Mighty Earth is an environmental advocacy organization focused on exposing and addressing the negative impacts of cashew cultivation in Côte d'Ivoire. The organization highlights how the rapid expansion of cashew farming over the past 40 years has led to significant deforestation, with approximately 1.6 million hectares of land converted to cashew plantations—an area nearly the size of Hawaii.
This agricultural shift has resulted in the loss of up to 25% of native dry forests in some regions within four years, threatening biodiversity and encroaching on protected areas like the UNESCO World Heritage site, Comoé National Park, which is home to critically endangered species such as the Western Chimpanzee.
Mighty Earth also documents socio-economic issues, including food insecurity as farmers abandon traditional food crops for cashew, and hazardous working conditions, particularly for women who manually de-shell nuts and suffer caustic burns from the oil released during roasting.
The organization advocates for sustainable practices, including traceability systems, halting expansion into native ecosystems, crop diversification, forest restoration, and bans on cashews linked to deforestation in major consumer markets like the US and EU.