Cocoa Industry Announces Cooperative Initiative to End Deforestation - Seite 3

The 12 companies will now engage in a planning and consultation process with governments, farmer organizations NGOs and other relevant stakeholders to build the joint framework to be unveiled at COP 23.

As farmers in Africa, Southeast Asia and Latin America seek new areas of land to grow crops including cocoa amid increasing global demand, WCF, IDH and ISU organized an industry commitment to end deforestation and forest degradation recognizing that deforestation is likely to increase in the future unless concerted action is taken. This commitment builds on the cocoa industry's existing initiatives in partnership with producer country governments and other stakeholders to design sustainable cocoa development programs aimed at improving the livelihoods of the millions of smallholder farmers who grow cocoa.

Senior representatives of the Agence Française de Développement, Greenpeace, International Finance Corporation, Oxfam, Tropical Forests Alliance 2020, World Bank, World Resources Institute, and UN Environment, as well as other organizations, were also present at the event.

Joost Oorthuizen, Executive Director of IDH, said, "We feel very privileged and honored to be leading the process in Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana that will develop detailed Frameworks of Action as we look toward Bonn. In recent history, the cocoa sector has proven to not be afraid to address difficult issues like child labor, malnutrition, and poverty reduction, all in a non-competitive manner. This meeting provides a great starting point to expedite action on the deforestation issue in concert with other relevant stakeholders."

For more information on the commitment, visit: www.worldcocoa.org/cocoa-forests-initiative/

For more information about The Prince of Wales and to read his full speech, visit www.princeofwales.gov.uk

Supplementary Quotes (Annex to Press Release)

Chocolate and Cocoa Companies
"Climate change is impacting cocoa farming as we speak. As the cocoa industry, we have a key role to play to curb one of the largest sources of carbon emissions: deforestation." -- Antoine de Saint-Affrique, Chief Executive Officer, Barry Callebaut 

"As a leader in cocoa sustainability, Blommer fully understands the strength in a collaborative, multi-stakeholder approach and we look forward to working together with industry, governments and NGOs in addressing the critical issue of deforestation in the cocoa sector. We applaud WCF for its leadership in this effort and are honored to have this initiative recognized and supported by HRH The Prince of Wales." -- Peter Blommer, President and Chief Executive Officer and Owner, Blommer Chocolate Company