Deforestation equals GMO soybeans and palm oil, child exploitation equals palm oil and nuts. In addition to the two best-known axioms about the unsustainability of some food supply chains, there is a third one that many people still tend to ignore. Cocoa equals child labor-as already amply demonstrated-and also deforestation.
Big Food
, under pressure from NGOs, is therefore calling for the introduction of a special EU regulation to ensure the sustainability of the supply chain. The giants who for centuries have been processing and using the berry, which is too bitter to be ignored any longer, actually acknowledge the ineffectiveness of the certifications some have adopted. (1) And without going into the details of their own responsibilities-disguised through shadowy dealings with local suppliers-they call for order through rules that escape greenwashing and competitiveness. It’s time to move on, here’s how and why.
Cocoa and deforestation
Chocolate’s Dark Secret: How the Cocoa Industry Destroys National Parks-the report released by the NGO Mighty Earth in September 2017-highlighted the extent of deforestation linked to cocoa production in West Africa. Documenting the illegal destruction of primary forests in Ivory Coast national parks that were home to elephants, crocodiles, hippos and chimpanzees.
Côte d’Ivoire is the leading supplier of cocoa globally (about 42 percent), followed by Ghana (19 percent), Indonesia, Ecuador and Cameroon. In West Africa, cocoa is mainly grown on small family farms. Approximately 2 million smallholders rely on sales for their livelihoods, with results that in many cases are too meager due to low remuneration and modest crop productivity.
Most micro-farmers are neither encouraged nor able to invest in deforestation-free production systems. Due to lack of resources and knowledge of sustainable agricultural practices that enable them to maintain shade trees offered by nature, access high-yielding varieties, and renew senescent and unproductive plants. They thus tend rather to deforest in order to sow in more fertile soils, rather than renew or rehabilitate existing plantations.
Certifications and greenwashing
Some farmers have received support from private bodies, such as UTZ and Rainforest Alliance, which certify simulacra of sustainability. Rainforest Alliance certification, for example, postulates that a minimum of five original trees per hectare (and 30 percent ‘green’ cover) be maintained. Without guaranteeing any halt to deforestation or giving farmers the premium they need to emancipate themselves from often extreme poverty. (2)
Thus, the logic adopted so far in proven certification schemes is only functional for Big Food‘s business. For the express purpose of ‘ greenwashing‘ – greenwashing, in fact – the neo-colonial-style exploitation of ecosystems and workers. Exploitation of which the very creator of Rainforest Alliance, the Unilever Group, has centuries of experience.
Greenwashing then reaches a climax in the self-referential certifications constructed at the table (literally, roundtable) by palmocrats and GMO soy giants. RSPO(Roundtable for Sustainable Food Production) and RTRS(Roundtable on Responsible Soy). Charters devoid of any meaning in the face of the systematic violation of basic human rights and the environment by the very companies certified. (3)
‘Sustainability’ certifications, critical elements
Private schemes subject to certifications that refer to hypothetical ‘sustainability’-when referring to supply chains whose production is rooted inLow-Middle Income Countries(LMICs)-have serious weaknesses where effective measures to support workers and local communities are not included. Therefore, certifications that do not contemplate supply chain equity (e.g., Fair Trade) have a number of critical elements:
1) First, certified supply chains now account for barely one-tenth of global palm oil, tea and cocoa production. They are therefore scarce, often even irregular,
2) Many certification schemes are inaccessible to small farmers because of the costs associated with initial certification (adjusting farming practices and documenting procedures) and audits. In the absence of financial coverage and appreciable incentives for the paradigm shift from traditional uses,
3) by large groups, we see the phenomenon of forum shopping. Namely, the search for certification schemes with less restrictive parameters. Greenwashing to only formally support CSR(Corporate Social Responsibility), instead of CSV (
Contributing to Social Values
),
4) Controls on new deforestation activities aimed at expanding areas of ‘certified’ production are scarce (an understatement). Thus triggering the ecocides that the certifications themselves, in theory, are supposed to mitigate,
5) certification systems may indeed lead to lasting changes in land use, but the substantial impacts of these changes may not be immediately observable. First, certification of commodity crops appeared after certification for forests and fisheries.
Traceability, this unknown
True traceability of individual supplies of raw materials-when even their production is extreme fragmented into tiny plots-is thesine qua non for combating deforestation and the exploitation of children on plantations. A major challenge that has so far succeeded for the very few responsible traders who have decided to commit to the fair trade front rather than just ‘green tinting’ their more POP(Profit Over People) business.
Sustainability of the cocoa supply chain, the call for an EU regulation
12 of the global players in cocoa and chocolate production-in response to the international community’s growing concerns about the sustainability of the cocoa supply chain-had agreed in March 2017 to a collective commitment. Work together, in collaboration with the governments of producing countries and other stakeholders, to end deforestation and environmental degradation related to cocoa production. This commitment was renewed in Bonn at theUnited Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in November 2017.
Just three giants-Barry Callebaut, Mars Wrigley and Mondelēz International (4)-joined Fairtrade International, Rainforest Alliance and VOICE Network. (5) To highlight, in a paper published on 2.12.19, the inability of voluntary initiatives to achieve sustainability goals in the cocoa supply-chain. (6) And call for binding legal instruments to be adopted by the European Union, as the world’s largest importer of cocoa.
The EU has greater capacity than any other consumer market to drive change in the cocoa sector. It therefore has opportunities and responsibilities and demonstrate leadership, including through legislative action, to address these problems. Our ultimate goal is a fully sustainable cocoa supply chain that provides adequate income to cocoa farmers and reduces to the point of eliminating human rights violations, including child labor and environmental degradation. (5)
Sustainable cocoa, what rules?
The coalition of signatories to the document calls for a European regulation, to be accompanied by multilateral agreements between producer countries and the EU. (7) The proposed approach is due diligence, inspired by the UN Guiding Principles on ‘Business and Human Rights‘. The ‘Ruggie Principles,’ named after Professor John Ruggie of Harvard University who drafted them, were unanimously adopted by the UN Human Rights Council in 2011. (8)
The U.N. Guiding Principles move from the consideration of a shared responsibility between multinational corporations and the states where they operate for the impact of their activities on human rights. They take into account the principles of international law as well as existing national regulatory experiences and voluntary standards. (9) And they base their operations on the three pillars ‘Protect, Respect and Remedy‘.
Socio-environmental sustainability, from words to deeds
In practice, all operators in the from bean to chocolate cream supply chain should conduct a preliminary assessment of the impact of their operations on human rights and the environment. Adopt ‘accountable’ policies to interrupt, prevent and mitigate negative impacts, publish annual reports on activities performed and their results, provide or collaborate on ‘remediation’ mechanisms where appropriate.
From words to deeds, the Guiding Principles still lack effective cogency, for states as well as practitioners. All of whom are in fact merely ‘invited’ rather than called to responsibility. In practice-as shown by the application, of the EU regulation that is supposed to ensure the environmental sustainability of timber procurement (7)-the only mandatory requirements pertain to form, that is, the procedures adopted. Instead of substance, that is, respect for fundamental rights.
Pressure from below may thus once again be the solution to a neo-colonial business system. Eighty-seven percent of European consumers-according to the survey conducted in May 2019 by Greenpeace, WWF, YouGov, Environmental Investigation Agency and FERN-don’t want to make themselves complicit in ongoing deforestation. (10)
European citizens and consumAtors should therefore in turn learn to make responsible purchasing choices, leaving cocoa products on the shelf that do not offer suitable guarantees of socio-environmental sustainability. And insist that the From Farm to Fork (f2f) policy announced by Commissioner Ursula von der Leyen also be expressed in the affirmation of responsibilities, duties and prohibitions, and deterrent sanctions.
The Dark Side of Chocolate
, (11) that’s enough now!
#Égalité!
Dario Dongo and Giulia Caddeo
Notes
(1) Hamish van der Vena et al. (2018). Do eco-labels prevent deforestation? Lessons from non-state market driven governance in the soy, palm oil, and cocoa sectors. Global Environmental Change 52 141-151, Elsevier, p. 143
(2) Sophia Carodenuto (2019). Governance of zero deforestation cocoa in West Africa: New forms of public-private interaction. Wiley, Env Pol Gov. 2019;29:55-66. doi: 10.1002/eet.1841, pp. 56-59
(3) On RSPO, see also https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/idee/olio-di-palma-rapina-delle-terre-e-deforestazioni-un-milione-di-ettari-sfugge-ai-registri-di-rspo-denuncia-la-zoological-society-of-london
(4) Mondelēz International is one of the most heavily involved corporations downstream of the fires in Indonesia, according to the recent Greenpeace report. V. https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/consum-attori/indonesia-incendi-e-olio-di-palma-certificato-rspo-rapporto-greenpeace
(5) Voice Network is a catalyst for NGOs and supply chain representatives aspiring to reform the cocoa sector. Its members are ABVV/FGTB-Horval, Be Slavery Free, EFFAT, FERN, FNV, Green America, Inkota Netzwerk, International Labor Rights Forum, Mighty Earth, Oxfam Novib, Oxfam Wereldwinkels, Public Eye, Solidaridad, Südwind Institut
V. Joint position paper on the EU’s policy and regulatory approach to cocoa, 2.12.19, at https://www.voicenetwork.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Joint-position-paper-on-the-EUs-policy-and-regulatory-approach-to-cocoa.pdf
(6) Many initiatives can be traced back to the REDD+ program, ‘Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation, Sustainable Forest Management, and Conservation and Enhancement of Forest Carbon Stocks in Developing Countries.’ REDD+, introduced in 2005 to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). V. https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/progresso/deforestazioni-l-ue-rispetti-gli-impegni
(7) The sectoral due diligence approach has been adopted for so-called conflict minerals (EU reg. 2017/821) and wood (EU reg. 995/10). With poor results unfortunately. V. https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/consum-attori/deforestazione-made-in-italy-buycott
(8) UN guiding principles on business and human rights, https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/GuidingPrinciplesBusinessHR_EN.pdf
(9) Cited in this regard are the ISO 20400:2017 Guidelines on so-called Sustainable Procurement, (sustainable procurement), which explicitly refer to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in UN Agenda 2030. With specific regard to Human Rights, Labor Practices and Environment. V. https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/progresso/iso-20400-linee-guida-per-l-approvvigionamento-da-filiere-sostenibili
(10) V. https://d25d2506sfb94s. cloudfront.net/cumulus_uploads/document/v3p20mpf8i/YG-Archive-030519-FernDeforestationAllMarkets065.pdf
(11) V. Miki Mastrati and U. Roberto Romero (2010). Documentary film The Dark Side of Chocolate, at http://www.slavefreechocolate.org/dark-side-of-chocolate
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
Graduated in law, master in Food, Law & Finance. You have explored the theme of green procurement and urban food policies in the International Cooperation and Peace sector of the City of Turin.
