Mondelez International, owner of Oreo and Cadbury’s Dairy Milk, has pledged to map all farms covered by its sustainability scheme using satellite technology by the end of 2019, as it strives to eliminate deforestation from its key sourcing regions. The commitment will see farms across the company’s three largest cocoa-sourcing markets – Ghana, the Ivory Coast and Indonesia – regularly monitored for forest loss using digital mapping technology. The satellites use Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) to "look" through the clouds and monitor the earth continuously. Farmers found to be driving deforestation under the mapping scheme will receive additional education and support to conserve or reforest their local environments. If they fail to heed this advice, they risk being removed from Modelez’s supplier list. The satellite mapping scheme forms an extension to Mondelez’s Cocoa Life programme, which has a headline aim of bringing fair wages and sustainable agriculture training to 200,000 farmers across six countries by 2022. It will apply to all farmers taking part in the initiative, which Mondelez hopes to eventually expand to cover 100% of its global supply chains.

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