as a reminder of the top story we're following for you as the worldwide coronavirus death toll passes to many in india as a lot of launched what may be the world's biggest vaccination program and government hypes to give an anti coded jab to 300000000 people in just 6 months. at it from me and then used in coming up top film takes a look at the downside of chocolate don't get you can always stay up to date on our website that's the delegate dot com i'm rebecca ritter's environment thanks very much for joining us. life on earth no one is a kind and. gigantic coincidence. we're told what happened. was a bit like winning the lottery. or unique starts feb

11th on t.w. . chocolate we can't seem to get enough of it each year we consume $7000000.00 tons of it worldwide. if. it comes in countless varieties and price ranges made by anything from small autism all chocolate makers to the international giants that dominate the market. and the whole spectrum can be seen at confectionery trade fairs like this but the exhibitors are also here to teach children about which ochlik comes from who is local what have you heard of ivory cruz is the biggest because producing country in the world goes through the cocoa through to the cocoa tree is called couples the current. uses the look of both we take good care of these plans will drop

surprisingly there are a critical voices at the exhibition as well environmental organization mighty earth is here to talk about the darker side of chocolate through that image if you have consumed coke on a past 20 years you have a closely guarded child labor and slavery clothes work in the worst condition as a thing dress chemical has shut machetes and have to carry the very heavy loan for a trader. vic's has long been known in the chocolate industry but many companies still insist they are doing what they can to protect children and the environment. is obviously you know slightly industry acknowledges the problems if i see a forestation and child labor on plantations us officials hold back i assure you it's they are working hard to improve the situation is the use of an old and. over the last 10 years more and more cocoa producers have pledged to save the

forests and send children to school instead of work. but are they. this is the harbor of abidjan the economic capital of ivory coast the west african country produces 40 percent of the world's entire cocoa supply. the trees that it comes from grow on small remote farms. there are around 6000000 of these farms worldwide and they're mostly left to their own devices. their harvest then goes through a long supply chain of traders and manufacturers before it ends up on our shelves. poll moreira a french television journalist and i'm. 3rd in the very 1st link of this chain.

much of the remaining rain forest in ivory coast lies in the south west about an 8 hour drive from the capital the region is known as the country's cocoa belt. even as we approach on the main road children run away when they see our camera it's a sign we're getting close to the plantations. why did you tell him to run away is he working for you. know so why send him away filming. child labor is forbidden in ivory coast punishable by up to 6 months in prison but it's rarely prosecuted as it's shown too hard to prove. in the far west of the country the roads turn into where it muddy dirt tracks.

militias patrol the area they say they're here to protect the people. they collect money from everyone who passes through especially the cocoa trucks. it costs 100 francs to pass sometimes 500 if you've got a full truck it's 1000 francs. this is the protected one deb a forest reserve about 10 kilometers from the liberian border it used to be part of the species rich west guinea and lowland rain forest. but there's not much left of the forest all the protected animals. the land was cleared to make way for thousands of illegal cocoa plantations.

the green plants are full cook county trees the primary forest is dead. officially no one is even allowed to enter the syria without permission from the forrestal forest. but no one is here to enforce the rules. on these hidden camps the littlest signs. the farmers are working illegally on land that doesn't belong to them journalists welcome here so we don't tell them what we do. we're accompanied by a member of an n.g.o.s the human rights. around 40 people who live in this camp in huts men and children only. they

drink water from the river and eat bananas and manioc that they grow in the forest themselves. if they peak could count homes and cut them open with machetes day after. day. it takes a lot of care and precision the shells $100.00 and their blades shop. it's the only way to extract the precious beams that are still coated in a white fleshy pulp. cut cut. cut cut cut. cut. cut cut cut cut. the beans are left out to. dry before they have bagged up and sold to

a co-operative. the workers old very young about a 3rd of them a children. 'd they're extremely poor immigrants from neighboring paquito faso. can't give up. their homeland is a country plagued by drought hunger and violence the cocoa business in ivory coast is often their only hope for survival. drama on these 13 years old records white and she go to school if you do good why don't i go to school when i went there and yes it will not mean i dropped out. to do what i think. you know by those parents couldn't afford it anymore it was too far or they're not

come on how did you end up here been about what was. ok with my older brother and i don't you know that there's a lot of that. is the youngest in this camp close by what about you know no school either. no. no no you know i don't like school. i need to earn money. for. these forest should in theory be monitored by ivory coast's ministry of water and forests. were using me you ever see ranges here she yeah but they leave us alone it was a matter of. the government does have an official plan to save the rainforest they want to redistribute the land reforest some of the areas that have been destroyed and use legal farms more efficiently more than 200000 cocoa farmers are meant to receive. meaning. that next to nothing has actually happened so

far meanwhile immigrants from bikini faso continue to arrive to work on ivory coast illegal plantations. they come as children and stay for many years the forest becomes their prison within a season is just one of its prisoners your parents stayed. in burkina faso you don't see them in the upper if you know i haven't seen them for 6 years but. you were 15 when you arrived here of a didn't know. yes now i'm 21 a long time without your parents yes it's very painful they were told me i even back you know not want to. know why not if you think you know this is the 1st year i've actually started earning money and that. is just

amazing. it's one of the darkest secrets of these clandestine plantations people like us ceased toil for years without compensation only later to they receive a small piece of land in return to grow their own harvest and keep any returns healed. he can finally make some money from selling cocoa this is how the camps in guantanamo bay operate 1st the boys work for food then for payment in kind. of a. collie has also started working on his 1st small plot of land if you don't get caught with your boss doesn't pay you. no no i didn't get any money and. decided i'd work enough to get my own. look at the way you worked for free for 6 years exactly that's. they blame. me yes but that's just the way it

is with of this years you mean this i harvested i going to have me set and then. a bag and a half that's 180 kilograms which sells for $210.00 euros that's our lease new annual income. has just arrived from bikini afonso this is the start of his new life here. then i. think someone sent him here skipping can you tell me how much money he makes. for the hope to. god. i don't know ya'll are. developing depending on how much. the question is

making really sharp uncomfortable. i'm going to. probably if you work in here later receive his own plot. ok thank you for tamara right now he's working for free with you know he's working towards getting his own one of the inputs when they're a little know how old are you. 3 do you know how old you are. one of us and he doesn't know. where is your birthday. it was here but he went into the city. the city of geek love is 40 kilometers east of the forest children from bikini afonso who've been sold by their parents arrive at least bus station to be bought by plantation owners. to observe one of these transactions our ngo help pretends to be

a farmer he's wearing a hidden camera. fines to traffickers at the station waiting for the children to arrive from bikini afonso. they target the most vulnerable ones who'll be willing to work just for food. they tell us who's in charge of this business. the next day we meet the old man as he's known here but given the interest me often kids for you no problem but you know. what you i'm going to pay a purpose or. i'll be very happy to find children for you i'll pay you for. i'll be happy and so will you. this will turn your profit of your parents get 200000 francs on this i'm going to. send the 200002 the parents are part of the church while you well over one of the long can they work for me 3 or 4 years. to

stay for 3 maybe 2. i can't pay more than 200000 don't worry they're not all the same prices are set up for humans have different prices. like sheep are not worth the same. to finish your coffee and get the children. just as a favor i know of course that is you know ok. 200000 west african c.f.a. francs a worth roughly 300 euro. rose that's the cost of $1.00 slave for 3 years. while our guide has a coffee the old man gets a tip off that there are journalists investigating the illegal plantations because off the deal. the young workers have no idea of the dangers they face of the cocoa plantations one of the worst is invisible toxic herbicides because i know

that you work in the fields. we come across a lot of children wearing big weed sprayers on their backs often working without a mask we want to find out what they're spraying. isn't that harmful for you. and. you will get sick you know. when you pour in there. so that if it was that doesn't have a red lead yes that was the red live meaning the voiceless. the bottles with the red lead contain weed killer it's sold everywhere but what's it made of. so is the basket no idea what it is it's chinese. or silver to find out more about these weed killer we venture further into the forest to another illegal plantation the deeper we push the more we begin to

realize why the forest is dying out and when we're joined by saying oh no we're going to. do it kills weeds throughout the hour 1st you boys and everything then you plant cocoa. yes we spray the stuff everywhere. to the children who work here use this product as wells even see them. yes. it's glaive to say do you know what that is yes. we know the name but we don't know what it does we just kill weeds and plant cocoa. glad to say it is a broad spectrum herbicide that kills almost all clown species and the world health organization has identified it as a probable cause in a gym especially when applied without appropriate protective gear. certain bruises no one told you it might be dangerous to say you know we didn't know it was wrong or possibly even if everyone just across the court when you see the protective clothing on the packaging doesn't that make you go into laws at least we know your

protection to use this product but we don't have any. so we just make do without it if. that's how you make room to plant carol beans while that's right a sequestered jury duty once the vegetation has been destroyed the cocoa can grow quickly has. it come over for good is what you do to the trees they're all white for we set them on fire. was 6. look at you do we use dry wood to burn them down let's see if we like you. when you have most rights because for the exactly the same. account trees rely on the 1st of all soils of the forest but they're also leeching them drawing. the environmental

organization mighty earth documents the destruction. i think. is the new way to look at our life and once kick our ride it takes over the entire forest as a full sun monoculture masses of chemicals are sprayed all over 20 years later the ground is completely hertha list so they push deeper into the forest and do the same thing again and again they just keep moving further and that's why i say the cow plant is a canopy can you bend. between 909-2015 over 90 percent of every coasts primary forests were cleared. they've mostly been replaced with could count trees. these continual deforestation is having an impact on the local and global climate less

forest means less rain and without rain nothing will be able to grow here even cocoa. as the soil dries up so does a vital source of income in the region within a week in the forest we witnessed all the crimes the industry pledged to eradicate including slave labor child labor and the destruction of the environment. however each and every day tons of these illegal cocoa beans enter the regular supply chain the people who buy them up like to keep a low profile but we find a trading post at the edge of the forest that buys both legal and illegal produce these bags stored here come from at least 40 different farmers. there's no marking on the bags to say where they came from their opened and the

beans are all mixed together completely impossible to track. one of the biggest cooperatives in the region cooper webb used to work under the fair trade label. displaying the slow go means taking a stand against child labor and the forestation. in 2017 cooper web had its certification suspended with their cocoa being grown in the protected rain forest. that it has. we have hardly any business partners in the classified rain forest and the number is marginal. is it safe to go when these trucks arrive with dozens of

bags like these are you sure none of them come from the areas where child labor all deforestation and taking place let's be honest we saw child labor everywhere within the classified zone outside the zone everywhere all along that you did as the old order as above to see. a suitable mozy is a bucket depends what you call child labor and a man who takes his kids to the field on sundays is that child labor. no that's not child labor just assume because. he can but i'm going from the keen afonso who's been here 5 years off that's child labor raiola i mean normal. normal so far i haven't heard of any such cases of children working for one of our partners to. take a little can you be shown such and we inspect our producers every year. in. the supply chain for chocolate is anything but transparent what exactly happens

between the forest and tao supermarkets that go to the cocoa you process where does it go how does it work who's buying this fact orders. exporters. like this like this. so it's export us from ivory coast well to. the cooper we have manager won't tell us who he sells to we come back in the evening and to drive us spills the beans. for cargill yes. they both yes. cooper web sales it's kick our beans to convert a giant us conglomerate. the trades agricultural commodities among other things. it's an intermediary that sells cocoa on to the chocolate makers whose products we see in our supermarkets many people haven't even heard the name before.

surprisingly we managed to get an interview with congo they usually prefer to stay under the radar. i keep vulgarly still the cocoa 2 that you get from ivory coast to many big companies i'm not exactly sure nestle mars legal action and some others do it. without knowing it most of us are eating cocoa products supplied by congo the company promises that it's appliance clean cocoa but we have our doubts we confront the manager and his p.r. officer with our images. only has 2 kids we only stayed for a few days and we saw children on the roadside working with machetes and weeding with dangerous herbicides. that's terrible you should already know about the ideas

on false to see see if the show's going to see child labor is something we do our best to prevent within the certified co-operative organizations that are part of our sustainable development and network school for sustainable hoka we offer a 50 percent premium cycle compared to the price of conventional green as it is almost unnoticeable so 50 percent goes to the cooperative who you know who do you have the cash to visit long. the boss are you sure the money is being redistributed in the hope that even the cooperative is run by well trained people is all for me. our system works the closest to mush. we're committed to quality. the promise commits us to make a difference to them in return for the 50 percent premium. these cooperatives a supposed to actively improve the daily lives of farmers by building schools for instance this is a promise that cooper webb has also committed to. it

is it hard to verify when children are being forced into labor so on and then we have to build a school this year in one of our sections in the 6 year. oh you do for cooper went for cooper web. site when. you got i think well the location has already been chosen but we'd rather keep it confidential and next year if you come here i'll show you where there was already quite a bit here. i hope it'll be there you know it will be there and. why is it a location secret nothing's been built you know ok because he's lying that he didn't tell the truth seems to. feel me i can't promise that things are running better in our industry than elsewhere to sebastopol of the. congo also pledged to

no longer destroy the rainforest to grow cocoa they promised that by the year 2030 there would be 0 d. forestation in their supply chain. and they forced us to your station is a key issue for us success without the forest there's no rain and without rain we have no cookout trees so you know being you know chocolate. that sounds wonderful but you do business in one of the most of the forested places in west africa yes it's very difficult. for a station in ivory coast between 116 and 20 of them was 90 percent and when we arrived in 2010 that figure was already 80 percent they tweet it's things you need to change. sure. how can you be sure that the cocoa superwomen selling it doesn't come from the classified forest. which is basically a lawless zone where unspeakable things are happening. or was ever since then we've

implemented our reliable system that enables us to identify the producers we're working with i think you would have a young supply because they are g.p.s. tags with a barcode on. it. we collect all of this and a database which allows us to link the product to the producer that he has it apply to. this system is mentioned on candles website bar codes on cocoa bags a scanner with satellite connection that offers state of the art g.p.s. traceability the problem is this footage is from ghana not ivory coast. i'm sorry but i spent a week in this area i didn't see a single bag with a barcode cooper where they didn't have a single one but it's said that information doesn't match what i have here at all because. we asked the cooper web manager about the possibility of using

technology to identify the farmers and track the bags. that come up us how can we know whether it actually comes from the classified forests we need a g.p.s. position is good but who can help us with that the state is to do that he said. you know how they do it in ghana you can ghana they're facing the same issues each bag has a barcode with a g.p.s. identification that links it to the producers it can work like that could you make it happen on some production we've got so if they can do it in ghana we should be able to do it here on the ground but you know. i didn't get a confirmation about these barcode that maybe it's the old system but it's definitely certain. by the day we're talking about the worst practices here no doubt we're not perfect i'm not saying that we've found the perfect solution before but we are trying. after the interview we receive an angry message from congo they

checked and have to admit we were right there are no barcode on the bags from the go on to be forest but they assure us that 99 percent of farmers are registered and everything should be straightened out within a year. to stick problem to defies the scientists all these displays deforestation slave labor child labor it all comes down to one thing traceability without traceability law it's almost or it's all in the shadows we don't know who died accountable everyone is hiding as soon as we know who sells flights tomorrow night when where and how then all of the sudden that we have something that works economically people accountable to this child and particularly for this case of slavery we are for just a forestation and so we can fix the problem traceability is the key to everything. we also want to explore the areas of ivory coast where cocoa is being grown

illegally rather than on secret plantations in the classified rain forest. in 2012 ivory coast's government launched its 1st national action plan to crack down on child labor its 3rd and latest plan has expanded to include issues such as supply chain traceability and illegal plantations in the classified forests and it's allocated a little over 100000000 euros for the daunting task. of qualm a us to month works for one of the ngos that implement the program at the local level you're there are said. to go ahead of our role is to help children who are in trouble future problem for some of the future children who are being abused who are so. to slave away your cocoa plantations. those are the ones we're here to help and also for the full. list for me for my work with the

ministry of family to raise awareness in these villages about the child exploitation that takes place within cocoa farming. to. children in ivory coast often help their parents out in the fields on the weekends that's not illegal. may is targeting the families who don't even send their children to school. he works for a small n.g.o.s funded by international donors he himself used to work as a buyer for the cocoa cooperatives so he understands why the farmers rely on their children's help. because they help you to pick up the pods that far right. yes they pick up the pods that's a good example you need to understand that these children shouldn't be doing this work activity. if cocoa farming paid well everyone who could afford to send their kids to school that isn't usually when i

explain to them the children need to go to school they tell me they love that but they simply can't afford it and that by the way if it were farmers with 4 or 5 children and no money to put them through school they don't know what else to do. the only way to put children 1st through on a cocoa farmers salary is to make sacrifices elsewhere. mr song who has been working in the cocoa business for 30 years he's very proud of his son who will soon go to college he helps his dad during the school vacations prejudicial you're studying that's right what's something to do for. i'm going to start history this year i just graduated from high school and i continue my studies at college. tuition fees is very difficult that's why it's wonderful that i can manage the 1st installment of the cocoa earnings will only last for 2 months. there now there's

nothing left of my. next to get louis' little brother he doesn't go to school or school anymore he's dad had to make a choice it was either get or his brother. i don't have enough money like last year he made $700.00 francs a day this year 750 cents a month that's not enough. to sawston to poor. well you know. we work our fingers to the bone we have nothing left to give there's no money my children help me out where they can. go to school. not anymore. if your dad could afford it would you rather go to school work or.

the chocolate industry turns over more than $100000000000.00 euros a year meanwhile it's estimated that an average cocoa farmer earns less than one euro a day. to day. would raising the price of cocoa beans put an end to child labor. could the solution really be that simple that's a question we wanted to put to the representatives of the chocolate industry. we travel to devils a small town in switzerland that's known for hosting large international business

events every 2 years swiss chocolate manufacturer barry culbut invites the cocoa industries leaders to the conference shock of his young since 2012 they've declared it big goal to end the abject poverty in cocoa producing countries. very kobo notified us by email that we were not welcome at the event we go along anyway in the hope of meeting some people we can talk to after all they claim to promote transparency. but the hotel security has strict orders oh. yeah no fear. out of the hotel let us work please no. no. if you. find. the color he's searching for the police. we stay on the sidewalk.

the minister a question please. since it's a former minister from ghana almost talks to us but is quickly led away we starting to become a nuisance so they send us someone to interview as long as we promise to leave afterwards it's cameras the problem. i mean camera is the problem that they don't for example the fact that in principle we're not allowing any additional journalist and the ones that we're already. building to listen let's agree you're going to me are questions and i'm going to reply to you sure this will show. the burning question is why is nothing changing back in 2001 the big chocolate makers committed to in child labor that was almost 20 years ago. isn't manufacture is set up along the greek will cocoa foundation that was supposed to improve conditions but social and environmental simple solutions. are

very hard to find for something as complicated as the child labor and yet we all agree that the solution of paying more to the growers has not been implemented yet . we are looking at ways to scale up approaches to how farmers can improve their income 18 years of. years to lucan what you going to do in the future and nothing is done nowadays efficiently to stop poverty. i would i wouldn't say that nothing is being done now as i mentioned before we have companies that are committed to paying premiums to farmers. to help them increase their income levels the cocoa business altogether every year is a $100000000000.00 worth and that growers get 6 percent of it i think it's enough what if what i can say is that this is not unusual for commodities if you think of cotton i mean how much does a cotton farmer get compared to how much we pay for

a pair of jeans or another article of clothing that is made from cotton so it's this is not something that's specific to cocoa and so we're making the 20 years and see what's going on ok every 20 years or. overly sooner than that sooner than that . the power doesn't rest soley in the hands of the chocolate makers what about the law makers chocolate is a widely consumes product in europe. so we pay a visit to the european parliament in brussels astoundingly there's no sanction for illegal practices within the cocoa supply chain. heidi how to an m.e.p. from finland has regular meetings with manufacturers. are you. in the last 3rd of the work is there a children's. toys yes it's a tragedy. we are busy preparing an

action plan on what to do with cocoa so that would not anymore cause the forestation and child labor and what is really very remarkable is that more and more companies are saying that we need this mandatory due diligence obligation we need lol inform the times you would have said that companies are masochistic that they are asking for a lot yes but they have what they want what they call a level playing field because they don't want to be irresponsible and then they see that the irresponsible companies are reaping the profits you know for a cheap price so that's the question because to be responsible may cost. a little more. than well well well if i may i would just like to show you an example that of course there is this kind of fancy side of the industry but then there's not a word about these huge human rights issues and environmental issues that are hidden in the supply chain chocolate so i was invited to this reception but i just

couldn't go because this is not the honest simple question. more i don't have a good answer to that everybody who works on the problems of cocoa say that yes you can you can maybe. you can coming to terms with. the forestation and there is the deep deep question of living wage is i think it's a terrible thing that we can taste these fancy chocolates here in brussels but then a simple cocoa worker in it got people are probably did not even taste of it because it's too expensive it's a luxury product out of their reach so leaving ways he said it's so simple if they had just a little more money then more of their children could go to school back in ivory coast in the village of troy or to cocoa farmers or investing the little money they

make in their children's future they've all chipped in to hire a teacher 200 children attend this class who. are they are. all. right when we see children going to the fields which other parents to send them to school instead we take kids between the ages of 6 to 9. how do you get paid . i get paid each month. by the parents group by the parents fail to chip in yes the state doesn't contribute. because the state can't afford to hire teachers in poor remote areas like this. that's right. in 2019 ghana and

ivory coast joined forces and decided to set the price of cocoa themselves the way opec countries do for oil. exporting countries have demanded the industry pay 30 percent more to the farmers that only translates into $0.30 per family per day but it's hopefully one small step towards a bigger change. this man eating his christmas tree. timbers city i've seen and i know whether it's needles bark or. everything is at a bar. are safe and back to the

brands. jerome x. . 13. it's about billions. it's about howard. it's about the foundation of a new world order. the new silk road. china wants to expand its influence with this trade network. but a number of others are mourning the ever exception money from the new superpower will become dependent on the technical stuff that the chinese state has a lot of money at his disposal of the book and that's how expanding and asserting its status and position in the world to play china's game.

starts february 19th on d w. cut . player. play. bass is data of any news live from the end germany's senior looks beyond the merkel era the race is wide open and i'm going to cause he means to choose a new laid out on his gemini heads for autumn alexion is without head do any of the candidates have what it takes to replace harris childs also coming up in the launch as the biggest vaccination program of the world does have the same.