Removing barriers to access finance from the National Cacao Plan in Costa Rica: cacao agroforestry for rural development and landscape restoration and adaptation 

Implemented by ECOM & The Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Our project aims to remove technical, value chain and financial barriers for farmers to participate in the Costa Rican Plan Nacional de Cacao while ensuring a reduced vulnerability of farmers and biodiversity to climate change (CC). We will help smallholder farmers and communities adapt to CC through agroforestry practices for Cacao production, ensure that coffee producers threatened by CC have an option to shift to cacao production, and generate a strategy that maximizes the positive impact on biodiversity conservation and resilience from local to country levels. 

Ecom is one of the biggest global traders of coffee, cacao and cotton sugar. Our goal is to secure the long-term future of coffee, cocoa and cotton – a future where farmers are resilient to the impacts of climate change and changing commodities prices, and where their livelihoods improve. A future where crops are grown with efficient use of resources that protect and regenerate nature, and where transparent, traceable supply chains ensure long-term sustainable change. The Cornell Lab is dedicated to advancing the understanding and protection of the natural world, the Cornell Lab joins with people from all walks of life to make new scientific discoveries, share insights, and galvanize conservation action. Ecom and The Cornell Lab have been collaborating since 2017, developing a Blueprint for Landscape Restoration through Agroforestry, from which this project builds upon. 

Cohort: 2nd (September 2021 cutoff)

Award: US$250,000

Header Image: © ECOM; Footer Image: © UNEP