Cacao as charismatic species

Conservationists have their Siberian Tigers, Blue Whales and Coral Reefs. But where is the charismatic agricultural biodiversity?

Some recent attempts to conserve biodiversity in tropical forests have pinned their hopes on the cacao tree. Grown with care, under the shade of the forest rather than in sun-drenched plantations, cacao not only permits and encourages all manner of other plants and animals; it also produces better beans and does so more sustainably.

A World of Possibilities, an award-winning, one-hour weekly radio programme, dedicated itself to Cacao’s role in Reviving Biodiversity.

One of the “pragmatic social innovators, leading policy analysts and big-picture thinkers on key national and global issues” the programme spoke to, was Pablo Eyzaguirre, senior scientist at Bioversity International. He talked about his experience studying the differences between shade-grown cacao and plantation cacao.

 Here’s a brief taster (573 KB); to listen to the whole programme, which also features Miguel Altieri, University of California Berkeley, Miguel Pinedo-Vasquez, Columbia University, Sarah Laird, Co-Director, People and Plants International and Dennis Garrity, Director-General, World Agroforestry Centre, visit the programme website.