Cocoa

Ghana

Annual cocoa deforestation is the amount of deforestation occurring on cocoa plantations in the selected year. To calculate it, we overlapped the cocoa area map from Kalischek et al. (2023) (representing cocoa plantations in 2019 to 2021) with the annual loss of undisturbed Tropical Moist Forests from the EC JRC Tropical Moist Forest dataset (2025).

Ghana - Annual cocoa deforestation

Cocoa deforestation is the amount of deforestation within a 15-year allocation period that is converted to cocoa plantations. To calculate it, we overlapped the cocoa area map from Kalischek et al. (2023) (representing cocoa plantations in 2019 to 2021) with the annual loss of undisturbed Tropical Moist Forests from the EC JRC Tropical Moist Forest dataset (2025), applying a four-year lag between deforestation and first potential harvest to reflect the time from planting to harvest. Note that this does not account for cocoa expansion after 2021, and values for the most recent 2 years may change in the future when new versions of the Tropical Moist Forest dataset are released, updated to reflect whether recent forest change shows temporary degradation or permanent deforestation.

Ghana - Cocoa deforestation

Gross CO₂-equivalent emissions from annual cocoa deforestation estimated from the loss of above- and below-ground biomass (excluding soil carbon). Carbon stocks were converted to CO₂-equivalent by multiplying by 3.67. To calculate above and belowground biomass loss, we overlapped the cocoa area map from Kalischek et al. (2023) (representing cocoa plantations in 2019 to 2021) with the annual loss of undisturbed Tropical Moist Forests from the EC JRC Tropical Moist Forest dataset (2025).

Ghana - Gross emissions from annual cocoa deforestation

Gross CO₂-equivalent emissions from cocoa deforestation (15-year allocation period, 4-year lag), estimated from the loss of above- and below-ground biomass (excluding soil carbon). Carbon stocks were converted to CO₂-equivalent by multiplying by 3.67. To calculate above and belowground biomass loss, we overlapped the cocoa area map from Kalischek et al. (2023) (representing cocoa plantations in 2019 to 2021) with the loss of undisturbed Tropical Moist Forests from the EC JRC Tropical Moist Forest dataset (2025), applying a four-year lag between deforestation and first potential harvest to reflect the time from planting to harvest. Note that values for the most recent 2 years may change in the future when new versions of the Tropical Moist Forest dataset are released, updated to reflect whether recent forest change shows temporary degradation or permanent deforestation.

Ghana - Gross emissions from cocoa deforestation

Net greenhouse gas emissions from annual cocoa deforestation were calculated as the difference between gross emissions from annual cocoa deforestation and sequestration in new cocoa plantations. To calculate above and belowground biomass loss, we overlapped the cocoa area map from Kalischek et al. (2023) (representing cocoa plantations in 2019 to 2021) with the loss of undisturbed Tropical Moist Forests from the EC JRC Tropical Moist Forest dataset (2025).

Ghana - Net emissions from annual cocoa deforestation

Net greenhouse gas emissions from cocoa deforestation (15-year allocation period, 4-year lag), were calculated as the difference between gross emissions from cocoa deforestation and sequestration in new cocoa plantations. To calculate above and belowground biomass loss, we overlapped the cocoa area map from Kalischek et al. (2023) (representing cocoa plantations in 2019 to 2021) with the loss of undisturbed Tropical Moist Forests from the EC JRC Tropical Moist Forest dataset (2025), applying a four-year lag between deforestation and first potential harvest to reflect the time from planting to harvest. Note that values for the most recent 2 years may change in the future when new versions of the Tropical Moist Forest dataset are released, updated to reflect whether recent forest change shows temporary degradation or permanent deforestation.

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