BY SARAH LASKOW

Chocolate lovers have two decades to consume all the Godiva they can before climate change drinks their milkshake. After that, global warming will cause production to dwindle in current cocoa-producing regions, like Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, according to a new study by the International Center for Tropical Agriculture.

That doesn’t necessarily mean that humanity will lose chocolate, though. It just might have to come from somewhere else. And the change is really more problematic for cocoa farmers than for chocoholics: Farmers who depend on the bounty of cocoa for their income will need to diversify to heat-resistant crops, according to the study.

We hope that farmers plan ahead so that they continue earning money, but also that farmers in newly minted cocoa regions (mmm, minted cocoa) get on the ball so that there’s no chocolate shortage. It could get ugly.

straight to the source

• Climate Change Could Melt Chocolate Production, Scientific American