In a new episode of “Chasing Deforestation,” Mongabay investigates the emergence of a cocoa industry in southeastern Liberia that is destroying its forests.Mongabay reporters traveled deep into the Liberian rainforest to find illegal cacao farms with the help of forest rangers and eco-guards.The investigation was led by Mongabay Africa bureau features writer Ashoka Mukpo.
Mongabay’s investigation into deforestation in Liberia started with a tip from a source last year.
“There’s deforestation, and a migrant rights issue,” they said. Areas along the border with Côte d’Ivoire were losing vast swaths of rainforest to cacao farming.
It was the beginning of a months-long journey that led us from the Liberian jungle to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, and through the history of West African labor migration.
As a features writer for Mongabay’s Africa bureau, my work has brought me across the world. I’ve covered conservation conflicts, climate change, and the legacy of commodity extraction. These stories are always a window into the interconnected forces of modern life: economic inequalities, history, ecological change, geopolitics, and so on.
