and sustainable cocoa ecosystem,” says Harper McConnell, Chief Growth and Impact Officer for the Rainforest Alliance and former Global Vice President, Cocoa Sustainability at Mars. Under these specifications, Mars’ suppliers must not only understand the risks within their supply chains but also actively mitigate these risks. Through programmes like the Women for Change Village Savings and Loans Associations( VSLAs), more than 100,000 women have been supported to overcome financial barriers, fostering economic independence and resilience within cocoa-growing communities.
Income-boosting initiatives target farmers directly, with 15,000 cocoa farmers benefiting from test-and-learn approaches designed to improve yields and livelihoods. According to the Rainforest Alliance:“ Côte d’ Ivoire and Ghana, which together produce nearly two-thirds of the world’ s cocoa, lost 25 % and 8 %( respectively) of primary forest between 2002 and 2019.”
Biodiversity is being supported through the distribution of more than 1.8 million non-cocoa trees for shade and habitat creation, while forest protection efforts have reached more than 99,000 farmers in Côte d’ Ivoire and Ghana, alongside risk assessments covering 718,000 hectares globally. sustainabilitymag. com
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