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Biodiversity conservation in cocoa production landscapes: an overview - Biodiversity and Conservation

  • ️Harvey, Celia A.
  • ️Fri Jun 08 2007

Abstract

Cocoa agroforests that retain a floristically diverse and structurally complex shade canopy have the potential to harbour significant levels of biodiversity, yet few studies have documented the plant and animal species occurring within these systems or within landscapes dominated by cocoa production. In this special issue, we bring together nine studies from Latin America, Africa and Asia that document the contribution of cocoa agroforestry systems to biodiversity conservation, and explore how the design, management and location of these systems within the broader landscape influence their value as habitats, resources and biological corridors. Tree diversity within the cocoa production systems is variable, depending on management, cultural differences, location and farm history, among other factors. Animal diversity is typically highest in those cocoa agroforests that have high plant diversity, structurally complex canopies, and abundant surrounding forest cover. In general, both plant and animal diversity within cocoa agroforests is greater than those of other agricultural land uses, but lower than in the original forest habitat. There are several emerging threats to biodiversity conservation within cocoa production landscapes, including the loss of remaining forest cover, the simplification of cocoa shade canopies and the conversion of cocoa agroforestry systems to other agricultural land uses with lower biodiversity value. To counter these threats and conserve biodiversity over the long-term, land management should focus on conserving native forest habitat within cocoa production landscapes, maintaining or restoring floristically diverse and structurally complex shade canopies within cocoa agroforests, and retaining other types of on-farm tree cover to enhance landscape connectivity and habitat availability.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Professor David Hawksworth for his support for this special issue and our referees (Inge Armbrecht, Rebecca Ashley Asare, Jim Barborak, Julio Baumgarten, Merijn Bos, Thomas Brooks, Jacques Delabie, Tom Dietsch, Robert Ewers, Sam Fujisaka, Jefferson Hall, Robert Keys, Jeremy Lichstein, Robert Nasi, Stacy Philpott, Sara Scherr and Teja Tscharntke) for their thorough revisions of the papers in this collection. C.A. Harvey gratefully acknowledges financial support from the CORRIDOR project (INCO-Dev 517644) and the Bank of the Netherlands Partnership Program with the World Bank.

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Author notes

  1. Celia A. Harvey

    Present address: Conservation International, 2011 Crystal Drive Suite 500, Arlington, VA, 22202, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Conservation International, 2011 Crystal Drive Suite 500, Arlington, VA, 22202, USA

    Götz Schroth

  2. Department of Agriculture and Agroforestry, Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Ensenañza (CATIE), Turrialba, Costa Rica

    Celia A. Harvey

Authors

  1. Götz Schroth

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  2. Celia A. Harvey

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Correspondence to Götz Schroth.

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Schroth, G., Harvey, C.A. Biodiversity conservation in cocoa production landscapes: an overview. Biodivers Conserv 16, 2237–2244 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-007-9195-1

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  • Received: 06 April 2007

  • Accepted: 02 May 2007

  • Published: 08 June 2007

  • Issue Date: July 2007

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-007-9195-1

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