In recent years, chocolate sales have skyrocketed, and consumers who are affected by the cost of living crisis have turned to chocolate for an affordable pleasure. However, the increased demand for chocolate results in an enormous environmental cost due to cocoa farming’s expansion. In West Africa, which produces around 70% of the world’s cocoa, the region’s rainforests are destroyed to make room for cocoa farms.
Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) and Ghana are two of the largest cocoa-producing countries globally, and deforestation has been a primary driver in these nations due to cocoa farming, mining, and logging. The environmental cost of deforestation is high because the destroyed forests, such as the Upper Guinean forests, contains exceptional concentrations of plant and animal species that cannot be found elsewhere on Earth.
The exact contribution of cocoa plantations to deforestation has not been well understood due to the lack of an accurate, high-resolution map of cocoa-growing areas. The University of Queensland recently released research that uncovered new data on the problem by creating a new high-resolution map of cocoa-growing areas in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire using artificial intelligence.
The research team used neural networks, which allow computers to recognize and predict patterns in data to identify cocoa plantations’ locations and extents. The team trained the neural network to recognize cocoa plantations across both countries using satellite images and the known locations of over 100,000 cocoa farms. The scientists also confirmed the results at 2,000 random locations on the ground to ensure the neural network’s accuracy.
The study discovered that cocoa plantation areas are vast and that there are over seven million hectares of plantations across both countries, which is an alarming 40% higher in Ghana’s case compared to official figures. Furthermore, over 1.5 million hectares of land under cocoa production are located in protected areas. Deforestation in protected areas is a crucial issue globally, and more than 37% of deforestation in protected areas can be linked to cocoa production in Côte d’Ivoire and 13% in Ghana.
Since cocoa is generated by an estimated two million mostly small-scale farmers who earn less than $1 a day, expanding their cocoa farms into forests is one way they can maintain or improve their livelihoods. To solve this problem, governments and businesses should help farmers manage existing farms in a more sustainable and productive way. Additionally, stronger law enforcement is necessary to safeguard protected areas, and both will require action. More money from chocolate sales should also reach the farmers.
Preserving the remaining forests of West Africa will only be possible with determined changes on all these fronts.
In summary, cocoa farming presents a bittersweet truth for the environment in West Africa, and without dramatic changes, the forests that have been providing humanity with unique plant and animal species may never recover.
