Regenerative Cocoa Project in the Chocó Forest

World Centric + ALIADOS

$38,995.00 from profits from fiscal year 2021

This project supports these U.N. Sustainable Development goals

The Chocó Forest in Ecuador has experienced some of the highest deforestation rates in the country – 98% of this rainforest has been cleared. With escalating rates of deforestation from unsustainable development and agriculture, the future of the indigenous communities that rely on the forest is threatened.

Aliados brings together people who believe in development without destruction. They are creating resilient community businesses based on biodiversity in the Andes and the Amazon— and connecting them to markets across the globe. Aliados believes that community enterprises are a powerful tool for effective stewardship of tropical ecosystems by local people.

World Centric has partnered with Aliados to fund a regenerative cocoa project in the Chocó forest. This project is in collaboration with the Chachi people in the western Andes foothills in Ecuador. The Chachi are indigenous to Ecuador and have lived in the forest for over 400 years. Since colonization, the communities have experienced extreme poverty, living on less than $2 a day.

Aliados’ strategy is to establish a regenerative cacao enterprise to significantly improve farmer incomes and strengthen community resource management. They will

• build farm management and forest conservation practices,
• increase local organizational and leadership capacity,
• and link the cocoa enterprise to sustainable markets through innovative business models.

This project includes planting 5,600 cacao seedlings and 6,000 native species seedlings for intercropping in agroforestry systems. Additional benefits include improved Indigenous territorial defense, watershed restoration, and an increase of women and youth in leadership.

About ALIADOS

A World Centric partner since 2022.

Aliados' vision is to fundamentally transform the way business is done in the tropics. They innovate, pilot, and scale resilient business solutions for long-term ecosystem stewardship.