{
  "id": 3290700,
  "title": "EU’s deforestation rule could derail Liberia’s cocoa trade",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/25/eus-deforestation-rule-could-derail-liberias-cocoa-trade",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-08-25T15:12:32.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Mongabay",
    "slug": "mongabay",
    "url": "https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/eus-deforestation-rule-could-derail-liberias-cocoa-trade/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Liberia's Grand Gedeh county has seen a surge in deforestation for cocoa production since 2020, threatening the region's cocoa trade and future. The EU, being Liberia's biggest cocoa customer, is set to enforce the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), which prohibits the import of forest products, including cocoa, from land deforested after December 31, 2020. Owen Gibbons, a senior manager at the Rainforest Alliance, noted that cocoa from Liberia produced on land cleared after the EUDR cutoff date would not be deforestation-compliant. While the EU imported over 17,000 metric tons of cocoa from Liberia in 2024, a 30% increase from two years prior, Liberian cocoa producers will now have to demonstrate that their beans were not produced on forest land cleared after December 2020. However, most cacao plantations in Grand Gedeh are situated deep within forests, as an extensive portion of the county was once covered by primary forests. Much of the forest loss in the region has taken place since 2020, with some forests being communally owned, leased out, or encroached upon by cacao plantations, including those in the proposed Kwa National Park area, which currently bans commercial agriculture. To comply with the EUDR, cocoa producers must prove to their EU customers the precise location and start date of their plantations, a task proving to be exceptionally challenging.",
  "summary": "In Liberia’s Grand Gedeh county, deforestation for cocoa has soared since 2020, pushing the region’s cocoa trade into an uncertain future. The EU is Liberia’s biggest cocoa customer, but is set to implement the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), which bans the import of forest products, including cocoa, made on land deforested after Dec. 31, 2020, […]",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}