Cocoa research: EU & UK regulations on deforestation and the social and environmental challenges facing the cocoa sector in Côte d'Ivoire.

After having described the legal and institutional framework for cocoa in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, identified the loopholes and possible governance, legal and policy reform solutions for the major social and environmental challenges of the sector, this third briefing will focus on the potential impacts of the regulations on deforestation in the EU & the UK in the sector. The question is whether these regulations can act as a lever to address the social and environmental concerns of the cocoa sector in Côte d’Ivoire and in Ghana. More specifically, can these regulations contribute to resolving the shortcomings of national legal and institutional frameworks relating to cocoa?

French translations are available on Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire. This is the English translation for Côte d’Ivoire and you can find the original briefing for Ghana here.

The paper forms part of a series of legal research briefings which ClientEarth’s Ghanaian and Ivorian partners – TaylorCrabbe Initiative and Dr. Raphaël Kra – have undertaken on cocoa production and trade in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire. The overview of the research can be found here.