FERRERO ENTERS A COOPERATIVE INITIATIVE TO END DEFORESTATION IN THE GLOBAL COCOA SUPPLY CHAIN
Ferrero, together with other eleven world's leading cocoa and chocolate companies, signed a statement of collective intent committing to work together so as to end deforestation and forest degradation in the global cocoa supply chain, with an initial focus on Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana.
“Ferrero believes that global challenges such as deforestation need collective commitments” said Aldo Uva, Chief Officer Operating Supply and Strategic Business Platform, Ferrero, “Beginning in September 2014, Ferrero signed the New York Declaration on Forests during the Climate Summit. Today, through this statement of collective intent to end deforestation and forest degradation in the global cocoa supply chain, we are adding another milestone to our commitment to end deforestation in our key supply chains.”
The agreement, concluded during a meeting hosted by HRH The Prince of Wales and organized by World Cocoa Foundation (WCF), IDH-the Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH) and The Prince's International Sustainability Unit (ISU), is the first of its kind covering the global cocoa supply chain. It aims to develop an actionable suite of measures to end deforestation and forest degradation, including greater investments in more sustainable forms of landscape management; more active efforts in partnership with others to protect and restore forests in the cocoa landscape; and significant investments in programs to improve cocoa productivity for smallholder farmers working in the cocoa supply chain. Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana are the world’s leading producers of cocoa, and many observers point to cocoa farming as a driving force behind rapid rates of deforestation in both countries.
