Country: Côte d’Ivoire
The Tai National Park in Côte d’Ivoire is home to some of the last remaining areas of primary rainforest in West Africa. We are working with cocoa farmers who live along the Hana river to create a 20-metre barrier of protected forest along the riverbanks.
Forest areas, especially along rivers, promote biodiversity, prevent soil erosion, and maintain soil quality. But for farmers, protecting this forest areas also means having less land to farm. We use a Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) approach, where farmers receive in-kind compensation in the form of fertilizer to increase the productivity of their remaining farmland. In areas where this land has already been deforested, we also provide shade tree seedlings to allow reforestation.
Along some parts of the river there are forest remnants along the riverbanks, and farmers can participate by protecting these areas and ensuring that they are not deforested.
Read more about the experiences of one of our farmers here.
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