafarming.org.uk/Cocoa_farming_bw_v8_uk.pdf After the beans are extracted they must go through a time-consuming process of natural

fermenting Fermentation is a type of anaerobic metabolism which harnesses the redox potential of the reactants to make adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and organic end products. Organic molecules, such as glucose or other sugars, are catabolized and reduced ...

and drying. The

farming Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

process of cocoa can damage the environment depending on the practices of the farmer, as well as be limited by the environment itself. Global

Climate Change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

, for example, causes longer

drought A drought is a period of drier-than-normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, ...

seasons making it more difficult for farmers to plant and sustain new Cacao trees. Most of the environmental impact comes from carbon dioxide emissions.

Process of farming

Cocoa farming can only occur 15 degrees

north North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...

south South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...

of the

Equator The equator is the circle of latitude that divides Earth into the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Southern Hemisphere, Southern Hemispheres of Earth, hemispheres. It is an imaginary line located at 0 degrees latitude, about in circumferen ...

. It can take approximately three years after planting for the trees to be fruitful enough to

harvest Harvesting is the process of collecting plants, animals, or fish (as well as fungi) as food, especially the process of gathering mature crops, and "the harvest" also refers to the collected crops. Reaping is the cutting of grain or pulses fo ...

the pods. Cocoa pods are pollinated by tiny flies called midges. Ripe cocoa pods, which are

yellow Yellow is the color between green and orange on the spectrum of light. It is evoked by light with a dominant wavelength of roughly 575585 nm. It is a primary color in subtractive color systems, used in painting or color printing. In t ...

in colour, are then cut down from the trees using a

machete A machete (; ) is a broad blade used either as an agricultural implement similar to an axe, or in combat like a long-bladed knife. The blade is typically long and usually under thick. In the Spanish language, the word is possibly a dimin ...

. Use of a machete in this fashion, termed machete technology, prevents disease from spreading among cocoa pods, and thereby decreases the need for pesticides. The pods can be very low on branches and easily accessible or higher up on thick branches. Once they are gathered, they are sliced open and the cocoa beans are extracted from the pods. The beans are then spread out, usually between

banana leaves The banana leaf is the leaf of the banana plant, which may produce up to 40 leaves in a growing cycle. The leaves have a wide range of applications because they are large, flexible, waterproof and decorative. They are used for cooking, wrappin ...

, for a number of days to ferment. Next, the

seed In botany, a seed is a plant structure containing an embryo and stored nutrients in a protective coat called a ''testa''. More generally, the term "seed" means anything that can be Sowing, sown, which may include seed and husk or tuber. Seeds ...

s are placed in the sun to dry for several more days. After drying, they are gathered, placed into bags and taken to collection offices. From there, they are shipped around the world to be processed into end products.

Environmental impacts

Full sun cocoa

Cocoa farms are generally very small, family owned and operated businesses. There are approximately 4.5 million cocoa farms around the world. The majority of cocoa farms are located in

and

. In Ghana, Cocoa contributes 64% of all exports. Traditional cocoa farms are planted in the shade among other crops and trees. They are especially found in the

tropical rainforest Tropical rainforests are dense and warm rainforests with high rainfall typically found between 10° north and south of the Equator. They are a subset of the tropical forest biome that occurs roughly within the 28° latitudes (in the torrid zo ...

areas.Bisseleua, D.H.B., Missoup, A.D., Vidal, S. (2009)
Biodiversity Conservation, Ecosystem Functioning, and Economic Incentives under Cocoa Agroforestry Intensification
Conservation Biology, 23(5), 1176–1184. Farming cocoa beans is a long process and many factors can affect the farm's yield. Farms' cocoa crop outputs struggle to match the increasing demand for chocolate. It is estimated that the demand for chocolate will increase twofold by the year 2050. Farmers have shifted towards unsustainable, less environmentally conscious practices to meet these demands.Slomkowski, K. (2005). Chocolate’s Dark Side. E: The Environmental Magazine, 16(6), 33–342. About 90% of cacao grown worldwide is on small family farms. Cocoa bean prices are so low that farmers have to focus on increasing their yields and making more money from their relatively small plots of land. This leads to intensification of land use, sun growth, and use of

child labor Child labour is the exploitation of children through any form of work that interferes with their ability to attend regular school, or is mentally, physically, socially and morally harmful. Such exploitation is prohibited by legislation w ...

. Some farmers have shifted their

crop A crop is a plant that can be grown and harvested extensively for profit or subsistence. In other words, a crop is a plant or plant product that is grown for a specific purpose such as food, Fiber, fibre, or fuel. When plants of the same spe ...

s out of the shade and into direct

sunlight Sunlight is the portion of the electromagnetic radiation which is emitted by the Sun (i.e. solar radiation) and received by the Earth, in particular the visible spectrum, visible light perceptible to the human eye as well as invisible infrare ...

.Piasentin, F., Klare-Repnik, L. (2004). Gro-Cocoa: Global Research on Cocoa. http://www.cabi.org/Uploads/File/Gro%20Cocoa%20pdfs/gro-cocoa5.pdf This practice yields a greater quantity in a short period and at lower

quality Quality may refer to: Concepts *Quality (business), the ''non-inferiority'' or ''superiority'' of something *Quality (philosophy), an attribute or a property *Quality (physics), in response theory *Energy quality, used in various science discipli ...

. Cacao trees with no shade tend to accumulate more weedsBentley, J.W., Boa, E., Stonehouse, J. (2004)
Neighbor Trees: Shade, Intercropping and Cacao in Ecuador
Human Ecology, 32(2), 241–270. as well as be more susceptible to

disease A disease is a particular abnormal condition that adversely affects the structure or function (biology), function of all or part of an organism and is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical condi ...

s such as Witches Broom and Frosty Pod Rot. If the crops begin to accumulate pests, farmers use large amounts of

herbicide Herbicides (, ), also commonly known as weed killers, are substances used to control undesired plants, also known as weeds.EPA. February 201Pesticides Industry. Sales and Usage 2006 and 2007: Market Estimates. Summary in press releasMain page f ...

s to rid the crops of these pests. The herbicides used damage the land and the health of the sprayers applying the herbicide. Excessive spraying of

pesticides Pesticides are substances that are used to pest control, control pest (organism), pests. They include herbicides, insecticides, nematicides, fungicides, and many others (see table). The most common of these are herbicides, which account for a ...

can also cause the weeds and insects to build up a resistance which will eventually create more harm to the crops.Rice, R.A., Greenburg, R. (2000)
Cacao Cultivation and the Conservation of Biological Diversity
Ambio, 29(3), 167–173. Sun cultivation of cocoa may require clearing overstory as well as understory, which contributes to deforestation and habitat loss.

Deforestation

Cocoa farming also contributes to

rainforest Rainforests are forests characterized by a closed and continuous tree Canopy (biology), canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforests can be generally classified as tropi ...

and

old-growth forest An old-growth forest or primary forest is a forest that has developed over a long period of time without disturbance. Due to this, old-growth forests exhibit unique ecological features. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Natio ...

.England, P. (1993). Forest Protection and the Rights of Cocoa Farmers in Western Ghana. Journal of African Law, 37(2), 164–176. By clearing land in these forests, farmers decrease the

biodiversity Biodiversity is the variability of life, life on Earth. It can be measured on various levels. There is for example genetic variability, species diversity, ecosystem diversity and Phylogenetics, phylogenetic diversity. Diversity is not distribut ...

and interactions between the many different

organism An organism is any life, living thing that functions as an individual. Such a definition raises more problems than it solves, not least because the concept of an individual is also difficult. Many criteria, few of them widely accepted, have be ...

s that naturally live in the area. Many

wildlife Wildlife refers to domestication, undomesticated animals and uncultivated plant species which can exist in their natural habitat, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wilderness, wild in an area without being species, introdu ...

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

s are destroyed and the plant species diversity is drastically reduced.

Nutrient A nutrient is a substance used by an organism to survive, grow and reproduce. The requirement for dietary nutrient intake applies to animals, plants, fungi and protists. Nutrients can be incorporated into cells for metabolic purposes or excret ...

s begin to leach out of the soil due to poor

irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering of plants) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has bee ...

and inadequate soil protection, which can increase the erosion of the soil. The more intense the farming practices are, the more damaging they are to the

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) is a system formed by Organism, organisms in interaction with their Biophysical environment, environment. The Biotic material, biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and en ...

.Asase, A., Ofori-Frimpong, K., Ekpe, P.K. (2009)
Impact of Cocoa Farming on Vegetation in an Agricultural Landscape in Ghana
. African Journal of Ecology, 48(2), 338–346. Cocoa farming becomes a destructive circle as farmers wear out the soils and cut further into the forest to obtain fresh land. All of these processes stress the Cacao trees and result in lower yields, giving the opposite effect to what the farmers expect from these practices. Some of the forests in Ghana and other Cocoa producing countries have been declared protected by the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

after observing the Tropical Rainforest destruction. However, with a shortage of fresh land to plant Cacao trees, some farmers are beginning to illegally cut down parts of these protected forests. It has been estimated that approximately 50% of these protected forests have been cut down. On 13 September 2017 NGO Mighty Earth released a report documenting findings that

Cargill Cargill, Incorporated is an American multinational food corporation based in Minnetonka, Minnesota, Minnetonka, Minnesota, and incorporated in Wilmington, Delaware. Founded in 1865 by William Wallace Cargill, it is the largest privately held c ...

Olam International Olam International is an agri-business company, operating in 60 countries and supplying food and industrial raw materials to over 20,900 customers worldwide, placing them among the world's largest suppliers of cocoa beans, coffee, cotton a ...

and Barry Callebaut purchase cocoa grown illegally in

national park A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...

s and other protected forests in the

to feed demand from large chocolate companies like

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...

, Hershey's,

Nestlé Nestlé S.A. ( ) is a Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland. It has been the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other metrics, since 20 ...

, Mondelez,

Lindt Chocoladefabriken Lindt & Sprüngli AG, doing business as Lindt, is a Swiss chocolatier and confectionery company founded in 1845 and known for its chocolate truffles and chocolate bars, among other sweets. It is based in Kilchberg, Zürich, K ...

and Ferrero. The report accused the companies of endangering the forest habitats of chimpanzees, elephants and the many other wildlife populations by purchasing cocoa linked to

. As a result of cocoa production, 7 of the 23 Ivorian protected areas have been almost entirely converted to cocoa. Cargill, Olam International and Barry Callebaut were notified of the findings of Mighty Earth’s investigation and did not deny that the company sourced its cocoa from protected areas in the Ivory Coast.

Proposed solutions

Through groups and programs such as the

World Cocoa Foundation The World Cocoa Foundation is a non-profit membership organization with more than 90 member companies striving to make the cocoa supply chain more sustainable. WCF and its members are criticized for doing too little to end child labor, deforest ...

Rainforest Alliance The Rainforest Alliance is an international non-governmental organization (NGO) with staff in more than 20 countries and operations in more than 70 countries. It was founded in 1987 by Daniel Katz, an American environmental activist, who serve ...

, Roundtable for a Sustainable Cocoa Economy, and activities of regional NGOs like Conservation Alliance, IITA and Solidaridad cocoa farming can return to its sustainable roots through education programs and help in finding

ecologically Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere levels. Ecology overlaps with the closely re ...

and economically sound resources to further their farming. As a last resort, some programs will help farmers to access

pest control Pest control is the regulation or management of a species defined as a pest (organism), pest; such as any animal, plant or fungus that impacts adversely on human activities or environment. The human response depends on the importance of the da ...

products such as

biocide A biocide is defined in the European legislation as a chemical substance or microorganism intended to destroy, deter, render harmless, or exert a controlling effect on any harmful organism. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) uses a sli ...

s as an alternative to the harmful

pesticide Pesticides are substances that are used to control pests. They include herbicides, insecticides, nematicides, fungicides, and many others (see table). The most common of these are herbicides, which account for approximately 50% of all p ...

s being used. Other programs promote proper irrigation,

compost Compost is a mixture of ingredients used as plant fertilizer and to improve soil's physical, chemical, and biological properties. It is commonly prepared by Decomposition, decomposing plant and food waste, recycling organic materials, and man ...

ing, suitable

soil management Soil management is the application of operations, practices, and treatments to protect soil and enhance its performance (such as soil fertility or soil mechanics). It includes soil conservation, soil amendment, and optimal soil health. In agricult ...

, and

intercropping Intercropping is a multiple cropping practice that involves the cultivation of two or more crops simultaneously on the same field, a form of polyculture. The most common goal of intercropping is to produce a greater yield on a given piece of land ...

, meaning planting other trees and fruit crops in the surrounding land of the Cacao trees. Some farmers will burn old, fermented pods and place them back on the soil as a form of composting and

fertilizer A fertilizer or fertiliser is any material of natural or synthetic origin that is applied to soil or to plant tissues to supply plant nutrients. Fertilizers may be distinct from liming materials or other non-nutrient soil amendments. Man ...

. To stop the process of deforestation, it is suggested that farmers replant on their current land while using the practices previously mentioned.

Shade-grown cocoa

Cacao pods evolved to grow in the shade of a highly biodiverse rainforest canopy. It has been suggested that Cocoa farmers go back to the original and natural ways of farming, by planting within the natural tree-cover and without cutting down existing trees. When an area has already been clearcut another possibility exists. Planting trees, especially fruit filled trees around and within the

plantation Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house, grow crops including cotton, cannabis, tob ...

, helps with growth of Cacao plants. These trees can provide shade to the Cacao plants and be a source of

oxygen Oxygen is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group (periodic table), group in the periodic table, a highly reactivity (chemistry), reactive nonmetal (chemistry), non ...

replenishment to the environment. Additionally, planting cacao under taller trees protects the more fragile cacao from direct sunlight, which greatly increases the length of its productivity and makes the cacao tree less vulnerable to disease. Another benefit of such companion planting is the increase in potential habitats for birds and insects. If the shade trees are fruit-bearing, this can also provide additional income to the farmer. However, simplifying such shade-cover may threaten biodiversity. Therefore, maintaining the complexity of shade structures is paramount in combatting losses of biodiversity. Shade trees return organic matter to the soil through falling leaf litter and decaying branches. The shade provided by these trees also helps to keep soil moist in dry seasons which results in less damaging irrigation practices. Shade trees will raise the amount of infiltration and slow erosion of the soil. Since shade inhibits the growth of weeds, farmers are able to use less or perhaps no pesticides which can decrease the occurrences of Witches Broom in these crops. Cacao plants that grow in the shade provide the environment with more biodiversity, allowing natural populations and habitats to flourish. Finally, shade can be extremely helpful in keeping and lengthening the productivity of old growth Cacao plants.

References

External links

* Anim-Kwapong, G. J., Frimpong, E. B. (2004
Vulnerability and Adaptation Assessment Under the Netherlands Climate Change Studies Assistance Programme Phase 2 (NCCSAP2)
Vulnerability of agriculture to climate change- impact of climate change on cocoa production. Ghana, Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana. * Asase, A., Ofori-Frimpong, K., Ekpe, P.K. (2009). Fa. African Journal of Ecology, 48(2), 338–346. * Bentley, J.W., Boa, E., Stonehouse, J. (2004)
Neighbor Trees: Shade, Intercropping and Cacao in Ecuador
Human Ecology, 32(2), 241–270. * *Bisseleua, D.H.B., Missoup, A.D., Vidal, S. (2009)
Biodiversity Conservation, Ecosystem Functioning, and Economic Incentives under Cocoa Agroforestry Intensification
Conservation Biology, 23(5), 1176–1184. *England, P. (1993)
Forest Protection and the Rights of Cocoa Farmers in Western Ghana
Journal of African Law, 37(2), 164–176. *The European Chocolate and Cocoa Industry. (n.d.). Cocoa Farming: an Overview. https://web.archive.org/web/20131229002738/http://www.cocoafarming.org.uk/cocoa_farming_bw_v8_uk.pdf *Gyimah-Brempong, K., Konadu Apraku, K. (1987)
Structural Change in Supply Response of Ghanaian Cocoa Production: 1933–1983
The Journal of Developing Areas, 22(1), 59–70. *Padwick, N. (2010). Fair Farming. Farmers Weekly, 152(9), 88–89. *Piasentin, F., Klare-Repnik, L. (2004). Gro-Cocoa: Global Research on Cocoa. https://web.archive.org/web/20100706222044/http://www.cabi.org/Uploads/File/Gro%20Cocoa%20pdfs/gro-cocoa5.pdf *Rice, R.A., Greenburg, R. (2000)
Cacao Cultivation and the Conservation of Biological Diversity
Ambio, 29(3), 167–173. * *Styles, R. (21 January 2011). Green Business: Divine. http://www.theecologist.org/green_green_living/green_business/736265/green_business_divine.html *World Cocoa Foundation. (n.d.) Sustainability Principles and Goals. https://web.archive.org/web/20120216033534/http://www.worldcocoafoundation.org/sustainability-principles-and-goals/ * Profile on Roundtable for a Sustainable Cocoa Economy. http://shapingsustainablemarkets.iied.org/roundtable-sustainable-cocoa-economy {{Human impact on the environment Cocoa production Chocolate industry Crops Environmental impact of agriculture