Tree Commodities and Climate Change:Impacts and Opportunities

Tree commodities from high-value tree crop plantations in Africa, including coffee, cocoa, oil palm, rubber and cashew, are rapidly expanding as domestic and global demand for their products is increasing. With the growing ambition of many tropical countries for exportoriented economies, tree commodities are becoming a key income source for millions of smallholder farmers. Nevertheless, production of these commodity crops increases often at the expense of fragile ecosystems such as forests, posing multiple environmental challenges. Before certification, labelling, and fair trade were put in place to manage the challenges associated with the expansion of plantations; the planet has already lost millions of hectares of important ecosystems, particularly forests that have been replaced by pure plantations over large areas. Lately, consumers’ awareness about the environmental consequences of production systems that influence ecosystems has affected the conversion of forests and other critical ecosystems into commodity farms. Despite this increase in awareness, forests are still heavily impacted by the expansions of commodity crops.

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