How ethical Easter chocolate is egg-cellent for birds

Derived from the cacao bean, quality chocolate depends on a high-quality bean.

But there has become increasing awareness that that our t favourite sweet indulgence has for years been provided at terrible cost to farmers and the environment, particularly rainforests, so large-scale producers have been starting to take steps to address the issues.

Brands that make great play of their ethical standards, such as the Dutch-based Tony’s Chocolonely, have been appearing more often on our supermarket shelves.

A new study highlighted that choosing chocolate made from traditionally-grown 'shade cocoa', for example The C Note Ltd, Gola Rainforest Chocolate, and products certified by the Rainforest Alliance, it is possible to support both livelihoods and biodiversity while enjoying delicious chocolate this Easter.

The study led by the University of St Andrews in collaboration with the University of the West Indies, St Augustine, has also shown that ethically sourced chocolate can support wildlife.

A study of current ethically farmed cacao forests and natural unfarmed as well as abandoned woodland on the Caribbean island of Trinidad supported bird diversity, "contrary to expectations".

Even forest specialist bird species such as collared trogons, long-billed gnat wrens and red-eyed vireos were found in the cultivated areas.

Like coffee, cocoa can be cultivated under the shade of native canopy trees within landscapes similar to natural forest.

However, an increasing number of farmers are cutting down forest in order to grow cocoa more intensively, and many are planting cocoa hybrids that require full-sun exposure and regular pesticide application.

But this practice destroys crucial wildlife habitat, threatens the health of farm communities and produces chemical run-off that contaminates local soil, streams and waterways.

The Rainforest Alliance Sustainable Agriculture Standard requires farms to protect shade trees, plant native species, maintain wildlife corridors and conserve natural resources.

It also bans the use of banned pesticides in favour of biological and natural alternatives.

Through Rainforest Alliance training, farmers also learn how to adapt to the effects of climate change.

Haley Arnold, a PhD student in the School of Biology at the University of St Andrews, said: “Our research highlights the value of actively cultivated cacao agroforests and secondary forest alongside primary forests as reservoirs of biodiversity.

“By supporting both biodiversity and livelihoods, traditionally-grown cacao falls within a people and nature framework.

“Taken together, these results emphasise the contributions of secondary and managed forests, which are often overlooked, to conservation.”

Unlike many other forms of agriculture, traditional cacao agroforests have standing trees that form two canopy layers, and often have other agricultural trees like mango and orange mixed in, says the research.

Cocoa trees in the Northern Range Mountains of Trinidad 

The complex three-dimensional structure and the wealth of fruiting and flowering plants provided can be valuable habitat for wildlife, even though they are human-created and managed systems.

The researchers say that Trinidad’s Northern Range mountains comprise a gradient of forest ages from actively farmed land to primary forest, allowing researchers to look for patterns of biodiversity across different successional stages The research team, which included Professor Anne Magurran of the University of St Andrews and Dr Amy Deacon of the University of the West Indies, also found that natural primary forest which had never been farmed featured an even greater number of tree species, alongside more sensitive and specialist bird species.

Ms Arnold added: “This reminds us that, despite the value of agroforests to biodiversity, we should not forget about protecting primary forests. These old-growth forests are especially valuable given that they take a century or more to recover following disturbance.”

Three years ago, Cadbury's former head of cocoa sourcing said that wild cocoa varietyies untapped by chocolate makers are in danger of beign wiped out.

Tony Lass, director of Fox Consultancy, and head of Cadbury's global cocoa supplies from 1967 to 2004 said cocoa's genetic diversity - key for creating disease and climate resistant crops with storng chocolate flavour - was at risk of disappearing.

Over the last 80 years, some wild cocoa variety have been saved through national and international collecting expeditions for example by the Cocoa Research Center (CRC) in Trinidad.