Sealing a public-private partnership for sustainable excellent cocoa and zero deforestation
published on 12 October 2021
On 12 October 2021, the FFEM appeared alongside the French Secretary of State for the Ecological Transition, the company Kaoka and its partners at a press conference to formalise their partnership aimed at improving the excellent cocoa value chain in the Amazon region.
Since the 1990s, destruction of the Amazon rainforest in Latin America has been driven by the pursuit to increase usable land area. This deforestation is a crucial and complex issue in terms of both global warming and biodiversity, having impoverished soil, destroyed biodiversity and caused an unprecedented decrease in producers’ income. Kaoka’s project to regenerate cocoa farms through agroecology revitalises sustainable and economically viable excellent cocoa cultivation, without deforestation. The FFEM supports the collaborative approach in this unique partnership between Kaoka, the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT (International Centre for Tropical Agriculture), World Agroforestry (ICRAF) and the NGO Conservation International to conserve and regenerate ecosystems and promote agroecology within the cocoa industries in Peru, Colombia and Ecuador. Each partner is a recognised specialist in their field, bringing a specific skill set and expertise.
Establishing sustainable farming areas for the cocoa industries in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru is a perfect example of what can be achieved at provincial, regional, national and international levels, particularly as it can be reproduced. Another important element is that the communities are stakeholders in this project, which correlates directly with the socio-economic dynamics in the region and ensures it will be socially and culturally accepted.
Anaëlle Cado, Head of forestry and sustainable agriculture projects at FFEM.
This project is a true example of public-private collaboration and offers a test-bed that can be replicated to help protect unique forest ecosystems and carbon reservoirs, which are key to slowing climate disruption. This project is also fully aligned with the French National Strategy for Combating Imported Deforestation (SDNI), working to stop the import of forestry or agricultural products, including cocoa, that contribute to deforestation.
