What if one day you could no longer indulge in Cadbury chocolate or a Ferrero Rocher? This disaster is what the American agency for monitoring and control of the oceans and atmosphere, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, is predicting within the next 30 years.
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Why could this come to pass? Cocoa trees are trees that can only grow in a specific geographical area: 10 degrees south and north of the Equator. In order to thrive, they must have a specific climate: stable temperature, high humidity, abundant rainfall and, above all, nitrogen-rich soil, all in an area protected from the wind. In other words, a tropical forest climate. This is why the three main chocolate-producing countries are Indonesia, Ivory Coast, and Ghana. Together, the two African countries produce more than half of the world's demand.
The cause of the (future) disappearance of cocoa is, however, well known, since the culprit is once again global warming. According to a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which is responsible for studying climate change, if global warming continues unabated, the average temperature of the planet earth could rise by 2.1° by 2050, which would kill all cocoa trees, and thus end chocolate production as we know it today.
The problem is not the warming itself, but its consequences since it will lead to a high evaporation of water in tropical areas, which will reduce the water in the soil, and thus the water that the trees need to feed themselves and produce cocoa beans. Add to this the drought and all the conditions that cocoa trees need to stay healthy will no longer be met, and the end result will be inescapable: the end of harvesting cocoa.
There are some solutions
In Ghana, the continued production of cocoa beans will require replanting trees on hilly land, which will then be less affected by global warming. The problem? These areas are protected from cultivation, so the choice will be between preserving the natural habitat of local flora and fauna, or stopping the production of chocolate, which will not be an easy decision to make.
Check out the video above for more details.
