Climate Change Effects on Cocoa Production and Its Potential Consequences for Forest Conservation
Climate change is expected to impact negatively on cocoa production. Impact models have predicted geographic shifts in production areas & potential loss of about 50% of current climatically suitable areas for growing cocoa by 2050.
However, eco-physiological response of cocoa tree, elevated CO2 effects & possible adaptions practices that might help adapt cocoa was not considered, hence effects on production is not sufficiently quantified. Geographic shifts could have serious implications for forest biodiversity & ecosystem services.
The project links cocoa crop modelling and spatial analysis to identify spatially explicit cocoa-climate-forest interactions and improve understanding of impacts of climate change on cocoa yield, and to assess implications of climate change for cocoa production in West Africa, including effects of possible shifts in production areas on forest cover
This PhD project is part of CocoaSoils (http://www.cocoasoils.org/), a multi-institutional research consortium working on integrated soil fertility management options with long-term trials across environmental and management gradients.