Cocoa from illegal cultivation in Swiss chocolate?
With the founding of the Swiss Platform for Sustainable Cocoa and the launch of the "Esprit Chocolat" image campaign, the Swiss chocolate industry wants to show that it is actively committed to greater sustainability in the cocoa sector. However, Mighty Earth's report Chocolate's Dark Secret shows how substantial amounts of cocoa illegally grown in West African national parks are entering the Swiss chocolate industry. Child labor must be stopped immediately.
Mighty Earth's report reveals that in several protected areas of Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire, over 90 percent of the land has now been illegally cleared and cocoa grown. In the state of Côte d'Ivoire, which was originally covered by a majority of rainforest, just under four percent of the land is still densely forested today. Of several hundred thousand elephants, between 200 and 400 remain. Many other species are threatened with extinction as their habitats continue to shrink. The irresponsible procurement practices of the cocoa industry have also led to extensive deforestation in Ghana.
Mighty Earth has been able to prove through on-the-ground research that Swiss companies are also buying illegally grown cocoa. "We found that the chocolate industry's long tradition of highlighting its own commitment to sustainability has not stopped them from trampling on sustainability in their cocoa sourcing," said Etelle Higonnet, Mighty Earth's Campaign and Legal Director. Kissed by DeforestationA follow-up report by the organization also shows a high risk of large-scale deforestation for cocoa in other countries such as Cameroon, Indonesia, Ecuador and Peru. Barry Callebaut and Nestlé have now made a public commitment to end deforestation for cocoa worldwide, and Chocolats Halba (Coop) intends in future to buy only cocoa that has been grown in the shade. Lindt, Interfood, Chocolat Frey (Migros) and other Swiss manufacturers have not yet made such promises.
Cocoa and the people of West Africa
Most of the cocoa grown worldwide comes from Africa, 40 percent from Côte d'Ivoire alone. For millions of smallholder families, cocoa farming is often the only source of income - the majority of them live below the poverty line and earn significantly less than one franc per day. Deplorable working conditions and child labor are widespread. "The cocoa industry continues to exploit both forests and communities of West Africa for cocoa that is sold for large quantities of cheap, environmentally unsustainable cocoa beans. The low price of cocoa is costing us dearly here in Côte d'Ivoire in terms of deforestation and abuses of human rights. It is high time for the industry to start paying growers a living wage and to implement sustainable production practices to ensure the resilience of local ecosystems, because without forests we will all suffer and pay sooner or later," says Sindou Bamba, General Coordinator of the Coalition of Ivorian Human Rights Actors (RAIDH).
Cocoa and Switzerland
Cocoa is a booming sector of the Swiss economy, and Switzerland is a leader in various parts of the value chain: according to the balance sheet, more than 50 percent of the global raw cocoa trade is handled by Swiss companies. Swiss companies crush, roast and grind the brown beans and export the processed cocoa worldwide. But Switzerland also successfully produces chocolate: together with Holland, Germany and Belgium, it is one of the world's four largest producers and supplies around 150 countries. Last year, the members of the industry association Chocosuisse sold 190,731 tons of Swiss chocolate at home and abroad. They employed around 4,600 people and generated combined sales of CHF 1,857 million. In 2017, Mr. and Mrs. Swiss ate around 10.5 kg. chocolate.
In addition to the import/export and processing of cocoa, as well as the production and consumption of chocolate, there is also the issue of investment in the cocoa and chocolate industry: the federal government, cantons and municipalities have invested, in some cases substantially, in the cocoa and chocolate industry via their pension funds - even before the hesitant reforms in the industry - thus appearing to at least tolerate the illegal deforestation of national parks in Ghana and the Ivory Coast. Private Swiss investors such as UBS, Credit Suisse, Zürcher Kantonalbank, Le Groupe Pictet and Flossbach von Storch also invest heavily in chocolate and also in companies that have cocoa from illegal farming or deforested areas in their supply chains.
Sources
Text: Mighty Earth
The dirty business of Nestle (ARD documentary 2017)
Eliminating Deforestation from the Cocoa Supply Chain
Swiss platform for sustainable cocoa
Key data for the Swiss chocolate industry 2016
