Case Study: Blood Chocolate - Cacao and Conflict in Cote D'Ivoire (lecture in MOOC on "Environmental Security & Sustaining Peace) [Video]
Publisher: UNEP, ELI, Columbia University, Duke University, University of California Irvine, UNDP, and SDG Academy
Author(s): Richard Matthew
Date: 2019
While acknowledging that there were a variety of factors that led to the outbreak and conduct of Cote d’Ivoire’s two civil wars, this chapter specifically considers how rebels exploited cacao to fund these wars. It reviews the brief history of cacao cultivation to provide some context for its unmatched role in Cote d’Ivoire’s economy, and examines how the dynamics of risk and opportunity presented by the nation’s diamond and cacao sectors have shifted over time.