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Un nouveau rapport met en garde sur l’impact de la demande mondiale de noix de cajou sur la biodiversité et sur l'insécurité alimentaire en Côte d'Ivoire

Mighty Earth demande à l'industrie des noix de cajou de prendre des mesures pour mettre un terme à son expansion dans ce pays d'Afrique de l'Ouest, afin de permettre à la nature de se rétablir. 

Lien vers le rapport ici

Une seule culture domine le paysage près de Bondoukou, dans le nord-est de la Côte d'Ivoire : l'anacarde.  Source : Mighty Earth : Mighty Earth 

Un nouveau rapport de Mighty Earth, du Regroupement des Acteurs Ivoiriens des Droits Humains (RAIDH) et de Green Forest Africa révèle, pour la première fois, comment la demande mondiale croissante de noix de cajou a entraîné une expansion rapide des plantations en Côte d'Ivoire, impactant la nature et menaçant la sécurité alimentaire.    

Le pays d'Afrique de l'Ouest est aujourd'hui le premier exportateur de noix de cajou au monde, gagnant plus de 961 millions de dollars grâce aux exportations de noix de cajou en 2021, et produisant plus d'un million de tonnes de noix de cajou en 2022. L'année dernière, le marché mondial de la noix de cajou représentait 7 milliards de dollars.   

La Côte d'Ivoire a perdu jusqu'à 90 % de ses forêts au cours des 30 dernières années, l'agriculture, et principalement le cacao, en est le principal moteur. Le rapport alerte sur le fait qu’il faut éviter que l'expansion de la culture de la noix de cajou impacte à nouveau la nature.   

Principales conclusions du rapport :  

• L'analyse satellitaire réalisée par Mighty Earth révèle que certaines régions productrices de noix de cajou en Côte d'Ivoire ont connu une perte de 25 % de leur couvert de forêt primaire entre 2019 et 2023.  
• En Côte d'Ivoire, la culture des noix de cajou occupe une superficie presque équivalente à celle des îles d’Hawaï (1,6 million d'hectares).  
• Les États-Unis sont le plus grand consommateur de noix de cajou au monde. En 2021, ils ont importé près de 30 % des amandes de noix de cajou du monde, l'Allemagne (10,5 %) et les Pays-Bas (8,27 %) étant les suivants. 

Tout en permettant aux agriculteurs d'avoir un revenu vital, le cajou se cultive principalement dans des paysages de savane boisée, cruciaux pour la faune et la flore. Le parc national de la Comoé, l'une des plus importantes réserves naturelles d'Afrique de l'Ouest, est entouré à l'est, au sud et au sud-ouest par des plantations de noix de cajou. Le parc abrite le chimpanzé de l'Ouest, une espèce gravement menacée, et constitue l'un des derniers habitats intacts de l'espèce. 

Amourlaye Touré, Consultant pour Mighty Earth, a déclaré :  

“Mighty Earth travaille depuis de nombreuses années à mettre fin à la déforestation causée par le cacao en Côte d’Ivoire. Grâce à nos analyses satellitaires et à nos enquêtes sur le terrain avec des partenaires locaux, nous avons commencé à suivre les menaces que d’autres produits de base, notamment le caoutchouc naturel dans le sud et la noix de cajou dans le nord, font peser sur les forêts restantes.” 

« Les plantations de cajou dominent le paysage à perte de vue. Lorsque j’ai grandi en Côte d'Ivoire, la faune a toujours été abondante, mais aujourd’hui lorsque je voyage dans les régions productrices de noix de cajou, il est très difficile d'apercevoir des animaux sauvages ou des oiseaux. Nous devons veiller à ce que les producteurs de noix de cajou bénéficient d'un soutien pour passer à des pratiques durables afin de préserver leurs moyens de subsistance et de protéger la nature. » 

Un agriculteur du village de Tioro, près de la ville de Korhogo, a déclaré à Mighty Earth :   

« Certes, les noix de cajou nous ont permis de développer nos villages, mais nous sommes conscients que la culture de l'anacarde a entraîné la disparition d'un grand nombre de nos espèces naturelles. Elle a fait fuir de nombreux animaux que l'on trouvait facilement dans la savane. » 

Le Conseil du Coton et de l'Anacarde, qui supervise le secteur ivoirien du cajou, indique que l'industrie joue un rôle vital dans l'économie du nord du pays, en soutenant environ un demi-million de ménages agricoles.  Cependant, le rapport révèle que l'expansion des vergers de cajou sur de vastes zones a créé des « déserts verts » dépourvus de biodiversité. Quand elles sont combinées avec l'utilisation intensive de pesticides chimiques, les « monocultures » d'anacardiers constituent une menace existentielle pour la flore et la faune indigènes du pays.  

L'expansion de la culture du cajou a également un coût humain. Dans le nord de la Côte d'Ivoire, les anacardiers ont rapidement remplacé les cultures vivrières traditionnelles telles que l'igname et le manioc, ce qui oblige les agriculteurs à acheter ces aliments de base. Une surabondance de noix de cajou au début de l'année 2023 a provoqué l'effondrement du marché, laissant de nombreux ménages ruraux vulnérables face l'insécurité alimentaire et nutritionnelle. 

Ofi, l’un des plus grands producteurs de noix de cajou au monde, dont les ateliers de transformation se trouvent en Côte d’Ivoire, a fourni des informations sur les enjeux de durabilité auxquels il fait face, dans le cadre du rapport.  

En réponse aux préoccupations soulevées dans le rapport, ofi a déclaré :  

« Compte tenu du manque d'accès des agriculteurs aux connaissances sur les bonnes pratiques agricoles et de l'importance des paysages biodiversifiés pour la résilience des systèmes agricoles et alimentaires, il est facile de comprendre pourquoi les problèmes soulevés dans le rapport peuvent se produire. En effet, nos équipes sociales ivoiriennes constatent des taux élevés de malnutrition, de nombreux ménages agricoles n'ayant pas accès aux aliments contenant les micronutriments nécessaires au fonctionnement normal du système immunitaire et à une santé optimale, ce qui a un impact négatif sur la productivité et le potentiel de gain. À cela s'ajoutent souvent des infrastructures sanitaires insuffisantes et un manque d'accès à l'eau potable et à l'assainissement. Mais des solutions existent. Grâce à la formation et à un meilleur accès au financement, les agriculteurs peuvent améliorer les rendements et la qualité de leurs récoltes à partir des mêmes arbres. » 

Julian Oram, Directeur Afrique pour Mighty Earth, a déclaré :   

« La culture du cajou s'est avérée être une arme à double tranchant pour la Côte d'Ivoire. D'une part, elle a constitué une importante source de revenus pour les communautés du nord du pays. D'autre part, la culture de l'anacarde continue de s'étendre de manière incontrôlée sur les quelques rares zones de végétation naturelle restantes, menaçant des dizaines d'espèces emblématiques qui luttent pour leur survie. »  

« Si nous continuons à faire comme si de rien n'était, la noix de cajou pourrait être un nouveau clou dans le cercueil de dizaines d'espèces emblématiques, y compris le chimpanzé occidental, tout en risquant d'entraîner l’insécurité alimentaire des agriculteurs. Nous demandons à l'industrie de cesser toute expansion afin de permettre à la nature de se rétablir. » 

Souleymane Fofana, coordinateur général du Regroupement des Acteurs Ivoiriens des Droits Humains (RAIDH), un réseau d'ONG ivoiriennes de défense des droits de l'homme :   

« Nous ne pouvons pas ignorer les leçons de l'industrie du cacao, qui a permis pendant des années une déforestation rampante. Le Conseil du Coton et de l'Anacarde doit travailler avec les agriculteurs, les entreprises et la société civile pour développer un plan d'action pour un cajou durable qui protège la nature et soutient les agriculteurs. » 

Mighty Earth et ses partenaires de la coalition lancent un appel :   

• Les acteurs de l'industrie tout au long de la chaîne d'approvisionnement doivent travailler avec les agriculteurs locaux, la société civile et les agences gouvernementales pour restaurer les paysages de noix de cajou en investissant dans des pratiques agricoles durables, réduire la dépendance des agriculteurs à l'égard de la noix de cajou et prendre des mesures pour protéger les personnes qui travaillent dans l'industrie.  
• Les entreprises qui achètent et vendent des noix de cajou doivent développer une traçabilité transparente et complète (au niveau de l'exploitation) afin de comprendre l'éventail des problèmes environnementaux et sociaux dans les endroits où elles s'approvisionnent en noix de cajou.  
• Une meilleure réglementation de l'industrie et la promotion de chaînes d'approvisionnement en noix de cajou socialement et écologiquement responsables.  

by Carole Mitchell

New report warns global demand for cashews is driving nature loss and food insecurity in Côte d’Ivoire

Mighty Earth is calling for the industry to take action to halt further cashew expansion in the West African country to allow nature to recover 

Link to report here 

A single crop dominates the landscape near Bondoukou, Northeast Côte d’Ivoire: cashew. Source: Mighty Earth 

A new report by Mighty Earth, Regroupement des Acteurs Ivoiriens des Droits Humains (RAIDH), and Green Forest Africa reveals, for the first time, how increasing global demand for cashews has driven a rapid expansion of cashew orchards in Côte d’Ivoire, causing nature loss and threatening food security.   

The West African country is now the number one exporter of cashew in the world, earning over $961 million from cashew exports in 2021, and producing more than one million tons of cashew in 2022. Last year the global cashew market was worth $7 billion.  

Côte d’Ivoire has lost as much as 90% of its forests over the past 30 years, with agriculture, largely cocoa, as the primary driver. The report warns that further nature loss from cashew expansion must be avoided.  

Key findings from the report: 

• Satellite analysis by Mighty Earth reveals that some cashew-growing regions in Côte d’Ivoire have seen as much as a 25% loss of primary forest cover between 2019 - 2023.  
• An area nearly the size of the Hawaiian islands (1.6 million hectares) is used to cultivate cashews in Côte d’Ivoire. 
• The US is the world’s largest consumer of cashew. In 2021, it imported nearly 30% of the world’s cashew nut kernels, with Germany (10.5%) and the Netherlands (8.27%) being the next largest importers. 

While providing vital income for farmers, much of this farming has taken place on forested savannah landscapes, crucial for wildlife. One of West Africa’s most important wildlife reserves, the Comoé National Park, is surrounded to the East, South and South-West by cashew plantations. The park is home to the critically endangered Western Chimpanzee, and is one of the species’ last remaining intact habitats. 

Amourlaye Touré, Senior Adviser at Mighty Earth said:  

“Mighty Earth has been working to end cocoa-driven deforestation in Côte d’Ivoire for many years. Through  satellite data analysis and ground investigations with local partners, we began tracking threats to the remaining forests posed by other commodities, notably natural rubber in the south, and cashew in the north.” 

“Cashew plantations dominate the landscape as far as the eye can see. Growing up in Côte d’Ivoire there was always an abundance of wildlife, but travelling through cashew growing regions now, it’s very hard to spot wild animals or birds.”

“We need to ensure cashew farmers are supported to shift to sustainable practices to safeguard their livelihoods and protect nature.” 

A farmer from Tioro village, near the town of Korhogo, told Mighty Earth:  

“Certainly, cashew nuts have enabled us to develop our villages, but we are aware that cashew cultivation has caused many of our natural species to disappear. It has driven away many animals easily found in the savannah." 

The Conseil du Coton et de l'anacarde (Cotton and Cashew Council), which oversees the Ivorian cashew sector, says the industry plays a vital role in the economy of the north of the country, supporting around half a million farming households.  However, the report reveals that the expansion of cashew orchards over vast areas has created “green deserts” devoid of biodiversity. When combined with heavy use of chemical pesticides, single-crop cashew ‘monocultures’ pose an existential threat to the country’s native flora and fauna. 

Cashew expansion comes with a human cost too. In northern Côte d’Ivoire, cashew trees have rapidly replaced the cultivation of traditional food crops such as yams and cassava, meaning farmers must buy these diet staples. A supply glut of cashew in early 2023 caused the market to crash, leaving many rural households vulnerable to food and nutritional insecurity. 

Ofi, one of the largest cashew producers of cashew in the world with processing facilities in Côte d’Ivoire shared information about its cashew sustainability issue for the report. 

In response to the concerns raised in the report, Ofi said: 

“Given farmers’ lack of access to knowledge about good agricultural practices and the importance of biodiverse landscapes for resilient farming and food systems, it is easy to understand why the issues raised in the report might be occurring. Indeed, our Ivoirian social teams see high rates of malnutrition, with many farming households unable to access foods with the micronutrients needed for normal functioning of the immune system and optimal health, which negatively impacts productivity and earning potential. This is often combined with poor health infrastructure and access to clean water and sanitation. But there are solutions available. With training and better access to finance, farmers can improve yields and quality from the same trees.” 

Mighty Earth’s Senior Director for Africa, Julian Oram said:  

“Cashew farming has proved a double-edged sword for Côte d’Ivoire. On the one hand, it has provided an important source of income for communities in the north of the country. On the other, cashew farming continues to spread unchecked over the precious few remaining areas of natural vegetation, threatening dozens of iconic species struggling for survival.” 

“If we continue with business-as-usual, cashew could be another nail in the coffin for dozens of iconic species, including the Western Chimpanzee, while risking food insecurity for farmers and pain and injury for workers processing cashew. We’re calling on the industry to halt further expansion to allow nature to recover.” 

Processing cashews can also cause pain and injury. When roasted, cashew shells release caustic oil. Workers in processing facilities that manually remove the cashew kernel from its shell, are exposed to this caustic oil, risking burns to their skin. Due to the lack of protective equipment, workers - many of them women – carry out this work with their bare hands. 

Souleymane Fofana, General Coordinator of Regroupement des Acteurs Ivoiriens des Droits Humains (RAIDH), a network of Ivorian Human Rights NGOs:  

“We can’t ignore the lessons from the cocoa industry, which for years allowed rampant deforestation. The Conseil du Coton et l’anacarde (Cotton and Cashew Council) needs to work with farmers, companies and civil society to develop an action plan for sustainable cashew that protects nature and supports farmers.”  

Mighty Earth and its coalition partners are calling for:  

• Industry actors across the cashew supply chain to work with local farmers, civil society, and government agencies to restore cashew landscapes by investing in sustainable farming practices, reduce farmers’ dependency on cashew, and take action to protect those working in the industry. 
• Companies buying and selling cashews to develop transparent, full (farm-level) traceability to understand the range of environmental and social issues present in the places where they are sourcing cashew. 
• Better regulation of the industry and promotion of socially and ecologically responsible cashew supply chains. 
• EU, UK, and US regulators to introduce measures that would ban the sale of cashew linked to deforestation and the destruction of natural habitats in their markets.

by Carole Mitchell

Why the new EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) should include an additional billion hectares of ‘Other Wooded Land'

Global CSO coalition urges the European Commission to add 'Other wooded land' to the EUDR to protect nearly a billion hectares of vulnerable ecosystems from destruction. 

Read the report

A global coalition of more than 60 civil society organizations, from Brazil to Indonesia and Ethiopia, has called on the European Commission to include nearly a billion additional hectares of threatened wooded landscapes in the EU's flagship zero-deforestation regulation.  

Groups including the ISPN network in Brazil, Satya Bumi in Indonesia, WWF, Mighty Earth, and Rainforest Foundation Norway are urging the European Commission to close a major loophole in the new EU Deforestation Regulation (known as the EUDR), which allows the continued destruction of precious wooded ecosystems currently unprotected by the new legislation – such as the highly threatened Cerrado savannah in Brazil. Soy-driven deforestation in the Cerrado recently hit record levels. The coalition warns that leaving climate-critical biomes like the Cerrado, the Chaco, and the Pantanal out of the EUDR would accelerate their destruction.   

Based on the latest FAO figures, the global coalition highlight in a new report that a vast and estimated 977 million hectares of landscapes and ecosystems known as 'Other wooded land' (OWL) - about a quarter of the size of the world's forests - are highly vulnerable to deforestation and destruction for commodity-driven expansion and is calling on a forthcoming official Review of the EUDR to ensure that the law is expanded to include 'Other wooded land' at the earliest opportunity. 

The new report highlights that most of these ecosystems and biomes known as 'Other wooded lands' are found in Africa (some 446 million hectares), with 190 million hectares in Asia and 147 million hectares in South America.   

The groundbreaking EUDR – which entered into force in June – bans the import into the European Union of seven key commodities - including beef, soy, cocoa, rubber and palm oil - if they are linked to deforestation or forest degradation. The law becomes operational at the end of 2024.

"The EUDR is a groundbreaking new zero-deforestation law, but its scope urgently needs to be expanded to include almost an extra billion hectares of 'Other Wooded Lands' like the Cerrado in Brazil, which is currently being ravaged by soy and cattle-driven deforestation and destruction," says Alex Wijeratna, Senior director from Mighty Earth. "We urgently need to protect the Cerrado and the Pantanaal as much as the Amazon rainforest to help address the climate and nature emergency."

"For us Indigenous peoples, no biome is less valuable than others, they are all equally important," says Dinamam Tuxá, Executive Coordinator of the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil, APIB. "We, Indigenous peoples, live in all the biomes, not only in the Amazon rainforest. So it's important that the European zero-deforestation legislation takes into account the protection of all of our territories." 

While Brazil has managed to bring down spiralling deforestation rates in the Amazon rainforest in the first half of this year, the neighbouring Cerrado savannah has seen record levels of environmental destruction during the same period, reaching 709 Km2 in April 2023. This is its highest deforestation figure since 2018, according to official data from the Brazilian National Institute for Space Research (INPE).  

According to research highlighted by the report authors Mighty Earth, Rainforest Foundation Norway, Madre Brava, Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH), Ecologistas en Acción, and Forests of the World, and endorsed by over 60 organizations, adding 'Other wooded land' to the EUDR would protect an extra 59.7 million hectares of the Cerrado, an extra 8.7 million hectares in the Chaco, and an extra 2.2 million hectares in the Pantanal ecosystems. As it is highly likely that expanding the scope of the EUDR law would have the same effect in other regions such as Africa and Asia, the coalition claims this is an essential step the EU needs to take to combat climate change and loss of global biodiversity.

by Carole Mitchell

The Day Nature Took a Sigh of Relief

June 29, 2023 marks a significant milestone in the global movement for a safe and healthy
planet with the implementation of the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR).

Environmental activists have long emphasized the importance of governments acting against the sale of goods linked to the destruction of valuable and rapidly disappearing ecosystems. Within EU countries, environmental groups have been particularly vocal in urging policy makers to ban the sale of agricultural products connected to deforestation and habitat destruction. After years of persistent advocacy, today, a momentous legal victory was achieved. The EUDR, now passed as law, compels companies to ensure that agricultural products sold in the EU have not contributed to deforestation and forest degradation. Below we explore the significance of the EUDR, what it should achieve, its challenges and limitations, and what steps need to be taken next.

Why is the Regulation Vital for the Planet?

Globally, agriculture is the number one driver of forest destruction, with three-quarters of deforestation being driven by agriculture. The clearance of land for beef, palm oil, and soy production accounts for a significant portion of this destruction, while cocoa, coffee, and natural rubber cultivation also contribute to widespread forest conversion. Most of these activities occur in tropical and sub-tropical regions, which are home to Indigenous communities and diverse and precious flora and fauna.
The destruction of tropical forests, and the biodiversity they shelter, is occurring at an alarming, and accelerating rate. Recent data from the World Resources Institute’s Global Forest Watch platform reveals that tropical regions lost 10% more primary rainforest in 2022 compared to 2021; amounting to 4.1 million hectares. To put it into perspective, this is equivalent of losing 11 football (soccer) fields of forest per minute. WRI goes on to note that this negative trend comes in the wake of a 2021 pledge signed by 145 heads of state in Glasgow at COP26, the UN Climate Change Conference to halt and reverse forest loss by the end of the decade, recognizing the important role of forests in combating climate change and biodiversity loss. Although such declarations can send important political and market signals, they alone lack substance, and only deliver impact when supported by concrete policy action, corporate action, and the allocation of financial resources to enforce forest protection.

In Europe’s case, the most effective policy action lies in addressing its role as a major importer of goods linked to deforestation. According to the European Parliament, the EU’s consumption of goods was responsible for 10% of all forests lost between 1990 and 2020. Although voluntary measures adopted by companies importing into the EU have had some success in reducing deforestation, significant progress can only be made by implementing a zero-tolerance regulatory approach to all imported deforestation. This approach would enable EU nations to fulfil their international commitments on forests.

What will the EUDR achieve?

The EUDR, now in effect, does not explicitly “ban” specific commodities or countries of origin. Instead, it requires companies to conduct due diligence to determine the origin of certain products and verify that they have not been produced on land deforested after December 2020 before selling them in the EU. Companies have 18 months from June 29, 2023, to become fully compliant. The original list of items covered under the initial legislative proposal by the European Commission included those derived from beef and cattle, cocoa, coffee, palm oil, soy, and wood. However, after pressure from civil society groups, this list was expanded to also include natural rubber, which has been a major driver of deforestation in Southeast Asia and parts of West Africa over the past two decades. Mighty Earth played a pivotal role in thisexpansion by obtaining and distributing crucial, new academic data on rubber’s impact on deforestation to key officials in the European Commission, national governments, and the European Parliament.

Coordinated CSO advocacy also managed to secure other important victories that improved the European Commission’s original proposal. For example, the draft law made no reference to the need for companies to conduct due diligence with regards to the rights of Indigenous communities, including with regards to the principle of Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC). FPIC is an internationally recognised tool to ensure that any development in areas occupied by people with customary land rights cannot take place without their explicit consent. During the final negotiations, references to the need for companies to take account of the principle of FPIC were added to the law, as were risk mitigation provisions relating to the consultation of Indigenous people regarding claims to their land and territories.

The law also allows third parties affected by companies responsible for deforestation to make claims for access to justice in the EU; and creates penalties for breaches of the law including heavy fines, confiscation of products, ‘shame listing’ violators, and temporary bans on companies selling in the EU. If properly enforced and eventually strengthened, these measures should significantly reduce the EU’s global “forest footprint.”

Limitations and threats to the EUDR

While the implementation of the EUDR is a tremendous victory after years of civil society campaigning, the legislation faces several threats and contains some serious gaps. Key threats include:

• Potential under-resourcing of the competent authorities responsible for enforcing the regulation by EU member governments. Similar laws aimed at stopping illegal timber from entering the EU have seen variable success due to this issue.
• Many companies sourcing commodities from forested regions do not sufficiently understand their supply chains down to the individual farm level, as required by the EUDR. This is particularly true of companies sourcing products grown predominantly by small growers, such as cocoa, coffee and rubber.
• Related to the above, there is a risk that the cost burden on establishing traceability and deforestation-free cultivation could fall on resource-poor farmers already struggling to learn a living income for their products. The EU will need to quickly mobilise targeted support to smallholder farmers to ensure this does not happen.
• There is also the danger of a “two tier trade” system developing, where companies source a portion of their products from known deforestation-free sources, and segregate these for sale in the EU, whilst doing little or nothing to address the rest of their supply chains.
• Some governments from countries that export many of the commodities covered by the EUDR are unhappy with the new law, and are trying to undermine it, e.g. via regional free trade agreements.

In addition to these threats, the Regulation itself has several critical shortcomings:

• The EUDR strictly defines “forests” as areas with closed or nearly closed canopy tree cover. This means that other wooded landscapes, such as the threatened Cerrado savannah, the Pantanal, and Gran Chaco regions of Latin America – and the West
African woody savannahs – fall outside of the Regulation’s scope.
• This is a significant flaw since these regions have critical climate and biodiversity and often border areas of dense native forest. As a result of this regulation, destructive agricultural practices may simply shift from the forests to these other fragile
landscapes. Other vulnerable ecosystems, such as non-forest peatlands, grasslands and wetlands, are risk exploitation.
• In addition to the limited range of biomes covered, the EUDR also excluded other forest-risk agricultural commodities, such as banana, maize, and cashew (to name but a few). It also ignores the EU’s consumption footprint on forests linked to the import of non-agricultural commodities, notable minerals and metals used in industrial manufacturing, or for jewellery.
• While the final text of the EUDR includes language around Indigenous peoples’ rights and FPIC, the legal framing of this language is weak, simply requiring companies to consider these things in accordance with (often weak) national laws, as opposed to with regards to international standards.
• The law fails to place any due diligence obligations on the banks and financiers of agricultural commodity traders or food manufacturers, which would have helped to ensure that banks and financial institutions could also have been held accountable for bankrolling forest destruction.

What’s next for the EUDR?

For Mighty Earth and its partners, the battle to sever the link between EU consumption and the destruction of nature around the world is entering into a critical new phase. We’re continuing the fight by pushing governments to properly resource the relevant authorities to ensure the existing EUDR is given teeth. It is crucial that companies feel that the risks of not doing due diligence are far greater than the potential rewards; and that will only happen with stringent enforcement. At the same time, we are engaging with EU officials, companies, civil society partners, farmer networks and governments in countries where many of the commodities covered by the EUDR originate to ensure that sufficient and appropriately targeted support is provided to smallholder growers, so that they do not bear the brunt of the EU’s due diligence requirements. We are also working in multi-stakeholder fora such as the Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber to promote supply chain traceability and transparency tools. Apart from making the existing legislation effective, we are also determined to push for its improvement. The European Commission has committed to reviewing the Regulation within two years of its implementation. This review will explore the possibility of expanding the scope of the law to other wooded ecosystems, and to cover additional agricultural commodities. We will therefore be providing evidence to the Commission, as well as engaging in widespread advocacy to governments and EU Parliamentarians, to push for much broader coverage of the Regulation. We will also be pushing for the inclusion of stronger, explicit references to international due diligence standards for Indigenous Rights, and for the extension of the law to the financial sector.

Looking further ahead, our ultimate ask is for the EUDR to cover all at-risk ecosystems, metals and minerals, as well as a broader range of agricultural commodities. And our fight does not stop at the borders of the European Union. We are waging similar
campaigns to strengthen provisions within the UK (via the 2021 Environment Act), and in the United States (via the Forest Act). So, while June 29, 2023, has given Nature a chance to catch its breath, the battle must continue in the near-, medium- and long term futures to ensure it can recover, heal, and thrive.

by Carole Mitchell

Weak legislation risks UK becoming dumping ground for soy from the Cerrado savannah, Brazil’s “forgotten jewel”

The warning comes as a new Mighty Earth investigation reveals recent “legal” Cerrado deforestation equivalent to the size of Manchester 

Mighty Earth is warning that secondary legislation to the Environment Act 2021, expected soon, would see the UK lagging behind the European Union’s new, world-beating zero-deforestation law as the UK legislation will likely only cover illegal deforestation for imports of commodities such as soy. 

The groundbreaking new European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), which comes into force on 29th of June, covers both illegal and legal deforestation for imports of seven key forest-risk commodities, meaning the UK could become a dumping ground for soy grown on deforested land, classified as legal under Brazilian law, but which is not permitted to enter European markets when the EUDR comes into force next year.  

Some 90% of the UK’s soy imports are used for animal feed to produce meat and dairy, and soy is recognised as a leading cause of deforestation in threatened biomes in Brazil and elsewhere. Traceability in soy supply chains is also a huge issue, as soy grown on legally deforested land is mixed with soybeans grown on illegally deforested land – a practice known as ‘grain laundering.’ 

New report reveals rampant deforestation 

The warning comes as Mighty Earth released a new report – Saving the Cerrado: How Bunge, Supermarkets and Governments Must Act Fast – detailing the threat to the Cerrado savannah in central Brazil from soy and meat production and evidence of recent widespread deforestation linked to US commodities trader Bunge. We found 11,351 hectares of recent deforestation on farms in the Cerrado, equivalent to the size of Manchester.  

Deforestation in the threatened Cerrado savannah recently hit a record high of 353,200 hectares between January and May 2023, and the vast, biodiversity-rich, but largely unprotected biome has become a global hotspot for soy-related deforestation.  

Major European supermarkets including Carrefour and Casino in France, Ahold Delhaize in the Netherlands and Aldi Süd in Germany have launched investigations in response to Mighty’s Earth’s report. France’s biggest pork producer, Cooperl, has dropped Bunge from their soy supply chains.  

It follows a recent investigation by Mighty Earth, linking chicken and pork products sold in Tesco in the UK to illegal deforestation to grow soy in the Brazilian Amazon. 

Alex Wijeratna, Senior Director for Mighty Earth said: 

“As a climate champion and global leader on protecting the world’s forests and nature, the UK should urgently legislate to ensure it doesn’t become a dumping ground for deforestation-linked soy that’s been grown in threatened biomes like the Cerrado in Brazil, where up to 80% of the land can be ‘legally’ deforested under local laws.” 

The Cerrado - Brazil’s “forgotten jewel”  

The Cerrado is the world’s largest and most diverse savannah, home to 5% of the world’s biodiversity, including 16,000 plants and 1,600 animal species, like the endangered jaguar, giant anteater, and maned wolf. It is also home to numerous Indigenous and local communities. 

Known as an ‘upside-down forest,’ the Cerrado stores an estimated 13.7 billion tons of carbon, equivalent to that of a tropical forest, in its soils and immense roots system. It’s also a major water source, but industrial soy expansion for animal feed means it’s becoming drier and hotter. While the global focus has been on its neighbour the Amazon rainforest, the Cerrado, Brazil’s “forgotten jewel” is now in greater peril, having lost half of its land surface to make way for soy and cattle, making it vulnerable to ecosystem collapse. 

Deforestation in the Cerrado hit a record high of 353,200 hectares between January and May 2023, and recent figures from the Brazilian National Institute of Space Research (INPE) show deforestation rates rising steeply in comparison to the Amazon, where rates are declining. 

Glenn Hurowitz, CEO and Founder at Mighty Earth said:  

“The UK’s Environment Act needs to match the ambition of the EU’s zero-deforestation law if we’re to stand any chance of saving the Cerrado and mitigating climate change. Two years ago, at COP26 in Glasgow, the UK played a key role in helping to galvanise global support for a groundbreaking deal to save the world’s forests, but this legacy is being undermined by weak UK legislation.” 

by Carole Mitchell

Major European supermarkets launch investigations over US animal feed giant Bunge’s links to Cerrado deforestation

Link to report here 

Major European supermarkets launch investigations over US animal feed giant Bunge’s links to Cerrado deforestation  

New Mighty Earth report links Bunge to deforestation for soy equivalent to 15,897 soccer pitches prompting supermarkets to act. 

Major supermarkets in Europe, including Carrefour and Casino in France, Ahold Delhaize and Jumbo in the Netherlands and Aldi South from Germany, have launched investigations in response to a new Mighty Earth report linking Bunge to 11,351 hectares of recent soy-related deforestation in the threatened Cerrado savannah in Brazil. Others, such as France’s biggest pork producer, Cooperl, have dropped Bunge from their soy supply chains. 

The report, in partnership with Repórter Brasil, Instituto Centro de Vida (ICV) and Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH), comes as figures reveal record rates of deforestation in the Cerrado. The EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), which will enter into force on 29 June, currently fails to offer legal protection for three quarters of the Cerrado, placing further pressure on this critical biome. A vast tropical savannah of over 200 million hectares in central Brazil, and a huge carbon sink storing an estimated 13.7 billion tons of carbon in its soil and through its deep roots system, the Cerrado has become a global hotspot for deforestation linked to the meat industry.  

Why Bunge? 

With annual revenues of $67 billion, US-based Bunge is the main supplier of soy animal feed to the meat industry in the European Union and is the trader with the greatest deforestation risk linked to soy in the Cerrado, after the two next worst commodities giants, ADM and Cargill. It also has ambitions to be the biggest having recently announced a $34 million merger with Dutch agri-business Viterra. Bunge ships vast amounts of soy to Europe to feed animals in intensive farming systems, destined for the meat aisles of major supermarkets in France, Spain, Germany and the Netherlands – largely for beef, poultry, pork and dairy products. 

Key findings:  

• Bunge recently bought soy from three farms responsible for the equivalent of 15,897 soccer pitches of deforestation in the Cerrado (11,351 ha), cleared after 2021.  

• Five of the 100 companies Mighty Earth and DUH contacted confirmed links to soy from Bunge in their meat supply chains: Carrefour, one of the largest retailers in world; LDC, the largest poultry meat group in Europe; retailers Les Mousquetaires and Super U in France; and Jumbo in the Netherlands. 
• Retailers Carrefour and Casino in France, Ahold Delhaize and Jumbo in the Netherlands and Aldi South in Germany confirmed they are investigating the deforestation cases we highlighted in our report and have contacted Bunge.  
• France’s biggest pork producer Cooperl say they have stopped sourcing soy from Bunge. 
• Many other EU-based retailers, meat producers and restaurant groups we surveyed fail to publicly reveal their links but are very likely to buy soy animal feed or soy-based products from Bunge, too. 
• Our partner AidEnvironment also detected another five cases linked to an additional 14,598 hectares of deforestation that took place on soy farms in the Cerrado in early 2023, in high-risk areas where Bunge is the leading soy exporter. 

• Bunge confirmed to Mighty Earth that it has recently sourced soy directly from four of the eight farms named in our investigation – although it said the deforestation was legal under Brazilian law and failed to provide any further details. 
• Bunge confirmed to Mighty Earth that it does not have a deforestation cut-off date of 2020, and so will accept legally deforested, deforestation-risk, or deforestation-linked soy in its supply chain until 2025.  

Alex Wijeratna, Senior Director at Mighty Earth said: 

“Major supermarkets like Carrefour, Casino, Aldi South and Ahold Delhaize don’t want to be associated with the destruction of biodiversity hotspots and climate-critical landscapes like the threatened Cerrado savannah in Brazil.”   

“Retailers need to ban bad actors like Bunge who show zero urgency, zero shame, and zero commitment to tackling the Cerrado’s out-of-control deforestation crisis.” 

The Cerrado - Brazil’s “forgotten jewel”  

The Cerrado is the world’s largest and most diverse savannah, home to 5% of the world’s plants and animals, including rare and endangered species like the jaguar, giant anteater and maned wolf. It is also home to numerous local and Indigenous communities. 

Known as an ‘upside-down forest,’ the Cerrado stores carbon, equivalent to that of a tropical forest, in its soils and immense roots system. It’s also a major water source, but industrial soy expansion for animal feed means it’s becoming drier and hotter. While the global focus has been on its neighbour the Amazon rainforest, the Cerrado, Brazil’s “forgotten jewel” is now in greater peril, having lost half of its land surface to make way for soy and cattle, making it vulnerable to ecosystem collapse. 

Deforestation in the Cerrado hit a record high of 353,200 hectares between January and May 2023, and recent figures from the Brazilian National Institute for Space Research (INPE) show deforestation rates rising steeply there in comparison to the Amazon, where rates are declining. 

Glenn Hurowitz, CEO at Mighty Earth said:  

“With this report we’re sending an SOS to ‘Save the Cerrado.’ We need the Cerrado savannah as much as we need the Amazon rainforest to protect us against the effects of a rapidly warming world. Sadly, it’s disappearing twice as fast as its neighbour the Amazon, taken by the meat industry to grow soy and rear cattle to produce cheap meat, stacked high on supermarket shelves in Europe.”  

“Soy traders such as Bunge must make good on its promise to be deforestation-free in its supply chains by 2025 and cut ties with farms destroying this crucial biome. Bunge was one of eight soy traders at the COP27 climate summit that agreed a plan to limit global warming to 1.5C and to end deforestation no later than 2025. Given what our investigation has found, and the limp response Bunge has given to us, it’s time for all the major retailers to drop Bunge.” 

by Carole Mitchell

Escândalo da soja: comerciante norte-americano no centro da investigação sobre desmatamento ilegal na Amazônia brasileira

Link to report here 

Link to video here  

Novo relatório da Mighty Earth mostra que a gigante de commodities agrícolas Cargill comprou de uma fazenda que queimou 400 hectares de floresta tropical para cultivar soja. 

Um novo relatório da Mighty Earth liga a gigante norte-americana de commodities Cargill a recentes incêndios ilegais e ao desmatamento de 400 hectares da floresta amazônica brasileira, equivalente a 560 campos de futebol e à perda de mais de 220.000 árvores e inúmeras espécies. Durante nove meses, a investigação mapeou a cadeia de fornecimento de soja desde a fazenda na Amazônia, passando pela gigante agrícola norte-americana Cargill, até os produtores de carne no Reino Unido e, finalmente, até as prateleiras da maior rede de supermercados do Reino Unido, a Tesco.  

A investigação conjunta da Mighty Earth, Ecostorm e Repórter Brasil documenta evidências de incêndios ilegais ocorridos em setembro de 2022, usados para limpar florestas para cultivar soja rica em proteínas, para alimentar aves e porcos criados em sistemas industriais intensivos no Reino Unido. A fazenda brasileira em questão, Santa Ana, localizada em Mato Grosso, já havia sido bloqueada como fornecedora da Cargill, mas na época da investigação foi dito pela Cargill que cumpria as regulamentações para evitar o desmatamento. Nossa investigação também descobriu evidências de lavagem de grãos, onde a soja cultivada legalmente é misturada com a soja plantada em terras desmatadas ilegalmente. 

Nosso relatório destaca que os incêndios ilegais e o desmatamento florestal na fazenda Santa Ana violam a Moratória da Soja na Amazônia, que proíbe a venda de soja cultivada em terras desmatadas após 2008, as leis brasileiras e as próprias políticas da Cargill.  

Principais conclusões:  

• Imagens de satélite da fazenda Santa Ana, fornecedora da Cargill, situada em Mato Grosso, mostram um total de 635 hectares de desmatamento da Amazônia, dos quais 400 hectares foram queimados em poucos dias em setembro de 2022. Isso equivale a 560 campos de futebol.  
• Nossa investigação mapeia a cadeia de fornecimento de soja da fazenda Santa Ana, em Mato Grosso, através das instalações da Cargill no porto de Santarém, no Pará, para o Reino Unido e destaca o risco de contaminação por desmatamento do fornecimento brasileiro de soja da Cargill, que representa 70% do total de importações de soja para o Reino Unido.  
• Nossa investigação mapeia vários fornecedores – aumentando o risco de a soja contaminada com o desmatamento chegar às prateleiras de carne do maior varejista do Reino Unido, a rede de supermercados Tesco.  

Monitoramento de desmatamento falho da Cargill 

A Cargill insiste que tem procedimentos robustos para evitar que o desmatamento entre em sua cadeia de fornecimento de soja e para que as fazendas cumpram a Moratória da Soja e os embargos de agências federais e estaduais no Brasil. Sustenta que, quando a fazenda Santa Ana foi adicionada à lista proibida da Moratória da Soja em maio de 2021, a Cargill imediatamente bloqueou as compras da fazenda em questão. No entanto, a Cargill diz que desbloqueou a fazenda em junho de 2022, apenas alguns meses antes de mais 400 hectares de desmatamento ocorrerem.  

Em uma declaração recente à Mighty Earth, a Cargill disse: "Conforme relatado em nosso Relatório de Soja, uma vez que uma fazenda é bloqueada, há um processo robusto que deve ser seguido para que uma fazenda seja desbloqueada. Neste caso [referente à fazenda Santa Ana], no ano seguinte, o agricultor comprovou o cumprimento da Moratória da Soja, que foi validada pelas organizações governamentais e ONGs. Como resultado, em junho de 2022, o agricultor foi retirado da lista de embargos da Moratória da Soja e, portanto, desbloqueado no sistema da Cargill. O fornecedor continua em conformidade com as regras da Moratória da Soja. "  

Este caso não é uma exceção e destaca as falhas fundamentais nos sistemas de monitoramento de desmatamento relacionados à soja e nos mecanismos de aplicação da Cargill, levando ao risco de contaminação da soja da Cargill vendida em todos os setores de agricultura, alimentos e varejo do Reino Unido. 

Glenn Hurowitz, fundador e CEO da Mighty Earth, disse: 

"A Cargill afirma que colocou a fazenda Santa Ana de volta em seus livros em junho de 2022, pois cumpriu todas as regras necessárias e, no entanto, menos de três meses depois, investigações documentaram incêndios ilegais e desmatamento na fazenda."  

"Se a Cargill, a maior empresa privada dos EUA, quer ser parte da solução para a crise climática e da natureza, ela precisa se abastecer de fornecedores que cultivam em terras anteriormente degradadas, das quais existem 1,6 bilhão de acres na América Latina. Não daqueles que ainda estão incendiando florestas." 

"Isso também significa aumentar urgentemente sua ambição em linha com seus concorrentes e clientes de varejo e antecipar sua meta de desmatamento para 2025. Não podemos permitir mais sete anos de desmatamento se quisermos salvar o que resta da Amazônia e evitar os piores impactos das mudanças climáticas." 

Gemma Hoskins, Diretora Sênior (Reino Unido) da Mighty Earth, disse: 

"O ‘business-as-usual’ não é uma opção se quisermos enfrentar a emergência climática. A Tesco deve se comprometer a fornecer apenas de empresas que não coloquem a Amazônia e outros biomas importantes em risco. Isso significa cortar os laços com a gigante de commodities dos EUA, a Cargill." 

by Carole Mitchell

Mighty Earth calls on General Motors to cut carbon and human rights abuses in national campaign

It comes as new analysis reveals GM as one of the lowest ranking manufacturers on new Auto Scorecard   

Mighty Earth has recently launched a nationwide advertising campaign calling on General Motors (GM) to stop sourcing steel and aluminum made from coal and other fossil fuels and to end any connection to human rights abuses in Chinese steel and aluminum plants.  

Mighty Earth’s ad blitz includes billboards, TV trucks, newspaper ads, and digital buys in target markets across the country, including outside the Superbowl stadium in Glendale, Arizona as well as in Georgia, Illinois, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Texas, and Washington DC.   

GM has pledged to be carbon-neutral by 2040, but beyond shifting to electric vehicles, has yet to announce how it plans to decarbonize the materials that go into its cars. In 2020 materials used in the production of autos accounted for 18% of total embodied emissions, but By 2040, materials used for vehicle production will account for 60 percent of life-cycle emissions. Key solutions include shifting to green steel and aluminum, used for car frames, wheels, brakes and other components. A report by Sheffield Hallam University last year linked GM to dirty coal-powered aluminum and steel producers in China’s Xinjiang region connected to forced Uyghur labor.  

New analysis by Mighty Earth’s coalition partner, Sunrise Project, also reveals that GM is failing in every major category on an industry-wide Auto Scorecard, which measures the environmental and social impacts of car manufacturers’ supply chains. On climate and the environment GM scored only 5%, including scoring zero on transitioning to fossil-free and sustainable steel and aluminum. GM also received a ranking of 23% on human rights.  

 GM’s roll out of its “Everybody In” campaign during the  Super Bowl, an initiative to get us to switch to electric vehicles was met with broader pushback from the environmental community that going electric is just the start. This means in addition to going electric the auto industry must shift material supply chains to include green aluminum and steel, deforestation-free and sustainable leather, rubber, and other materials to be truly carbon neutral.  

Mighty Earth’s CEO Glenn Hurowitz said:  

“It will be hard for GM to get ‘everybody in’ on electric vehicles without first figuring out where the steel and aluminum in their cars comes from. GM is helping move the world towards electric vehicles, but the materials that make up those vehicles are currently made with coal."  

“As the largest American auto company, GM has a unique opportunity to push its suppliers to shift to clean energy. Right now, GM is still a lemon when it comes to climate action, but it has shown it can change.”   

“Cleaning up the materials that go into making its cars should also allow GM to tackle some serious human rights issues in its supply chain. There’s simply no reason an American company should be using aluminum or steel that comes from forced Uyghur labor in China.”   

by Carole Mitchell

Civil Society Coalition Joint Letter on EU Deforestation Bill

by Mighty Earth

Importations de cacao des États-Unis : Les grands négociants agissant dans l’ombre se taillent la part du lion.

Mighty Earth et Stand.Earth ont entrepris collectivement des recherches préliminaires sur la chaîne d'approvisionnement du cacao, afin de mieux comprendre comment le cacao pénètre le plus grand marché du chocolat au monde, les États-Unis. Bien que les résultats confirment une grande partie de ce qui était déjà su, certaines nouvelles révélations sont stupéfiantes. Nos résultats sont accablants pour quelques négociants dominants, ils dévoilent le secret dans les importations de cacao/chocolat, un réseau international de blanchiment opaque de cacao et une dissimulation de bénéfices exorbitants pour les entreprises faits au détriment des pays producteurs pauvres.

Ces résultats sont issus de l'analyse des données de suivi des navires et des manifestes des navires américains, de janvier à octobre 2020, en utilisant divers algorithmes pour consolider les données. Nous nous sommes concentrés sur les importations américaines de cacao en provenance de quatre grands pays producteurs de cacao : Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire, Équateur et Pérou.

Les schémas d'exploitation des producteurs de cacao se poursuivent : Nos recherches révèlent à quel point les pays producteurs de cacao perdent des revenus substantiels en n'exportant pas directement vers les consommateurs, et en exportant des matières premières plutôt que des produits transformés à base de cacao. Cette situation est due aux modèles postcoloniaux d'exploitation du Sud par des sociétés occidentales prédatrices, aux accords commerciaux injustes dictés par les anciennes puissances coloniales et à l'échec de la gouvernance, de l'engagement et du développement des gouvernements producteurs de cacao. De gros volumes de fèves de cacao ivoiriennes et ghanéennes sont vendus aux États-Unis via la Belgique et l'Espagne, ce qui signifie que les revenus et les bénéfices qui pourraient aller aux agriculteurs sont détournés au profit de négociants étrangers.

Cette situation s'étend également à la propriété de la capacité de broyage. La capacité de broyage de la Côte d'Ivoire est considérablement importante - 16 % en 2019 - mais une grande partie de cette capacité est détenue par des sociétés étrangères. Bien que le broyage des fèves de cacao apporte plus de valeur au pays, la fuite des capitaux draine la plupart de ces revenus hors du pays. Le Ghana vend principalement des fèves de cacao mais, comparativement, il tire davantage profit de ce commerce en raison de son marché moins libéralisé où l'action des régulateurs réduit les chocs négatifs du marché.

L'UE exporte du cacao vers les États-Unis : 43 % des fèves de cacao du Ghana et de la Côte d'Ivoire passent par l'Europe - en particulier par l'Espagne et la Belgique - et sont souvent réexportées sans aucune valeur ajoutée. Cela indique que toute décision de l'UE sur la durabilité du cacao aura un impact massif sur la politique commerciale américaine en matière de cacao, et vice versa.

Autres pays de blanchiment du cacao - Panama et Colombie : De grandes quantités de cacao péruvien et équatorien transitent par le Panama et la Colombie vers les États-Unis. Pourtant, le Panama n'a jamais pris d'engagements en matière de cacao durable, n'a pas d'objectifs de traçabilité ou de transparence pour le cacao, et n'est pas encore scruté de manière appropriée en tant qu'acteur majeur du cacao. La durabilité de l'industrie cacaoyère panaméenne doit être réexaminée, et une "Initiative cacao et forêts" (CFI) pour le Panama serait un bon début. La Colombie a déjà pris des mesures avec sa propre "Initiative Cacao, Forêts et Paix" pour réformer son secteur. Nos recherches aboutissent à une conclusion claire : cette initiative devrait désormais couvrir tout le cacao qui transite par la Colombie, et pas seulement celui que les Colombiens cultivent.

L'ironie de la traçabilité : La traçabilité permet de faire la lumière sur l'origine du cacao afin de résoudre les problèmes au niveau des exploitations, mais elle doit également montrer où vont les produits du cacao. Outre le flou qui entoure la traçabilité et la problématique du cacao réexporté d'Europe, il existe des omissions généralisées et des erreurs érigées en normes dans les données d'importation américaines. Ce qui devrait figurer dans les données des manifestes de navires est souvent absent ou difficile à retracer, car les informations relatives à l'expéditeur et au destinataire sont supprimées. Nos recherches montrent un tel schéma et une telle pratique de l'obscurcissement que nous devons maintenant nous demander : "Que cachent les importateurs ?" En 2020, 40 millions de kilos de produits chocolatés non traçables sont entrés aux États-Unis. Le gouvernement américain doit réviser ses systèmes de contrôle pour s'assurer que le cacao devient traçable jusqu'aux entreprises impliquées dans la transaction réelle, et pas seulement jusqu'aux sociétés de transit. Cela signifie que les données américaines sur les importations et les exportations doivent s'améliorer considérablement et que les entreprises de chocolat devraient être obligées par les autorités américaines de divulguer l'ensemble de leurs chaînes d'approvisionnement mondiales aux deux extrémités, et pas seulement leurs fournisseurs.

L'UE est très en retard en matière de traçabilité du côté des importateurs : Si les données des manifestes douaniers américains doivent être grandement améliorées, l'UE a également un long chemin à parcourir. Actuellement, les données s'arrêtent au niveau des ports de l'UE. En raison du manque de transparence des systèmes de données des manifestes douaniers de l'UE, la dissimulation des crimes est facilitée car il n'existe aucun moyen de retracer le cacao des pays producteurs aux transformateurs ou aux fabricants. Ce manque de transparence est inacceptable pour une grande zone de consommation de cacao comme l'Europe. L'UE doit de toute urgence réformer ses données douanières pour les aligner sur les meilleures pratiques en matière de transparence des marchandises. La France a ainsi récemment établi un nouveau modèle avec des réformes pour la transparence des données douanières. Le reste de l'UE devrait imiter ce modèle et le renforcer.

L'astuce de camouflage du négociant : Alors que les fèves sont vendues en grandes quantités par le biais de chaînes d'approvisionnement intégrées comme Olam et Cargill, le chocolat fini, lui, semble provenir d'une grande variété de fabricants vers ce qui semble être, à première vue, une grande variété de destinataires. Un examen plus attentif révèle toutefois qu'il s'agit souvent de différentes itérations du nom de la même entreprise. Par exemple, nous avons trouvé 35 versions du nom du plus grand négociant de cacao au monde, "Barry Callebaut", ce qui revient à répartir le volume entre plusieurs entreprises, de sorte que la taille réelle de ses monopoles ou la valeur de son commerce ne sont pas visibles. Après avoir examiné toutes les versions des noms, nos recherches montrent clairement comment les plus grands négociants en cacao - Barry Callebaut, Olam, ECOM, Sucden et Cargill - mènent la danse. Nous avons même réussi à percer le brouillard pour montrer qu'ECOM est le plus grand négociant de fèves de cacao aux États-Unis, bien qu'il se cache entre autres sous le nom d'Atlantic Specialty Coffee. Si Barry Callebaut, Cargill, Olam, Sucden, ECOM et d'autres sociétés de négoce de cacao prennent au sérieux la traçabilité, ils devraient résoudre immédiatement ce problème de nomenclature, avec ou sans action réglementaire américaine. Le plus grand broyeur américain, Blommer, est totalement absent à la fin de la chaine et ne fournit que peu ou pas de données sur son site web pour garantir la traçabilité. Si ces compagnies n'ont rien à cacher, elles devraient explicitement publier leurs noms sur toutes leurs transactions. Il est grand temps de mettre fin au jeu de cache- cache.

Où allons-nous ? Nos recherches soulignent que l'administration Biden doit agir de manière décisive pour faire progresser la durabilité du cacao et créer de la synergie entre les divers organismes gouvernementaux dont l'engagement est chaotique, cloisonné et disparate. Les États-Unis devraient également envisager sérieusement la création d'une "ISCO". Cette plateforme multipartite pourrait réunir les agences gouvernementales fédérales appropriées, les ONG, les fabricants de chocolat et les négociants en cacao afin de renforcer la traçabilité, la transparence et la durabilité de l'industrie cacaoyère. Sur le plan législatif, la réglementation visant à limiter la déforestation importée se fait attendre depuis longtemps pour le chocolat et d'autres produits de base. En outre, au-delà de l'adoption de la législation, les États-Unis doivent s'engager régulièrement avec les pays producteurs de cacao pour améliorer la gouvernance et renforcer la voix des agriculteurs et de la société civile locale dans les discussions sur le cacao.

by Mighty Earth