Innovative Field App To Verify Suspected Deforestation
In our pursuit of deforestation and conversionfree
supply chains, we found that current remote
sensing methods have trouble accurately spotting
deforestation, especially in the context of cocoa
cultivation. There were situations where the act of
replanting cocoa trees was erroneously identified
as forest clearance. Because of this, farmer
organizations were prompted to adopt varying
methods when they received deforestation alerts
from remote sensing.
Partner organizations regularly conduct field visits
to verify deforestation claims, validating or refuting
the remote sensing results. However, without
proper documentation, it can prove difficult to
substantiate their findings. Lack of time or lack of
awareness of remote sensing limitations means
that farmers can be excluded from the supply
chain preemptively, inadvertently impacting those
producers who hadn't engaged in deforestation.
Mars is working to build rigorous risk management
and well-documented due diligence processes.
In collaboration with our suppliers we have taken
proactive steps to develop field verification criteria
that verify whether suspected deforestation
identified with remote sensing is actual
deforestation.
These criteria, shaped through on-site visits with
Blommer, ECOM, Ofi, Sucden, and Touton, have
culminated in an innovative field verification app.
The app serves two main purposes:
Establishing Cocoa Tree Origins: It supports
collecting substantiated evidence that the
existing cocoa trees were established prior to the
stipulated cutoff date.
Validating Land Use History: In cases without
evidence of cocoa tree establishment, the app
supports evidencing past productive land use
before the current cocoa trees or confirms the
absence of forest tree felling indicative of a prior
forest presence at the cutoff date.
Through a step-by-step approach, the app not
only supports robust due diligence, but also
decreases the number of farmers being excluded
from farmer organizations without justification
and substantiation.
The app will be made available in English, Spanish,
French and Bahasa Indonesia by the end of the
year. We extend an invitation to others to utilize,
refine, and contribute to this tool, enriching the
broader community's efforts towards sustainable
cocoa sourcing.
CREATING A CLIMATE-SMART FUTURE | DEFORESTATION AND CONVERSION-FREE COCOA SUPPLY CHAIN MARS | COCOA FOR GENERATIONS | 2022 ANNUAL REPORT | PAGE 21