OXFORD CLIMATE SOCIETY
  • About
    • What We Do
    • Who We Are
    • Our History
    • Advisory Board
    • Our Sponsors
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Videos of Past Events
  • Education
    • The Oxford School of Climate Change
    • Capstone Projects
    • Climate Change and Policy Lecture series
    • COP information
    • Climate Library
  • Action
    • Sustainability Action Guide
    • Decarbonise Oxford
    • College Sustainability Workshops
    • Legacy Campaigns >
      • Sustainability in the Curriculum
      • Oxford Climate Action Plan
  • Media and Arts
    • RISE zine
    • Anthroposphere: The Oxford Climate Review
    • Interdiscplinary Fine Art
  • Blog
    • Articles >
      • International Climate Policy
      • Global Perspectives
      • What you need to know about...
      • Past Blogs
    • Event summaries
  • Get Involved
    • Join Our Teams
    • RISE Submissions
    • Subscribe to our Newsletter
  • Alumni Network
  • Contact
  • Donate

Past Blogs

A variety of blog posts

Will climate change put the Easter Bunny out of business?

8/4/2020

0 Comments

 
By Bianca Pasca
Picture
With Easter rapidly approaching, you may be looking forward to enjoying some festive chocolate eggs or bunnies. But whether you opt for vegan alternatives or not, you can’t have chocolate without cocoa. The problem is, cocoa farming will be severely affected by the changing climate. And those impacts will have a knock-on effect on the livelihoods of small-scale farmers and their families who produce a big portion of the world’s cocoa.

​Climate impacts on cocoa production
Some places are seeing an increase in droughts due to shifting weather patterns. Studies have shown that cocoa yields decrease dramatically in these conditions. A study in Brazil, for example, showed a decline of 89% due to a particularly severe drought caused by the 2015-16 El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). These ENSO events are predicted to increase in frequency as a result of climate change. Ghana and The Ivory Coast, which currently provide approximately 60% of the world’s cocoa supply, may end up being unsuitable for its cultivation by 2050 if temperatures rise by 2◦C, as some models predict. Not only that, but droughts and other unpredictable weather might also trigger a rise in certain fungal diseases or pests, like the cocoa pod borer.

In Indonesia, there has been an increase in rainfall, which lead to landslides and depletion of the top soil, with negative consequences for cocoa plantations. The process of then drying the cocoa beans becomes much harder, too, as they become susceptible to mould growth.

Unsustainable farming practices
Unsustainable farming practices can also be to blame for declines in cocoa production. Excessive herbicide use can harm the land, and also ultimately lead to resistance in certain weeds and pests, damaging the crops in the long run. Deforestation rates (around 2.7% & 2.9% for The Ivory Coast and Ghana, respectively) go up as forests are cleared to make space for crops. Deforestation can be fuelled by the changing climate, with higher temperatures making lower altitudes unsuitable for cocoa production, driving farmers further up the slopes. Unfortunately, deforestation itself contributes to the climate crisis, creating a vicious cycle.

Picture
So what are some of the solutions?
  • Climate smart agriculture: The Rainforest Alliance has proposed a tactic called climate-smart agriculture, aimed at curbing the impact farming has on the environment. It is tailored to the local needs: for example, working on water filtration and enhancing the soil structure in flood-prone areas in Ghana, digging trenches to control surface water, or setting up solar panels for drying cocoa.
  • Composting: old, fermented cocoa pods can be placed back in the soil as a form of compost, reducing the need for harmful pesticides
  • Better bush fire prevention
  • Improved irrigation: Water retention systems should be put into place, to ascertain there is enough supplied during a drought
  • Intercropping: with more heat-resistant cultures, like oranges, oil palm and cashew. Planting tall fruit trees together with the cocoa trees offers them shade, protecting the sensitive cocoa trees from too much sunlight or soil erosion and increasing yields, as well as creating a habitat for various bird or insect species. 
  • Financial support and incentives for farmers: making sure that forest protection is a priority
  • Certification schemes: Global demand for cocoa is expected to continue to grow, but the supply may soon be dwindling. To address that problem, there are loads of projects dedicated to developing sustainable cocoa farming, from Rainforest Alliance to Cocoa Life. Many European countries have set targets to increase the percentage of sustainably-sourced cocoa products on offer. As a rough estimate, on average around 40% of the products currently on the European market come from an ethical source. 

So, next time you go Easter egg hunting, maybe you’ll remember that to keep them coming in years to come, you might want to hunt down the ones that are certified as sustainably sourced.
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    OCS Media Team

    The latest in climate science, policy, perspectives and more from the OCS team.

    Archives

    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    May 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017

    Categories

    All
    Adaptation
    BEIS
    Climate Justice
    Communication
    COP23
    COP24
    COP26
    Coronavirus
    DEFRA
    Eco Guide
    Economics
    Event Summary
    Extreme Weather
    Food
    Food Reviews
    Fossil Fuels
    Gender
    Global Perspectives
    Government
    Impacts
    International
    Local
    Nature
    Oceans
    Plastic
    Policy
    Pollution
    Race
    Solutions
    UK
    UNFCCC
    USA
    Women And Climate Change

    RSS Feed

Developing informed climate leaders
www.oxfordclimatesociety.com
  • About
    • What We Do
    • Who We Are
    • Our History
    • Advisory Board
    • Our Sponsors
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Videos of Past Events
  • Education
    • The Oxford School of Climate Change
    • Capstone Projects
    • Climate Change and Policy Lecture series
    • COP information
    • Climate Library
  • Action
    • Sustainability Action Guide
    • Decarbonise Oxford
    • College Sustainability Workshops
    • Legacy Campaigns >
      • Sustainability in the Curriculum
      • Oxford Climate Action Plan
  • Media and Arts
    • RISE zine
    • Anthroposphere: The Oxford Climate Review
    • Interdiscplinary Fine Art
  • Blog
    • Articles >
      • International Climate Policy
      • Global Perspectives
      • What you need to know about...
      • Past Blogs
    • Event summaries
  • Get Involved
    • Join Our Teams
    • RISE Submissions
    • Subscribe to our Newsletter
  • Alumni Network
  • Contact
  • Donate