RESEARCH NEEDS FOR SUSTAINABLE COCOA PRODUCTION IN GHANA

Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) is a relatively new concept, and though it is often mentioned as a potentially important contribution to sustainable land use, there also seems to be a lot of confusion and at the moment it is not yet applied on a large scale. There have been pilots in cocoa landscapes though, for example by AgroEco-Louis Bolk (See: Felperlaan, Van Zijl, De Lange, Bos, & Van Elzakker, 2011).

In order to make PES work, it first needs to be determined which ecosystem services are provided by the landscape (on different scales) and how these can be protected. The effectiveness of these protection efforts then needs to be measurable in order to verify them before payments are made. Another important aspect to consider is how the payments should be distributed. Especially at the landscape level it might be difficult to determine who is actually protecting the ecosystem services. The benefit sharing scheme needs to be clear and supported by all stakeholders. Finally, until PES schemes can be implemented effectively, it is important to be careful about raising hopes for cocoa farmers (Anon., personal communication).