From the launch of the new Global Shea Alliance, GSA, in Accra, Ghana, to the grafting of shea trees to a business-to-business forum, “Shea 2011: Sustainable Solutions,” connected hundreds of shea stakeholders from across West Africa and around the world to each other and the information they need to grow the industry.

Shea connects millions of people — from at least four million women in West Africa, who collect and/or process shea nuts into shea butter to hundreds of millions of consumers in international markets. The use of shea in chocolate candy, including the most popular brands of chocolate candy bars in the U.S. and Europe, mean many experience it almost daily.

With the formal launch of the Global Shea Alliance at Shea 2011, connecting the people across the value chain is now the pursuit of the GSA.

The conference was preceded by two days of export training provided by experts from across the value chain. The more than 250 shea stakeholders from Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, South Sudan, Togo and Uganda, learned how to produce natural cosmetics, develop and publish a website, prepare a bankable application for a loan from a commercial bank and other financial institutions and reduce the costs of shipping and logistics.

Global climate change has refocused mankind’s efforts around the world to ensure human activity does not contribute to historically high levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere — and preserve and promote environments that hold carbon — so-called “carbon sinks.” Shea trees are a perfect example of a big win on both fronts.