Hello and welcome to the details of Mars, KitKat and Cadbury named in probe into Liberia’s cocoa-driven deforestation and now with the details
Nevin Al Sukari - Sana'a - Global Witness said cocoa exports from Liberia’s ‘cocoa belt’ are driving large-scale rainforest loss, implicating major global chocolate brands that mix untraceable beans into their supply chains. — AFP file pic
MONROVIA, Nov 25 — Some of the world’s best-known chocolate, from Mars to KitKat, is likely linked to deforestation in Liberia’s rainforest despite many brands’ claims of sustainability, according to research published by NGO Global Witness today.
Liberia is home to the largest remaining stretch of the Upper Guinean rainforest and multiple endangered species such as chimpanzees and forest elephants, according to the group.
Between 2021 and 2024 Liberia lost some 250,000 hectares (618,000 acres) of forest in the country’s largest cocoa producing counties, known as the “cocoa belt”, it said.
High prices of cocoa combined with crop failure in neighbouring cocoa-producing nations have spurred a surge in Liberia’s cocoa exportation and an expansion of farms.
Cocoa exporters rely heavily on rural traders in the region who buy indiscriminately, including deforestation-linked beans, the report said.
Companies then mix “traceable, certified cocoa with untraceable beans” under a certification program that allows them to call such chocolate sustainable, according to Global Witness.
The study said its research “implicates corporate giants including Hershey, Mondelez (Cadbury), Nestle, Unilever and Mars”.
“Big brands are buying untraceable bulk cocoa that hides a massive deforestation footprint”, Global Witness investigator Charlie Hammans said.
The report comes with the EU parliament posed to vote on pushing back the rollout of a law banning imports of products driving deforestation, to the end of 2026.
The law would “require companies selling in Europe to prove that products like chocolate are fully traceable and therefore free from deforestation”, Global Witness said.
Global Witness said it analysed customs data showing all cocoa exports from Liberia by cargo ship in the last three years.
It additionally used tree cover loss data for Bong, Nimba and Lofa Counties to arrive at the amount of forest land lost in the cocoa belt.
In addition to cocoa, Global Witness said small-scale agriculture, mining, palm oil and rubber production are “also likely to be significant contributors to forest loss”. — AFP
These were the details of the news Mars, KitKat and Cadbury named in probe into Liberia’s cocoa-driven deforestation for this day. We hope that we have succeeded by giving you the full details and information. To follow all our news, you can subscribe to the alerts system or to one of our different systems to provide you with all that is new.
It is also worth noting that the original news has been published and is available at Malay Mail and the editorial team at AlKhaleej Today has confirmed it and it has been modified, and it may have been completely transferred or quoted from it and you can read and follow this news from its main source.
