
1 for 20 Partnership
If deforestation continues at current rates, Côte d'Ivoire will irretrievably lose all its forest cover by 2034. Côte d'Ivoire’s forests have been cut down to make way for agricultural products such as cocoa, rubber and palm oil. But agricultural production is in danger as trees disappear, soil quality declines, and the effects of climate change become increasingly apparent. Côte d'Ivoire is the world's largest cocoa exporter. Agriculture is the engine of economic growth and provides a livelihood to more than a million people in the country.
Scaling-up sustainable cocoa production models
Ensuring the sustainability of the agricultural sector is a key social, economic and environmental issue.
Faced with the prospect of losing all its forests, Côte d'Ivoire has committed to decoupling agricultural production from deforestation, and restoring the national forest extent to 20% of the territory by 2030. Many private companies, especially in the cocoa sector, have also set their sustainability objectives, in particular through the Cocoa & Forests Initiative.
To achieve these goals, intensifying sustainable agriculture and growing more crops on less land is needed, along with agroforestry – managing land to produce cocoa while restoring forest cover, improving soil fertility and diversifying the income of producers.
Viable sustainable production models exist. But getting these models to work at national scales poses significant challenges. How can Côte d’Ivoire’s smallholders invest in agroforestry when they have limited access to finance, many living below the poverty line? And how can large traders and chocolate manufacturers that buy cocoa from smallholders help?
Adequate financial solutions to connect the farmer to the financer are needed. To foster that link, the 1 for 20 Partnership promotes the development of sustainable and viable agricultural production models, facilitates dialogue between stakeholders, and helps build the capacity of partners.
Challenges and risks of financing sustainable practices
The table illustrates the many solutions that can overcome the challenges and risks of financing sustainable practices, such as agroforestry.
What we do
To connect supply and demand for financing, the 1 for 20 Partnership:
- Promotes sustainable financing approaches, based on profitable production models that provide incentives for smallholders, aligned with Côte d'Ivoire's climate change goals and rooted in regional development dynamics
- Facilitates partnerships among private actors, the financial sector and public partners to set up scalable financing projects
- Promotes dialogue between stakeholders to exchange experiences on sustainable and viable agricultural models and practices, coordinating efforts and building the capacity of partners
The 1 for 20 Partnership offers public and private actors a three-step support process to define their strategies for scaling up sustainable production:
Step 1: Economic viability analysis for agroforestry and restoration pilot projects
The agronomic and economic data provided by partners is integrated into the economic modelling tool designed by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), to forecast the profitability of the model from the farmer’s perspective. This helps determine how attractive the model is, areas for improvement, and the prospects for its successful scale up in the absence or limited availability of subsidies.
Step 2: Analysis of scaled up financial solutions
Based on the results of the economic modelling, the 1 for 20 Partnership may propose financial mechanisms that address the scaling up of pilot sustainability projects. A detailed analysis of existing value chains and potential partners in the targeted cocoa production areas will also be done to ensure the sustainability of scaled up models.
Step 3: Connecting with financing partners
If the prospects for scaling up the sustainability models are viable, the 1 for 20 Partnership can help link partners to mobilise public and private finance needed to meet the commitments of the Cocoa & Forests Initiative action plans.
Partners
The 1 for 20 Partnership is a collaboration between the Côte d'Ivoire Ministry of the Environment and Sustainable Development, the Ministry of Water and Forests, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Coffee-Cocoa Council, and the Cocoa and Forests Initiative. It is supported by the UNEP and the EU REDD Facility.
Resources
Brochure
- Mobilising USD 1 bilion to restore Côte d'Ivoire's forest cover to 20% of the land area
- Mobiliser 1 milliard de dollars pour restaurer le couvert forestier de Côte d'Ivoire à 20% du territoire
Technical reports
- Full report (FR): Production durable de cacao en Côte d’Ivoire : besoins et solutions de financement pour les petits producteurs
- Executive summary (EN): Economic and financial challenges to scaling up sustainable cocoa production in Côte d’Ivoire
- Executive summary (FR): Production durable de cacao en Côte d’Ivoire : besoins et solutions de financement pour les petits producteurs
- Joint publication Cargill cocoa / Pur Projet / 1 for 20 Partnership on Côte d'Ivoire (EN): Making agroforestry work at scale
- Publication conjointe Cargill cocoa / Pur Projet / Partenariat 1 pour 20 pour la Côte d'Ivoire (FR): Pour une mise en œuvre de l’agroforesterie à l’échelle
Event reports
- First dialogue platform, Abidjan, 18-19 October 2018 (FR): Les solutions de financement pour la production durable de cacao
- Second dialogue platform, Abidjan, 12-13 November 2019 (FR): Chaînes de valeur durables pour les paysages forestiers et agroforestiers de Côte d’Ivoire
Links
Blog posts
- Adeline Dontenville, Land-use and finance expert: Towards sustainable cocoa: financial solutions for smallholders in Côte d’Ivoire
- Peter Umunay, Technical advisor on forest and climate change: 1 for 20 Partnership - Mobilizing USD 1 billion to restore the Ivorian forest cover to 20% of the land's area
Websites
About the authors
Peter Umunay UNEP
Contact: peter.umunay@un.org
Adeline Dontenville EU REDD Facility
Contact: adeline.dontenville@efi.int
Jean-Paul Aka 1 for 20 Partnership Secretariat, Abidjan
Contact: jean.paul.aka@undp.org