Chocolate Sourced from Ghana and Ivory Coast

Mighty Earth, an environmental group, has recently shed a light on the illegal chocolate plantations that are popping up throughout Ivory Coast and Ghana in an article on the Christian Science Monitor. According to the article "almost one-third of 23 protected natural areas in Ivory Coast that researchers visited in 2015 had been almost entirely converted to illegal cocoa plantations" (CSM, Anna Pujol-Mazzini). Also, within the national parks these plantation's economies are being supported by thousands of people that are establishing schools, churches, and whole villages. Although cocoa plantations are sponsoring community building, they are also contributing to climate change because the trees of the forest that help to absorb carbon dioxide are no longer there, and the wildlife like elephants, hippos, and chimpanzees are being threatened.
    
https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Africa/2017/0914/Legally-sourced-chocolate-could-help-end-deforestation-in-West-Africa