Côte d’Ivoire

Forest context

Côte d’Ivoire’s forests are vital for biodiversity, rural livelihoods, timber industry and agriculture resilience. However, the country has lost nearly 90% of its forest cover over the past six decades, mainly due to agricultural expansion and logging, weakening the forestry sector and increasing greenhouse gas emissions. Today, forest landscapes form a mosaic of secondary forests, agroforestry systems and agricultural areas planted with cash crops (cocoa, cashew, rubber, coffee, oil palm, etc.), food crops and other land uses, and remain under strong pressure. Côte d’Ivoire has taken important steps to strengthen forest governance, halt deforestation and restore forest cover to 20% by 2030. 

The country is also initiating strategic actions to adapt its agricultural supply chains to international and regional sustainability standards. In this context, agroforestry and agroecological systems are increasingly recognised as key levers for both forest restoration and agricultural transition, notably within cocoa and cashew value chains, while also contributing to improved farm incomes and market access opportunities.

Our Approach

Since 2013, EFI has worked with national and local stakeholders to support sustainable forest management and deforestation‑free agricultural supply chains. We support Côte d’Ivoire in meeting international and regional sustainability requirements, including the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) and the African regional standard ARS 1000. A key focus of our work is the cocoa sector, where EFI provides technical and policy support to public authorities, the private sector and civil society on sustainability policies, legality, agroforestry, forest monitoring and traceability.

In parallel, EFI actively supports the implementation of the Forest National Strategy and the FLEGT Voluntary Partnership Agreement between Côte d’Ivoire and the European Union. Since 2025, EFI also supports the development of agroforestry and agroecology in the cocoa and cashew sectors by linking research, field implementation and policy dialogue.

• Cocoa sector – EFI supports the Ivorian Government, the Coffee and Cocoa Council (CCC), the private sector and civil society in integrating legality information and deforestation‑risk assessment tools to promote deforestation‑free, traceable and sustainable cocoa supply chains. EFI also supports the implementation of regional sustainability standards for cocoa production. Through the national agroforestry transition agenda, EFI supports the scaling of diversified cocoa-based systems.
• Forest preservation and restoration – EFI supports the Ministry of Water and Forests in implementing the national preservation, rehabilitation, and expansion of forests strategy, strengthening capacities for forest and restoration management as well as access to international forest‑finance mechanisms. A significant support from EFI has focused since 2024 on supporting private forest owners – particularly women – with land certificates to improve their forests management and the marketing of their timber and non-timber products.
• Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) – EFI supports the Ministry of Water and Forests in implementing the FLEGT Voluntary Partnership Agreement, including the development of the timber tracking and legality verification system and strengthened capacity for FLEGT licensing. EFI also supports the private timber sector in meeting FLEGT requirements and facilitates multi‑stakeholder platforms to monitor illegal activities and promote dialogue on tree tenure and forest governance.
• Agroecology and agroforestry – EFI works with national partners to support the scaling-up of agroecological and agroforestry practices in the cocoa and cashew sectors. This includes promoting diversified production systems combining trees and crops to strengthen productivity, climate resilience as well as supporting knowledge generation (in collaboration with research institutions) and policy dialogue.