Satellite mapping specialist Ecometrica is launching a platform to help monitor forests in Ghana and the Ivory Coast in an effort to better understand how cocoa farming in Ghana is driving deforestation.

The project, backed by the UK Space Agency and led by Ecometrica, will use a combination of aircraft, satellites and tools on the ground to gather images in order to build a landscape-level map.

It can often be hard to identify cocoa as it usually grows under the forest canopy. To tackle this issue, the firm plans to add an additional level to the map that can see through foliage to give a detailed 3D impression of the forest’s health and possible crops.

The map will be able to separate cocoa crops from forestry, and will act as a tool to measure how cocoa farming is driving deforestation said the company.

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Ecometrica says the map will also be used by government officials and cocoa farmers so that they can take action to stop deforestation by exerting pressure on some suppliers to end unsustainable practices.

Companies will also be able to use it to assess their impact on protected areas and plot their supply chains more appropriately.

Supported by the Ghana Forestry Commission, the project aims to demonstrate evidence of deforestation, which can then be investigated by Ghana’s authorities.

Dr Richard Tipper, chairman of Ecometrica, said: “Cocoa and chocolate companies recognised the importance of sustainability and have clearly pledged to end deforestation caused by their industry

“However, this has proven to be a difficult task because companies lacked the information to assess the effectiveness of their policies.

“The Ecometrica platform will allow organisations to plot their own commercially confidential data onto the forest maps we are already creating with Forests 2020.

“This will offer a unified insight into what is actually happening in the vicinity of known suppliers, especially where legitimate farms border protected forests and will, therefore, play an important role in helping companies and governments to sensitively tackle the complexity of ensuring supplies come from sustainable sources.”