WASHINGTON (March 16, 2017) - Today, twelve of the world’s leading cocoa and chocolate companies announced their plans to eliminate deforestation and forest degradation from the global cocoa supply chain.

Following is a statement by Rod Taylor, Global Director, Forests Program, World Resources Institute:

“Almost everyone loves chocolate. Now we can enjoy chocolate even more knowing that major cocoa producers are committed to eliminate deforestation from their supply chains. Left unchecked, expanding cocoa production would continue to eat away at forests from Africa to South America, which endangers biodiversity, worsens climate change and threatens local livelihoods. It also hurts the productivity of cocoa farmers by reducing shade cover, disrupting water supplies, and causing soil erosion.

“We encourage the cocoa industry to meet growing demand for chocolate by working with farmers and communities to identify degraded land suitable for new plantations and by improving yields from existing plantations. In this way, we can have more chocolate, while limiting cocoa plantation expansion in the world's remaining pristine forests."

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