Using Science-Based Climate Information for Decision Making

February 26, 2019 / activist360 / Leave a comment

Growing cocoa is a valuable industry for smallholder farmers in Samoa, and more generally provides a significant national social and economic benefit. The climate of Samoa is currently suitable for growing cocoa, although there are various climate impacts on the industry, including: periodic flooding that damages farms; tropical cyclones, noting that the main impact is the flooding (so as connected to the first risk) while wind speed has little negative impact; heavy rainfall that damages flowers and subsequent levels of fruiting on the trees, and also causes damaging (‘black pod’) fungal disease outbreaks – annual rainfall and associated humidity is often high enough for the fungal outbreaks to be severe, and heavy rainfall and humidity promotes the spread of fungus between cocoa pods.

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Founded by singer-songwriter/musician Bill Madden, activist360 is a labor of love maintained by a dedicated group of environmental activists. We believe our climate is in crisis, and the time to act is now. activist360 finds climate change to be one of the greatest challenges ever faced by humanity. Our mission is to amplify diverse and…

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