The SUSTAIN-COCOA project explores how sustainability initiatives in cocoa agroforestry—especially shade-tree cover—can reduce deforestation, support biodiversity and climate change mitigation, and improve livelihoods through research, stakeholder engagement, and scalable, collaborative solutions.
Read more about the project here
IN THE COMIC >
In Tides of Change, Mateo introduces a method from SUSTAIN-COCOA to use shade trees to improve Carmen’s farm and, in turn, create a healthier ecosystem on land so the ecosystems in the ocean — downstream from the farm — can heal.
The conversion and degradation of tropical forests have multiple negative socio-environmental impacts. But their restoration, including enhancing tree cover on cleared farmland, is a powerful nature-based solution to climate mitigation and adaptation, with potentially large biodiversity and rural livelihood co-benefits. A major driver of forest loss and degradation in the tropics is the production and trade of food commodities and associated land management practices. Cocoa is the leading forest-risk commodity in West Africa. Yet, cocoa production in agroforestry systems harbours the potential to partially restore biodiversity in key hotspots. Acknowledging these challenges and opportunities, ending deforestation, and encouraging sustainable agroforestry have become a high priority in cocoa supply chains as part of interventions such as the Cocoa and Forests Initiative.
