Climate change: Will chocolate become a costly luxury?

If temperatures continue to rise, a new report suggests, West Africa, source of half the world's chocolate, will be unfit to grow the coveted beans

Chocolate: A precious commodity as soon as 2030?
(Image credit: Ricardo Ceppi/dpa/Corbis)

Is the world's cocoa supply in danger? That's what a new study from the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) suggests, singling out a familiar culprit: Global warming. The findings [see PDF] reveal that annual temperature increases will hamper the crop-production efforts in West Africa, which currently supplies half of the world's chocolate — at least if preventive measures aren't taken. Here's what you should know:

How hot are we talking?

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