Community Forest Management and PES Project

BACKGROUND

Côte d'Ivoire is one of the countries in the world with a high rate of deforestation and forest degradation. The report of the latest forest and wildlife inventory carried out in 2021 is alarming. From 16 million hectares (ha) of forest cover, only 2.97 million ha remain.

Most of this deforestation and forest degradation is due to the extension of agricultural plots for cash crops such as coffee and cocoa. This has made Côte d'Ivoire the world's leading cocoa producer for over three decades. The many effects of climate change have focused the world's attention on the future of humanity, and one of the solutions proposed by experts is forest conservation and rehabilitation. Given the crucial role of forests in conserving biodiversity and combating the effects of climate change, it is important to take corrective and/or preventive action to preserve and rehabilitate forests.

Aware of the scale of the challenges ahead, a number of initiatives have been launched to combat deforestation in the cocoa sector, including the "cocoa and forest" initiative. One of the companies' commitments is to ensure sustainable cocoa production without deforestation.

This commitment is relevant because eliminating deforestation in the cocoa supply chain is a real challenge for forest preservation and restoration.
So, to support the government's efforts and provide a response to this increased deforestation, many companies in the cocoa industry, including Touton Négoce Côte d'Ivoire, have pledged to contribute to the reconstitution of Côte d'Ivoire's forest cover.

This project has been initiated to promote payments for ecosystem services and community reforestation. Touton Négoce Côte d'Ivoire aims, through the development of an agroforestry system on cocoa farms, to strengthen producers' resilience in the face of climate change, and to contribute to carbon sequestration to meet its commitment to reduce deforestation in the supply chain.

To this end, Touton Négoce Côte d'Ivoire has called on the services of an experienced technical partner to implement the project's activities with nine (09) beneficiary cooperative companies.

This is the background to AGRO-MAP's current technical offer, which describes the operating procedure, resources, activities and timetable for the project.

OBJECTIVES

Specifically, this will involve :

Make forest and fruit tree seedlings available to growers;
Community-based reforestation with community participation;
Raise awareness and train producers and communities in agroforestry, the forestry code and tree ownership;
Improving producer resilience through income diversification;
Stimulate a new generation of conservationists;

EXPECTED RESULTS

- Result A: The supply of forest and fruit seedlings is assured;

Payment for environmental services and community forest management project

Result B: Seventy (70) producers are supported in the development of income-generating activities;
Result C: The five (05) community forest protection committees are in place;
Result D: The 150 hectares of sustainable agroforestry systems are implemented on cocoa farms;
Result E: The ten (10) ha of community forests are reforested;
Result F: Community awareness days are organized and 26 child ambassadors for the environment are set up;