Unregulated Cocoa Production Behind Côte d'Ivoire Deforestation

Researchers from the Belgian university of Louvain found that 45% of the forest destruction in Côte d'Ivoire between 2000 and 2019 was the result of unregulated cocoa production. Tropical forest covering 2.5 million hectares was destroyed for cocoa plantations, Radio France Internationale reports.

Côte d'Ivoire is the world's largest producer of cocoa. One million small farmers each year produce over 2 million tonnes of cocoa beans, 40 percent of the world's cocoa harvest, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation.

A study carried out by the local Waters and forest ministry, between 2019 and 2021, shows that Côte d'Ivoire has lost 80 percent of its forest cover over the past 60 years.

This article originally appeared on AllAfrica.

Image via NPR.