A new report reveals that Cameroon is becoming the next major hotspot for cocoa-driven deforestation. As productivity declines in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire due to global heating, crop disease, and outdated farming practices, Cameroon’s cocoa industry is booming, increasing the threat to the country’s forests and wildlife. Mighty Earth is sounding the alarm that without urgent action by the Cameroonian government, cocoa companies and the EU there is a major risk of deforestation spreading as it has done in Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire leading to massive forest loss in those key producing countries.
Cameroon is now the world’s fifth-largest cocoa producer and has set a goal to triple production by 2030—a move that is increasing pressure on the country’s forests and hugely biodiverse ecosystems. The report highlights that 2024 marked the highest year of forest loss in Cameroon to date, with some districts having lost as much as 43% of their forest coverage since 2020. A surge in cocoa-driven deforestation near Nkondjock district, which is adjacent to the Ebo Wildlife Reserve, poses a risk to the habitat of critically endangered charismatic megafauna such as Western Lowland Gorillas and Forest Elephants.
Surging deforestation
Cameroon is now the world’s fifth-largest cocoa producer and has set a goal to triple production by 2030—a move that is increasing pressure on the country’s forests and hugely biodiverse ecosystems. The report highlights that 2024 marked the highest year of forest loss in Cameroon to date, with some districts having lost as much as 43% of their forest coverage since 2020. A surge in cocoa-driven deforestation near Nkondjock district, which is adjacent to the Ebo Wildlife Reserve, poses a risk to the habitat of critically endangered charismatic megafauna such as Western Lowland Gorillas and Forest Elephants.
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