Noé (Gabon / France) - Les Fermes de Noé - Cocoa Under Shade

Noé

As an NGO, Noé’s mission is to protect and restore biodiversity in France and abroad for the good of all living beings and particularly for the good of humankind. Noé believes that farmland biodiversity restoration can be achieved by adopting agroecological practices aimed at maximising ecosystem services while making biodiversity a precious ally for agriculture.

In 2020/2022, The Foundation supported the Cocoa Under Shade project in Gabon. This project has a holistic approach to sustainable development, addressing the conservation of species and ecosystems, local communities' economic growth, and important social challenges, such as healthcare and primary education.

As the climate is particularly favourable to cocoa farming in this region of Gabon, the project aims to support local populations in promoting their natural environment through agroforestry, using timber and non-timber forestry products for cocoa farming under shade, and avoiding deforestation.

Eurofins Foundation funding supported the overall project implementation, particularly the model's replication in a new area (100 hectares of cocoa agroforests) with 45 new beneficiaries. The funding also supported the creation of a tree nursery, with endemic varieties and a capacity of 5,000 trees, and a new cooperative, spanning the identification, structuring and training.

This project has successfully increased awareness of reviving the cocoa culture in Gabon among key decision-makers by focusing on small village producers and considering forest protection. 

This project is now seen as a model of cocoa-free deforestation production in Gabon by different ministries, and concerns surrounding the forest in cocoa sector development have been raised at a high political level.

On a micro-level, individuals have been able to rehabilitate and valorise their ancestors' plantations and gain additional knowledge on cocoa production, cooperative management, agroforestry, and marketing, while generating additional revenue.

The same year, the Eurofins Foundation also provided a grant to the project Les Fermes de Noé, aimed at speeding up the agroecological transition of the food sector, prioritising biodiversity and respecting the processes of the ecosystem. 

This programme is designed around the major players of the food sector: farm cooperatives, industry, food distributors and certification issuers.

The grant enabled Noé to:

• Publish a compendium of 14 biodiversity indicators (hedges, pollinators, earthworms, pesticides, etc.) to monitor the status of agri-food chains, the result of work done by the AGATA Club led by Noé;
• Work with its partners to use these indicators in 12 cooperatives and traders, through 54 farmers in 66 agricultural plots;
• Prepare a citizen survey on the perception of the links between food and biodiversity to enrich the action plan aimed at making biodiversity a purchasing criterion, thus supporting changes in agricultural practices.
• In 2021/2022, the Eurofins Foundation renewed its support to the project, enabling Noé to:Publish a guide to interpret 6 indicators of agricultural practices with regard to their impact on biodiversity;
• Prepare a series of 3 webinars, highlighting the collaborations between naturalists and agricultural actors;
• Publish online a directory of more than 100 naturalists willing to collaborate with the agricultural world;
• Collaborate with its partners through 14 cooperatives and traders, 60 farmers and 100 of their agricultural plots;
• Keep working with 3 food industries to better integrate biodiversity into their supplier contracts, representing a total of over 2900 farmers and 68,000 ha of farmland.
• Conduct a citizen survey (1000 people representative of the French population) on the perception of the links between food and biodiversity. The results of this study will help Noé build its action plan to make biodiversity a purchasing criterion to support changes in agricultural practices;
• Integrate the committees of stakeholders to guide the strategies of major professional agricultural organizations: the meat interprofession and the federation of agricultural cooperatives.

In 2022/2023, the Eurofins Foundation renewed its support to this project, helping Noé to:

• Launch a fourth pilot initiative to monitor the progress of biodiversity protection, working with a total of 20 producer groups and 75 farmers on 128 agricultural plots;
• Upload 3 case studies online about the collaboration between ecologists and farmers in favour of biodiversity;
• Continue to support 4 agri-food industries and public or private labels to better take biodiversity into account in their specifications, representing over 5,300 farmers and 240,000 ha of farmland.
• Defend, with other NGOs, a stronger consideration of biodiversity in ongoing work around environmental labelling for food products.

These projects contribute to the following United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals