As the European Union considers further delays to its anti-deforestation regulation, a new investigation in Liberia shows how the explosion of cocoa plantations is leading to rampant deforestation and promoting child labour.
The Initiatives for Community Development and Forest Conservation Association, an Ivorian NGO, reports “colossal” deforestation of Liberia’s primary forests and reveals possible cases of human trafficking and exploitation, including probably minors, for cocoa production.
This deforestation, most of which is illegal under Liberian law, also violates the European Union’s Regulation on Deforestation, the EUDR, which technically went into force in 2023. But two years later, the law still isn’t actually being applied – and the European Commission has just proposed to further postpone the law’s application
“While Europe dithers and keeps putting off the implementation of its law, there will be no forests left in Liberia and it will be too late,” said Bakary Traoré, Executive Director of IDEF.
Rampant deforestation
After decades of unsustainable agricultural practices characterised by massive deforestation and the uncontrolled use of pesticides and chemical fertilisers, the soil in Côte d’Ivoire has become so depleted that it is increasingly difficult to establish new cocoa plantations.
This situation is prompting many producers to turn to neighbouring Liberia, which still has huge reserves of primary forest (40% of West Africa’s primary forests, according to the FAO).
Since 2000, according to Global Forest Watch, Liberia has lost 23% of its vegetation cover due to cocoa planting. In 2022 alone, the country recorded a loss of 150,000 hectares, equivalent to 210,000 football pitches.
The new IDEF report shows that the situation is only getting worse, particularly in the border regions with Côte d’Ivoire, where the survey was conducted (Grand Gedeh region).
“The Liberian authorities in the Grand Gedeh region, where we collected the data, have registered 38,000 newcomers to cocoa farming in southeastern Liberia. According to our discussions with those directly involved in this migration, this figure could be tripled, with all those who slip under the radar,” says Bakary Traoré.
The survey also shows how, in just a few years, the size of plots of land cleared for cultivation has exploded. The land is leased on the basis of a system known as “planté/partagé,” with some confusion as to the nature of the sharing arrangement and its duration.
“The scale of deforestation is colossal. In the localities we visited, all the families had ceded forest plots ranging from 50 to 300 hectares, compared to 8 or 10 hectares in our previous report last year. We must react quickly. Otherwise, in 10 years at most, Liberia’s vast forest cover will be nothing more than a distant memory.
“With the situation in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, we have the necessary hindsight to know that this situation will have a disastrous impact on the lives of communities that depend on forests and on subsistence agriculture. We need a general mobilisation to save Liberia’s forests,” says Bakary Traoré.
The key role of the European Union
The European Union is by far the world’s largest importer of cocoa. In 2023, it adopted a regulation against deforestation and forest degradation that prohibits the marketing of products on the European market that have contributed to deforestation or forest degradation after 31 December 2020. Seven products are affected: coffee, cocoa, rubber, palm oil, soy, beef and timber.
This regulation could play a fundamental role in curbing this trend. Cocoa produced through deforestation, as reported in the IDEF investigation, would not be able to be exported to the European market. Similarly, because the Grand Gedeh region is a peripheral region with few links to Liberian centres, there is a risk that Liberian beans could enter the Ivory Coast’s supply chain, which would also be problematic in terms of the EUDR.
Despite the EUDR’s key role in combating deforestation caused by cocoa production, the Commission has just announced that it intends to postpone its implementation once again.
“The situation on the ground is extremely worrying. Even though Europe could play a key role in saving these forests and helping these communities thanks to its regulations on deforestation, it is failing to do so because of its constant procrastination. If Europe continues down this path, its international credibility will be called into question,” Bakary Traoré.
Exploited children
The investigation also shows how, beyond the issue of deforestation, a problem of human trafficking is emerging. When cocoa producers rent land, they bring in labour to work the plots. Many young people – most likely including minors – are recruited by the thousands through intermediaries. Without contracts or wages, these young people have only the promise of their “guardians,” on whom they are entirely dependent, that they will receive a share once the plot has been cleared.
“What strikes you when you travel along country roads and through villages is the number of young men you see. For example, one guardian told me that there is no locality in the region without migrant workers, and that they outnumber Liberians in most villages. All the young people I met claimed to be 20 or older, despite their particularly youthful appearance. It is highly likely that they were advised to do so by those who brought them here,” says Bakary Traoré.
A harmful situation that could lead to conflicts with communities
In Liberia, the issue of land ownership has been very sensitive since the civil war of the 1990s. The dynamics of deforestation described in the report are causing serious concern: much of the land currently claimed as community land in the Grand Gedeh region is leased for cocoa cultivation in violation of Liberian land rights law. Some of these cocoa plantations also encroach on existing concessions.
“Land grabs have led to conflicts and tensions between community leaders, community members and cocoa farmers. This has resulted in violent incidents, such as those that took place in the Gbarzon district of Grand Gedeh earlier this year. We urgently call on the Government of Liberia, in particular the Liberia Land Authority, the Forestry Development Authority and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, to intervene and put an end to this massive deforestation,” said Andrew Y. Y. Zelemen, Secretary of the National Union of Community Forestry Development Committees (NUCFDC) of Liberia.
