Africa: Chocolate Giants Fuel Deforestation in West Africa’s Last Rainforest
An investigation by Global Witness links some of the world’s most popular chocolates, including Mars, Magnums, KitKat, Hersheys and Dairy Milk, to a new deforestation crisis in Liberia
Analysis of satellite and trade data alongside extensive industry interviews exposes an opaque system, allowing cocoa beans from deforested farms in Liberia to flow into some of the world’s best loved chocolates
The analysis reveals that Liberia’s cocoa belt lost an area of forest greater than the size of EU country Luxembourg between 2021 and 2024, with high commodity prices and rural poverty fuelling clearance for new farms
Supply chain mapping shows how major European traders sell Liberian cocoa with high deforestation risk to big brands, often sold mixed or blended with deforestation-free cocoa from other countries, through a system called “mass balance”
The analysis identified that these mass balance supply chains containing deforestation-linked cocoa from Liberia are certified “sustainable” by Rainforest Alliance
A confectionery giant exposed to Liberian deforestation is Mondelēz, one of the few major chocolatiers consistently pushing for delays to a major EU anti-deforestation law
What is the cost of an afternoon chocolate fix? For iconic brands like Dairy Milk, KitKat and Mars, it may be some of West Africa’s last rainforests.
A new investigation by Global Witness reveals how Europe’s hunger for chocolate is helping to drive a new deforestation crisis in Liberia.
An analysis of satellite imagery shows the extent of the devastation, with the country’s largest cocoa producing counties – known as the “cocoa belt” – losing an area of forest greater than the EU country of Luxembourg between 2021-2024.
Global Witness’s on-the-ground reporting, extensive insider interviews and data analysis uncovers an opaque, untraceable cocoa supply chain that allows beans grown in deforested areas of Liberia’s cocoa belt to end up in some of the world’s best-selling chocolates.
Supply chain mapping shows that Hershey, Mondelēz (Cadbury), Nestlé, Unilever and Mars – which together dominate international sales of chocolate – are exposed to deforestation in Liberia through their “mass balance” purchasing practices.
While none of these brands source directly from the country, Global Witness’s research uncovers how the companies purchase mixed or blended cocoa products in bulk from traders buying Liberian cocoa, where this new wave of deforestation is taking place.
The mass balance system allows mixing of deforestation-free, or “clean”, traceable cocoa with untraceable cocoa from multiple origins, rendering it impossible for the chocolatiers to rule out Liberian beans entering their products.
The result is an indirect supply of cocoa likely to be grown on deforested land, and a hidden Liberian deforestation footprint for the world’s largest chocolate companies.
“Black gold” scramble fuels forest destruction
Global Witness’ analysis of trade data shows how major commodity houses including ECOM, Touton, OFI (Olam) and Cargill have played a crucial role in connecting Liberian beans to these chocolatiers, with more than 20 million kg of this high deforestation-risk Liberian cocoa imported into the EU between 2022-2025.
Cocoa exports from Liberia to Europe reached record levels this year, according to our analysis of supply chain data, pointing to a growing market and potentially more problems to come.
Global Witness also found that much of this chocolate resulting from this opaque, mass balance system is certified as “sustainable”.
Every trader and chocolatier sourcing Liberian cocoa beans named in this report has had their supply chain certified by Rainforest Alliance – a business-friendly green labelling scheme that this investigation suggests risks misleading consumers.
On the ground in Liberia, Global Witness found that record international prices for cocoa are a key motivator for clearing forest to plant “black gold” in Liberia’s largest cocoa-producing counties in the north of the country.
One farmer told Global Witness: “People are going for cocoa like hell.”
Liberia’s forests are of immense importance. The country holds the largest remaining extent of the Upper Guinean Rainforest ecosystem, which plays a crucial role as a habitat for endangered chimpanzees and for regulating regional rainfall.
Global Witness visited newly cleared farms in the so called “cocoa belt” of Bong, Nimba and Lofa counties, which have lost over 250,000 hectares (ha) of forest between 2021-2024.
The new cocoa farms ranged from one-hectare smallholdings – almost impossible to pick up via satellite imagery – to larger plantation-style plots, with forest clearances of 40-50 ha.
Many of the farmers who spoke to us have plans to expand, suggesting this crisis may be accelerating rather than slowing down.
Global Witness’ analysis also found that these counties in the cocoa belt had suffered the highest rates of deforestation in the same period.
The findings come after recent investigations by Ivorian campaign group IDEF demonstrated very high rates of deforestation in Liberia’s south-east, driven by a wave of migration from Ivorian and Burkinabe farmers looking for new land for cocoa planting.
Global Witness interviewed more than 30 sources in the Liberian cocoa sector, including farmers, rural traders and exporters in Liberia’s capital, Monrovia.
The investigation found the entire informal system hinges on “middlemen” – rural traders in the cocoa belt who are the crucial intermediaries between small-scale cocoa farmers and the exporters.
They made it clear to our investigators that they purchased indiscriminately from any farmer that was selling.
This practice, combined with exporters’ continued purchases from these middlemen, undermines any effort to procure deforestation-free cocoa and allows beans from Bong, Lofa and Nimba belt to flow freely to the capital with little to no traceability.
Satellite view of a farm visited by Global Witness in Nimba County, where an estimated 40 hectares have been cleared for cocoa planting.
Weakened EUDR harms Liberia’s forests
In response to the shortcomings of voluntary certification, a new law known as the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) is due to enter into application at the end of this year.
The law will require companies selling in Europe to prove that products like chocolate are fully traceable and therefore free from deforestation.
The upcoming regulation has begun to drive a more sustainable cocoa sector in Liberia.
We interviewed several Liberian exporters that are beginning to recognise the value of traceability, mapping their supplier farms to ensure continued access to European markets and reduce their reliance on middlemen.
European cocoa campaigner Antonie Fountain told Global Witness: “I can’t imagine that this could ever have happened without the EUDR.
“In fact, I have heard several very senior private sector executives state that they have made more progress in the past two years than in the past 20 due to the upcoming law.”
These efforts may be at risk as the European Commission has now proposed a further delay to the law.
Liberian exporters told Global Witness that they have received little financial or technical support from international traders and processors – even though traders need these systems in place for upstream actors to comply – in order to meet their own incoming obligations under the EUDR.
One of the companies identified in this report as indirectly fuelling the Liberian cocoa boom is confectionery giant Mondelēz. It has been a key voice lobbying for a delay to the EUDR, blaming farmers for a lack of preparation.
In contrast, other companies named in this report – such as Mars, Nestlé and Barry Callebaut – have strongly supported the law and argued against further delays.
With the EU deforestation law now under threat, Liberia’s forests face an uncertain future.
The ghost of Côte d’Ivoire’s ravaged forests looms over its neighbour, offering a warning on the potential environmental cost of cocoa.
The Liberian government’s recently announced agricultural strategy aims to plant 40,000 ha of cocoa and coffee in the next five years to boost rural incomes, which further risks exacerbating deforestation in the country.
Bakary Traoré – an Ivorian cocoa expert and Executive Director of IDEF – issued a dire prediction to Global Witness.
“If things continue at the current pace, it is entirely plausible to say that Liberia will find its forests in a similar position to those of Côte d’Ivoire – not in 20 years, but in 10 or even less.”
Cocoa has been a major driver of deforestation in Cote d’Ivoire
Forests in danger: A warning from Liberia’s neighbours
Liberia is home to the largest remaining area of the Upper Guinean Rainforest ecosystem which stretches from Ghana to Sierra Leone.
The country’s share of this rare and critical ecosystem contains a carbon stock estimated to be equivalent to the annual CO2 equivalent emissions of Japan.
These forests also provide vital resources for local communities: 70% of Liberian households collect forest products either to consume themselves or to sell – usually for housing materials, bushmeat or fuel.
Cocoa is suited to agroforestry – growing crops alongside trees, under a forest canopy – but many farmers still rely on the destructive practice of slash and burn.
“They [the farmers] prefer making maximum use of the land. They will plant rice and cassava, intercropping with the cocoa,” says local farmer and agricultural consultant Jerome.
Yet while cocoa development in neighbouring Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana has helped bring the countries relative prosperity by regional standards, both countries have seen their forests decimated in the process.
Côte d’Ivoire now has very few remaining forests outside of protected areas, which are now also increasingly under threat.
Is Liberia learning from its neighbours’ mistakes, or is it heading down the same path?
Global Witness reporters flew to the country to find out more.
More boom and bust? Meeting Liberia’s cocoa farmers
Down a dirt path in Liberia, turned into a mire by relentless driving rain, our reporters came across a new farm.
Where a dense forest stood two years ago in Bong County, there are now rows of young cocoa plants.
“This is our family forest, from our father,” says the farm’s owner, Paul, who owns 400 acres of land.
“Before I started to plant the cocoa and banana, only the forest was here,” he says, adding that he started to clear for planting in 2023.
Cutting down huge trees with just an axe is hard work, but Paul nevertheless plans to expand the farm in future.
The motivation is simple: “Cocoa has [sic] money.”
Paul isn’t alone. This sentiment was echoed in interviews with farmers across Liberia’s cocoa-growing regions. The high price is a vital lifeline in a country where rural poverty is especially pronounced.
The local boom is driven by a global one. The price of cocoa has rocketed globally in the last few years, due to crop failure in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire after a cycle of flooding and drought. Together, the countries produce around 50-60% of the world’s cocoa.
Like its neighbours, the Liberian climate is suited for cocoa growing, but unlike them, the price of cocoa is only loosely controlled by the government.
“The farm-gate price for cocoa in Liberia is currently about three times higher than in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire,” says Darwon, a cocoa farmer from Nimba county.
To capitalise on the rise in cocoa prices, new farms are springing up across Bong, Nimba and Lofa counties, Liberia’s cocoa heartland.
Unsurprisingly, it is these same counties that have seen the country’s highest deforestation rates since 2021.
The promise of the trade is also creating a phenomenon where Ivorian and Burkinabe farmers and workers are crossing the border to plant cocoa in Liberia’s south-eastern counties, further accelerating forest loss in the country.
Ironically, the ecological changes brought about by this deforestation may lead to the industry’s own downfall, as seen with the crop failure in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana that drove up prices.
French researcher François Ruf highlighted the “boom and bust” cycle of the cocoa sector over 30 years ago.
Ruf highlighted how mass deforestation for cocoa leads to a lack of rainfall and more pests, causing a fall in cocoa productivity that leads farmers to new pastures to repeat the process.
“Liberia’s cocoa boom is a good example of the historical and universal pattern of such booms,” wrote Ruf last year.
Farmers like Paul and Darwon told us where to look next to understand the trade: they sell to traders in the regional capitals.
“You can sell it by the cup. People come around to buy from the local farms, measure it, and sell it for $5 dollars a cup,” a farm manager named Akin tells us.
“Or people go to Gbarnga [the capital of Bong County] and sell it on the side of the street.”
The role of “middlemen”
Most Liberian cocoa farms are smallholdings, not large plantations. The average size is estimated to be around 2 ha – roughly the size of 1.5 football fields.
Consequently, most farmers sell to a group of traders called “middlemen” locally, rather than spending vital earnings transporting small amounts of cocoa to Monrovia.
Several farmers also told us they sell to informal mobile traders who visit farms by motorcycle, who likely sell on to more established traders in the cities.
Managers of two larger farms also told us that they purchase directly from smaller farms, further complicating the supply chain.
In Bong County’s capital Gbarnga, as well as in towns in Lofa and Nimba, Global Witness interviewed eight middlemen and found that they constitute an essential link in the chain.
The middlemen run small informal operations. One showed us notes of sale for his cocoa, all handwritten in notebooks.
Cocoa is left to dry on the street, as the middlemen can’t afford driers. Much of the bean’s quality is lost this way, and many beans are discarded.
Several middlemen told us clearly: the international cocoa exporters they sell to in Monrovia do not ask for proof that the cocoa they provide is deforestation-free.
Without this key demand, they just keep the cocoa flowing to the country’s capital, regardless of its origin.
Once a middleman has accumulated enough product to make the trip worthwhile, cocoa is loaded in a van and sold to exporters in Monrovia, ready for the long journey to Europe via sea.
Monrovia’s international cocoa sellers
In the humming port area of Monrovia, a small group of international exporters fill warehouses with Liberian cocoa purchased from middlemen to prepare them for departure to the traders, processors and grinders.
Global Witness spoke to six exporters in the capital, often while warehouse operators lugged heavy jute bags full of cocoa.
Aya Group and Granex Group are two of Liberia’s largest international sellers. They told us they are beginning to map their suppliers’ farms due to pressure from Europe.
Granex claims to have mapped “about 75-80%” of their supplier farms.
Another exporter told us that despite much of their supply heading to Malaysia, “someone from head office” was coming to start mapping farms
The EUDR seems to be encouraging some companies to take sustainability seriously, however, this effort to map suppliers is not universal.
The manager of Trade Link, another Liberian export business, confirmed to Global Witness that it “is mapping 5,000 farms” for EUDR compliance.
He told Global Witness that Trade Link purchases from farms that have deforested in the last few years and was confused as to whether the EUDR would allow him to continue sourcing from such farms.
“We have more reserve forest,” he says, referring to Liberia’s small network of protected areas.
Global Witness investigators also saw no evidence that exporters were separating cocoa they purchased from mapped farms and cocoa purchased from middlemen.
And despite any mapping efforts, all the exporters we interviewed still source from middlemen. While they do this, there is no chance of a sustainable supply chain.
Aya Group told Global Witness that it was proud to be the first group to map over 20,000 supplier farms, and that “its supply chain is structured to minimise reliance on middlemen.”
Trade Link and Granex Group did not reply to Global Witness’ requests for comment.
Liberian cocoa goes global
Supply chain data and interviews with exporters help to show where Liberian cocoa is going.
Major buyers who purchase or have purchased from the six exporters interviewed by Global Witness in recent years include Turkey’s Altinmarka and the Netherland’s ECOM, as well as major chocolate trader Cargill (although these imports appear to have ended in 2023), OFI (Olam) and Barry Callebaut.
Liberian cocoa also goes to Asian processors JB Cocoa and Guan Chong Berhard.
ECOM, one of the world’s largest cocoa traders, claims on its website that it is “[p]ushing the boundaries of sustainability at every opportunity.”
The company appears to be publicly distancing itself from Liberian deforestation. Between its 2023 and 2024 cocoa sustainability reports, Liberia vanished from its supplier map.
But customs data tells a different story. Shipping documents show ECOM purchased cocoa from Liberia in 2024 and up to January 2025, when the company appeared to stop sourcing from Liberia.
ECOM told Global Witness: “[C]urrently we do not have any open purchases of beans from Liberia,” although it accepted it had made purchases in 2024 and that the removal of Liberia from its 2024 Sustainability Report was done in error.
ECOM takes care to distinguish between different levels of its supply chain in its reporting. In countries such as Ghana, it sources its “origin” cocoa directly from farms through its representatives in-country. In Liberia, however, it sourced from the country’s cocoa exporters, rather than directly, until this year.
When Global Witness asked what support ECOM had given to its Liberian suppliers to achieve traceability and reduce deforestation, it told us that this information was confidential.
Campaign group Mighty Earth told Global Witness: “All actors in the cocoa supply chain have a role to play in ensuring compliance and providing support to smallholders.”
“Traders play a central role, as they have both the in-country resources and supply chain accessibility to provide financial and material support to smallholders.”
Touton, meanwhile, is a major French trader and processor that holds a unique role in Liberia, appearing to purchase in-country from other exporters such as Aya and Granex Group before shipping under its own name.
According to customs data analysed by Global Witness, it was the largest single exporter of Liberian cocoa between 2022 and 2025.
They also sell to Altinmarka and ship cocoa beans to their own European operations via a Netherlands subsidiary of an international logistics partner.
Neither Touton nor Altinmarka replied to Global Witness’ multiple requests for comment.
Cargill said it does not directly source (or otherwise purchase) cocoa of Liberian origin from Aya Group, ECOM or Touton. It added: “We can further clarify that, based on our information, we have no knowledge of prior purchases from these entities.”
Global Witness’s analysis of customs data suggests Cargill ceased purchasing directly from Liberian exporter Aya Group in 2023, after its Belgian subsidiary imported over a million kilogrammes of Liberian cocoa that year.
OFI (Olam) said its “aim is to become forest positive across our business by 2030” and “as emerging origins grow in importance, suppliers in such locations, as in other origins, must comply with our no-deforestation requirements.”
It also stated in response to Global Witness’ findings: “[W]e will assess this carefully and as required, engage with our suppliers and investigate suitable mitigation actions.”
Barry Callebaut said: “Sustainability is a core priority for Barry Callebaut, embedded in every aspect of our strategy and operations. We are acutely aware of the environmental and social challenges facing the cocoa sector, including deforestation, climate change, and the need for transparent, responsible supply chains.
“In the 2024/25 season, Barry Callebaut sourced approximately 0.11% of its total cocoa bean volumes from Liberia, reflecting an exceptional volatile and unprecedented market environment. This very small quantity illustrates our effort to responsibly meet customer needs during extraordinary market conditions.”
Guan Chong said: “Guan Chong strives to conduct its sourcing responsibly. With regard to cocoa sourced from Liberia, volumes sourced have been modest and used exclusively in conventional product streams.”
Guan Chong did not reply to Global Witness’ request for further clarifications on the meaning of “conventional product streams” and whether the company could rule out selling Liberian cocoa to major chocolatiers.
JB Cocoa said: “We would like to reaffirm that all our cocoa bean supplies are sourced in line with our Code of Conduct and sustainability commitments.”
The full responses from all companies mentioned in this report are included in a downloadable document at the bottom of this page.
Blended deforestation
These traders and processors are the global equivalent of Liberian middlemen – they buy as much cocoa around the world as they can to sell to firms including Nestlé, Unilever, Hershey, Mondelēz and Mars.
On condition of anonymity, an insider at a major chocolate brand spoke to Global Witness. The source told us that the role of traders is simply to meet demand, and it is common practice at chocolate majors to blend beans from different origins.
Processors blend cocoa beans from different regions – usually referred to as a “West African blend” – into “cocoa mass”, “cocoa butter” or “liquor”, which are the key ingredients of chocolate bars, often mixed according to the company’s specific recipe.
Statements from various company websites back up this source’s account of the process.
Altinmarka was the largest European buyer of cocoa from Liberia between 2022 and 2025 through its Bulgarian subsidiary, and is a key supplier to Mondelēz and Nestlé.
It publicly states: “[W]here different origin beans are required for a specific recipe, they are blended and mixed in right [sic] proportion.”
Altinmarka did not respond to Global Witness’s request for comment.
JB Cocoa also states that it “produce[s] cocoa mass by carefully blending cocoa beans from different origins” and offers a “West African blend” to consumers on their website.
Mars, Nestlé, Mondelēz and Hershey state publicly that they rely on a “mass balance” system, which allows cocoa sourced from farms that are certified as sustainable and beans from any origin to be mixed together.
Unilever state they source mass balance in certain situations but “have a preference for a segregated supply chain”.
The mass balance and blending system makes it impossible for chocolate companies buying from ECOM, Touton and Cargill, to prevent cocoa from deforested Liberian farms from entering their supply chain.
Global Witness presented the chocolatiers and suppliers with our findings.
A Mars spokesperson said: “Mars does not source cocoa from Liberia, and our suppliers are not sourcing cocoa from Liberia for cocoa sourced under the Mars Responsibly Sourced Cocoa Program.”
When Global Witness provided further evidence that showed that this statement appeared difficult to substantiate from Mars’ own sustainability reporting and its use of mass balance cocoa, Mars declined to provide further information.
Unilever said that “we are confident that our exposure to cocoa from Liberia is very small to negligible.”
Nestlé said “We currently do not operate in or source directly from Liberia. However, we are aware that the risk of deforestation in Liberia is a growing concern within the broader cocoa industry.”
It also stated that “[n]early 90% of the KitKat produced in Europe carries Mixed Identity Preserved (Mixed IP) cocoa mass sourced from the cocoa farming families engaged in the Income Accelerator Program.”
When Global Witness asked for further information about how it could rule out Liberian cocoa entering its supply chain through a mass balance system, Nestlé declined to provide further information.
Hershey stated: “We take allegations of deforestation and human rights violations in our supply chain extremely seriously.
“Hershey is committed to responsible sourcing and upholding the highest standards of traceability, sustainability, and transparency across all our cocoa supply chains.
“We acknowledge the risk that cocoa grown on deforested land may enter complex supply chains, particularly where middlemen and exporters operate with limited traceability.”
Mondelēz did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Certified sustainable
Yet despite this opaque mixed supply chain, Global Witness’ research shows that every trader and chocolatier mentioned in this report is certified “sustainable”.
Traders and chocolatiers can receive a sustainability certification for their “mass balance” cocoa system under Rainforest Alliance’s “Sustainable Agriculture Standard”.
The eco-label’s “mass balance” version of this certification allows certified and non-certified beans to be mixed together along the supply chain – even if the non-certified beans are linked to deforestation.
In practice, this system allows traders to sell cocoa mass or liquor to companies that contain no cocoa from a Rainforest Alliance-certified farm at all.
For a chocolate bar to hold the Rainforest Alliance seal, a company only needs to source “100% of the equivalent certified volume” from certified farms – i.e. a company can sell 10kg of product as “mass balance” if they have purchased 10kg from certified sources, even if the product they are selling does not include any certified product.
Not a single Liberian cocoa farm has received certification under Rainforest Alliance’s scheme.
Tiago Reis, a land and food systems expert at WWF Brazil, says: “Mass balance systems are not effective at stopping deforestation.”
“In the cocoa sector, any companies purchasing mass balance at even reasonably large volumes are creating a market for black box cocoa,” according to cocoa expert Antonie Fountain.
Rainforest Alliance’s certification scheme is central to the organisation’s business model and cocoa certification is its most profitable certification scheme after coffee.
“Every certifier has a business model based on volumes sold. So, of course this will affect the robustness of their certifications. There will always be a trade-off between rigour of standards and ability to sell at volume,” adds Fountain.
Cocoa certification earnt the organisation over $18 million in 2023, the latest year financial reports were available.
Rainforest Alliance told Global Witness that it “reinvests this revenue income, including certification-related services, into our global sustainability and landscape, and communities.”
“Even if their certification label says, ‘mixed sources’, it still conveys a certain message to consumers, who may have trouble differentiating between different types of labels,” wrote Greenpeace in 2021 as part of its campaign for the EUDR.
Now the major chocolate companies are also creating their own sustainability programmes, such as Mondelēz’s Cocoa Life and Nestlé’s Cocoa Plan.
According to Fountain’s Cocoa Barometer, these schemes are “much less transparent than Fairtrade and Rainforest Alliance, potentially leading to a race to the bottom.”
Rainforest Alliance said: “Our certification standard requires that certified cocoa does not come from deforested areas.
“We encourage cocoa companies to use a segregated sourcing model because the certified ingredients are kept separate from non-certified ingredients.
“At the same time, we recognize that mass balance sourcing makes the sale of certified cocoa easier and ultimately supports farmers who are certified.”
Many NGOs have denounced voluntary certifications as ineffective and have been calling for legal measures to ensure guaranteed zero-deforestation in supply chains instead.
EUDR: New zero-deforestation law under attack
The EUDR is one law with wide backing from civil society.
A prior Global Witness analysis suggests that it could save up to 8 million hectares of forest over the next decade if it enters into application on time – an area approximately the size of Austria.
The law has rejected the mass balance approach and will require major chocolate companies to prove that any cocoa or other agricultural commodity sold in the EU is not linked to deforestation post 2021.
The law – as written at the time of this investigation – says: “Mass balance chains of custody that allow for the mixing – at any step of the supply chain – of deforestation-free commodities with commodities of unknown origin or non-deforestation-free commodities are not allowed under the Regulation, because they do not guarantee that the commodities placed on the market or exported, are deforestation-free.”
The EUDR has brought a business imperative for chocolate companies to finally tackle deforestation: access to the European market.
But the law that brought this progress is now under threat.
In 2024, the law was passed but does not yet apply to businesses importing into the EU, because its coming into force was delayed by a year under heavy pressure from businesses, including from the European Cocoa Association.
This delay means that importing commodities grown on deforested areas to the EU is not yet illegal at this time.
To the dismay of many NGOs, in September 2025, the European Commission proposed delaying the law a further year, citing IT issues.
Investigative NGO Earthsight says that the EU has “once again caved to industry pressure.”
Chocolate giant Mondelēz – whom Global Witness has shown to be at high risk of exposure to Liberian deforestation through its purchases from ECOM, Cargill, Touton, OFI (Olam) and Barry Callebaut – has been a major voice pushing for further delays, despite the company having a zero-deforestation commitment.
Politico reported in July 2025 that Mondelēz stated that while they were prepared for the law, farmers were “far from being ready.”
In contrast, Nestlé, Mars, Ferrero and Barry Callebaut have urged the EU not to delay the law any further in a public joint letter, emphasising that they are “deeply concerned by repeated attempts to delay, revise, or even repeal the Regulation.”
Liberia is one of the poorest countries in the world. According to the World Bank, 71.6% of Liberia’s rural population live in poverty.
Mondelez made over $11 billion in revenue from chocolate sales alone in 2024, more than double Liberia’s GDP.
A recent study by Dutch consultancy firm Profundo assessed that the cost of EUDR compliance was a mere 0.10% of global revenues.
Global Witness asked Mondelēz if it accepted that it has failed to provide sufficient financial and technical support to its indirect suppliers in Liberia to achieve traceability and eliminate deforestation, but we did not receive a reply.
But Global Witness’ industry source says Mondelēz is not ready because the company’s own self certification programme has not sufficiently focused on traceability.
“Well if you pay them [the suppliers] they’ll be ready like that,” the anonymous source said – suggesting that Mondelēz could easily tackle traceability in their supply chains by offering a financial incentive.
Climate campaigners are concerned that if the EUDR is weakened or postponed again, enormous progress to tackle deforestation will be gone.
“Farmers, traders and companies have invested time and money to become compliant. The EU needs to follow through on their commitment and create a level playing field for companies importing cocoa in the EU,” said Mighty Earth.
Local solutions
Amid threats to the EUDR, a new locally-run initiative is helping to keep Liberia’s forests intact.
The new project, called Payment for Stewardship, set up by Liberian environmentalist Silas Siakor*, aims to ensure that local communities in Liberia get paid for preserving their forest.
Silas Siakor is a longtime campaigner who won the Goldman Prize in 2006, often referred to as the “Nobel Prize for Environmentalism”.
Siakor was recognised for his work exposing how illegal timber was funding the bloody campaign of Liberian warlord Charles Taylor.
“It’s based in the community’s effort and interest to do this, as compared to outsiders telling them what to do,” Siakor says, contrasting his scheme with the much-criticised REDD+ programme of carbon credits.
“It’s actually about what people are able to do on the ground.”
The money will be paid into community funds, with $1.50 for every hectare that communities agree to protect.
Siakor has mobilised microfinance schemes for community development as part of the agreement, but says he also understands the need for cash in villager’s pockets.
In the deeply forested Sinoe County, 500km2 is already protected by the Stewardship programme – an area approximately the same size as Madrid.
Siakor is aiming for 2000km2 to be protected under the programme by 2027 and says that cocoa counties Lofa and Nimba are on the list of areas he’d like to see protected by the scheme. Sadly, Bong County may already be too deforested to qualify.
He faces a significant challenge to establish the schemes’ credibility, and to prove he can succeed in protecting forests where others have failed.
Previous schemes, such as REDD+, that have aimed to monetise forest protection have faced significant criticism, with a major study in Science published in October showing that forest carbon credits have “only delivered partial gains and persistent-over crediting.”
Global Witness asked him what major EU companies sourcing cocoa from Liberia could do to help to save Liberia’s forests.
“Cocoa has a place in the Liberian economy, and people’s livelihood strategies. I would expect the companies would want to invest in identifying farmers and helping them to map their farms, so they are able to demonstrate origin of their cocoa beans,” he says.
“I’m not sure why they are not stepping up to do that, but that will certainly benefit them, and it will also benefit the Liberian farmers.”
Siakor pauses to reflect.
“There is potential to do cocoa at scale in a way that is environmentally helpful. Unfortunately, the companies tend to want quick profits.”
Full company responses to “Chocolate giants fuel deforestation in West Africa’s last rainforest”
Download Resource
Methodology
Global Witness analysed customs data obtained from ExportGenius’ platform showing all cocoa exports from Liberia that left by cargo ship in the last three years.
Global Witness used Hansen’s tree cover loss data for Bong, Nimba and Lofa Counties for available years of 2021-2024 to assess how the largest cocoa-producing counties, or “cocoa belt”, had lost over 250,000 ha of forest between 2021-2024.
The reader should be advised that although these are the largest cocoa-producing counties, not all deforestation in these counties is for cocoa, with small scale agriculture, mining, palm oil and rubber production also likely to be significant contributors to forest loss.
Global Witness visited 12 cocoa farms in these counties to verify cocoa-related clearance and spoke with more than 30 sources total to map the supply chain for Liberian cocoa. We infer that a significant amount of this clearance is for cocoa production, often intercropped with subsistence farming crops, such as rice or cassava.
* Please note that Silas Siakor was previously a member of the Global Witness Advisory Council. Global Witness played no role in funding or setting up the Payment for Stewardships Scheme.
By Global Witness.
