This paper used publicly-available remote-sensing and supply chain data to examine the links between cocoa production and deforestation in Côte d'Ivoire, the world's largest cocoa producer. The authors found that cocoa production has led to significant deforestation and degredation, as well as a need for greater transparency in the sector.

In this podcast from the Innovation Forum, representatives from the Rainforest Alliance, agriculture commodities trader Ecom and finance provider Norandino discuss a LandScale pilot project that is working on deforestation, resilient ecosystems and farm incomes in a coffee and cocoa growing region in Lamas Province, northern Peru. 

US environmental campaign group Mighty Earth and the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Centre have jointly released the Cocoa Agroforestry Library. This is a searchable database of scientific literature on cocoa agroforestry aimed at industry, policymakers, researchers, activists, farmer groups and more.

This report by a partnership comprising the International Trade Centre, the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture and the International Institute for Sustainable Development summarises the recent market trends and growth in voluntary sustainability standards (VSS), for nine commodities.

The certification organisation Rainforest Alliance states that scaled-up efforts to support climate-smart agriculture practices are desperately needed to support the millions of cocoa farmers that are suffering from the negative impacts of climate change.

This new report from the Cocoa Barometer argues that a fundamental reform of the cacao sector is needed in order to tackle the challenges that cocoa farming is facing. The report states that current initiatives and programmes are not sufficient and that:

This commentary from Confectionary news argues that suppliers of ingredients should set targets to achieve fully sustainable cocoa and it states that standardisation is crucial since more than 80% of the produced cocoa in the world is now unaccounted for. The article states that the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) will be introducing a voluntary joint standard for traceable and sustainable cocoa in 2016.

This paper, recently published in Global Environmental Change, addresses the issue of ‘Enhancing the sustainability of commodity supply chains in tropical forest and agricultural landscapes’. It portrays some of the many interventions through which state, civil society and market actors can influence commodity supply chains, and provides a framework for comparing, planning and evaluating different interventions.

The Cocoa Barometer 2012, a joint initiative of the VOICE Network (a coalition of NGOs), has produced a report that aims to provide an overview of current sustainability developments in the cocoa sector.