The launch event took place in Medellín, Colombia, on February 14, 2023. It was attended by Christian Robin, Executive Director of the Swiss Platform for Sustainable Cocoa (SWISSCO) which mediates the financial contributions of the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs SECO, Julien Robert, head of Economic Cooperation (SECO) at the Swiss Embassy in Colombia, Philippe Schneuwly, CEO of Swisscontact, Saul Diaz Ortiz, regional director of Swisscontact, and representatives of the government of Antioquia and the private sector.
At the event, the project “Paisajes + Sostenible” (“Landscape + Sustainable”) was introduced. It aims to test the concept of sustainable sourcing landscapes initially in two sub-regions in Antioquia: Urabá and Magdelena Medio. “We seek to collectively engage local stakeholders in creating sustainable supply landscapes with deforestation-free and climate-friendly supply chains for present and future generations”, explained Silvan Ziegler, Project Manager at Swisscontact.
The sustainable landscape approach
In each region, a common landscape plan shall define common objectives, align and bundle financial resources and implement a joint monitoring system to track the progress in the implementation of the joint plan. The project thereby proposes solutions beyond individual cocoa production value chains to ensure improved livelihoods and well-being for farmer households in Colombia. Therefore, as Julien Robert from SECO said at the event: "The landscape approach applied in this project allows us to address environmental challenges in an integrated manner".
Working together with the private sector, such as the banana and plantain guilds, will be key in this project. “They can contribute with lessons learned and good practices that can be implemented in the cocoa value chain, for example by diversifying crops and improving producer income”, explained Juan Felipe Laverde, General Manager of the Green Land Foundation.
Christian Robin highlighted that this is the first project with this approach that the Swiss Platform for Sustainable Cocoa supports in Colombia. “It contributes to positioning Colombia in sustainable markets in Switzerland and Europe”, he remarked.
The potential of cocoa in Colombia
In Colombia, cocoa has a big potential to drive economic development in rural areas alongside other agriculture products such as banana, palm oil or coffee. In fact, many conflict affected communities promote cocoa as an alternative source of income for their rural population. A prosperous and sustainable development in these communities, however, depends not only on well-managed cocoa farms, but also on concerted actions by local stakeholders and international partners to jointly tackle the challenges such aspoverty, water scarcity or deforestation.