Cocoa firms blamed for failing to arrest Africa deforestation

Major chocolate companies have failed to keep a promise they made a year ago to stop forests in West Africa from being destroyed for cocoa production, a campaign group said on Friday.

Companies from Mars to Hershey to Barry Callebaut joined the governments of Ivory Coast and Ghana to launch the Cocoa and Forests Initiative last year, pledging to eliminate the production and sourcing of cocoa from protected forests.