Barry Callebaut and the Rainforest Alliance protect Taï National Park in Côte d’Ivoire

Barry Callebaut is participating in a joint sustainability initiative with the Rainforest Alliance, other experts in development and environmental and wildlife protection, and the national office of parks and reserves to protect the Taï National Park in southwest Côte d’Ivoire. The park is one of the last major remnants of the vast primary tropical forest that once spanned across present-day Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia and Sierra Leone, and is the largest island of forest remaining in West Africa, according to the UNESCO World Heritage Center. It is noted for its population of endangered pygmy hippopotamus, eleven species of monkeys and 1,300 species of higher plants.

As part of a comprehensive multi-stakeholder initiative to conserve the forest’s biodiversity, cocoa farmers in the rural areas bordering the park are being offered training in sustainable cocoa production. Barry Callebaut, which has worked with cocoa farmers and cooperatives in Côte d’Ivoire since 2005, is conducting the training program that will enable approximately 2,000 farmers from five cooperatives to comply with the environmental, social and economic criteria defined by the Sustainable Agriculture Network (SAN) standards and become Rainforest Alliance Certified™. In cooperation with the Rainforest Alliance, Barry Callebaut is also establishing nurseries for indigenous shade trees, launching a tree planting program, creating nurseries for cocoa seedlings, and setting up demonstration plots to showcase good agricultural practices.

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