Mapping Cocoa and Assessing Deforestation Risk for the Cocoa Sector in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana

This research paper describes the methodology behind two data products developed by the World Resources Institute, the World Cocoa Foundation, and Climate Focus to address deforestation in the cocoa sectors of Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana: the West Africa Cocoa Dataset and the Cocoa Deforestation Risk Assessment.

• The West Africa Cocoa Dataset was compiled from data provided by 19 companies, consisting of 1.2 million contributed polygons that identified 840,000 unique plots. These plots typically range from 1 to 2 hectares, covering a total land area of approximately 1.5 million hectares.
• To protect farmer privacy following a legal and ethics review, the West Africa Cocoa dataset will not be released publicly; instead, it will be shared as a heat map to show cocoa presence without revealing exact plot boundaries.
• The Cocoa Deforestation Risk Assessment uses recent forest loss as a key variable, which can result in high-risk designations for regions even if cocoa production is not mapped there. Conversely, areas with strong legal protections, such as Taï National Park in Côte d’Ivoire and Bia National Park in Ghana, showed low priority rankings due to a lack of recent forest loss.

APA

World Resources Institute (n.d.). Mapping Cocoa and Assessing Deforestation Risk for the Cocoa Sector in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana. https://www.wri.org/research/mapping-cocoa-assessing-deforestation-risk-cocoa-cote-divoire-ghana

Chicago

World Resources Institute. Mapping Cocoa and Assessing Deforestation Risk for the Cocoa Sector in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana. n.d. https://www.wri.org/research/mapping-cocoa-assessing-deforestation-risk-cocoa-cote-divoire-ghana.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=Mapping Cocoa and Assessing Deforestation Risk for the Cocoa Sector in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana |url=https://www.wri.org/research/mapping-cocoa-assessing-deforestation-risk-cocoa-cote-divoire-ghana |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitutendmapping, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{Mapping Cocoa and Assessing Deforestation Risk for the Cocoa Sector in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, url = {https://www.wri.org/research/mapping-cocoa-assessing-deforestation-risk-cocoa-cote-divoire-ghana}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }