Mighty Earth’s field investigation in Côte d’Ivoire reveals how cocoa is driving illegal deforestation in the nation’s protected areas. Our findings expose how environmental destruction is an “open secret” throughout the Ivorian cocoa supply chain, from growers through traders, chocolate companies and the Ivorian government...More than 80% of the country’s forests disappeared from 1960-2010, according to the EU and Ivorian Forestry Ministry...Cocoa farmers systematically encroach on parks, clear underbrush, plant cocoa, and light fires at the roots of ancient giants to kill them so that the denuded canopy no longer blocks sun for cocoa plantations. What’s left behind are giant skeleton trees in a sea of cocoa...Cocoa production has endangered wildlife by taking over many of the rainforests of Côte d’Ivoire...Predatory logging companies go into decimated protected forests and harvest the last few remaining large hardwoods...The problem of deforestation cocoa is a massive one for Côte d’Ivoire. Cocoa is believed to be the number one driver of deforestation in the country. Much of the cocoa exported out of Côte d’Ivoire comes from inside national parks and forest reserves...We came across this Cargill sign at dawn, showing Rainforest Alliance and Utz Certification, at the edge of the Scio forest reserve in Western Cote d’Ivoire. Ten minutes away, inside Scio, we found complete environmental devastation. Cocoa had replaced what was once a lush tropical rainforest...While top chocolate companies and their executives and investors make sizable profits, they pay very low wages and rely on extensive child labor...The Ivorian government recently cracked down against cocoa-driven deforestation by expelling cocoa farmers, but groups like Human Rights Watch documented extortion and physical abuse by forest conservation authorities in forest evictions. Mighty Earth saw that after the recent crackdown, the park had once again filled back up with cocoa smallholders...Mighty’s satellite mapping shows how deforestation, largely driven by cocoa production, has expanded across Western Cote d’Ivoire...Agricultural production inside protected areas is illegal...We met cocoa farmers who spoke of their suffering and explained the economic hardships they’ve faced since cocoa prices plummeted by over 30% this past year. Many told us that it has been the worst financial year for them in living memory...After a meeting convened by Prince Charles, 34 of the world’s biggest chocolate companies committed to ending deforestation for chocolate. However, it remains to be seen if these companies will take true leadership in putting an end to this destruction...The Ivorian government has made many commitments at the highest level around ending deforestation. Although promises on paper have yet to translate into a reality of forest protection, there is room for optimism that the Ivorian government would support robust industry action this year to save forests.