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Contemporary Issue and Management of Change TH60166E - Chocolate’s Sustainable Issues A1 Essay
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Chocolate’s Sustainable IssuesA1 - Essay
(UN, 2022)
Due Date: 19th April 2022
Module: Contemporary Issue and Management of Change - TH60166E
, The United Nation Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are increasingly applied to food and
beverage supply chains to benefit society, environment, and economy. Therefore, catering
businesses are incrementally following SDGs in order to remain competitive and enhance their
sustainability. This essay will investigate decent work and economic growth issue N8, specifically
looking at child labour problems associated with the production of cocoa in Africa, precisely in
Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana. Furthermore, it will critically evaluate how the hospitality sector has
responded to this specific challenge in question with its supply of cocoa. In order to do so, the
latest Marriott and Hilton’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) reports have been used.
Chocolate is a notorious confectionery product worldwide and its distribution has increased by
62% from 2008/9 to 2018/19 (Ewens, et al., 2021). Despite it being well-liked, there are some
negative environmental, social, and economic issues associated with this product’s main
ingredient: cocoa. Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire are the world’s two largest cocoa producers providing
60% of the world’s annual supply (World Cocoa Foundation, 2022). Cocoa’s main negative
impacts include deforestation, climate change, poverty, and child labour. These issues are
increasingly being tackled thanks to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Agenda 2030
developed by United Nation in 2015 aimed to enhance sustainability through set objectives (UN,
2022). These comprise 17 SDGs which all require immediate action from all the countries through
global partnerships (United Nation, 2022).
Cocoa, having more than one sustainable issue, has different SDGs involved within its production.
The main ones are N 1 – no poverty, N 2 – no hunger, N 4 – quality education, N 12 - responsible
consumption and production, N 15 – Life on Land, N 17 – Partnership for the goal, and N 8 -
decent work and economic growth (UN, 2022), which will be the focus in this essay. This last one
strives to “promote inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment
and decent work for all” (United Nations, 2022).
According to Norc’s (2020) report, cocoa-producing countries are still struggling to reduce the
above-mentioned issues. Statista (2021) indicated that 80% of the children were working in
agricultural households in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire in the last 12 months from their survey. In
addition, The Bureau of International Labour Affairs (2021) empathised that 1.56 million of
children are involved in child labour, 43% of which are involved with hazardous activities such as
lifting heavy loads, using sharp tools, burning fields, and agrochemical exposure. Even though a
lot of collaborations and actions have been taken to reduce this issue, familiar engagement and
child labour are still very high, as the majority of cocoa producers are smallholders (Engage the
Chain, 2022). Moreover, UNICEF (2020) reported that COVID-19 pandemic has contributed to
the increment of 20% in child labour.
On the other hand, Cargill’s (2020) report showed that more than 35 partnerships were successfully
created to minimise this challenge. This has allowed 53% of farmers within their supply chain to
produce first-mile traceable volume, provide training to 98% of farmers, and engage 38,500 in a
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