Chocolate, community and a vision of the future
Just a 30-minute boat ride from Belém, known as the “gateway to the Amazon rainforest” and host city of this year’s UN climate conference, Combu is home to the Filha do Combu Association, created by Izete Costa, affectionately known as Mrs. Nena. Their initiative is proof that community-led solutions can drive global climate action.
What began as a modest effort to convert traditional knowledge into income has grown into a thriving enterprise. Beginning with small-scale chocolate production using Amazonian cocoa, Doña Nena sold at local fairs before completing professional training to expand her business.
Today he runs a small factory and a tourism program that invites visitors to see how chocolate is made in the rainforest. Of the 20 workers employed at the site, 16 are women.
The production system is agroecological: native species collaborate to strengthen yields. For example, rows of bananas are planted to attract pollinating bees, essential for cocoa.
“I usually enrich the forest with what works well, because here we don’t cut down the forest to plant trees,” Doña Nena told us. “We work with the forest standing and we look for and plant trees where there is a natural slope.”
President of the 80th session of the General Assembly, Annalena Baerbock (foreground), tasting cocoa from the island of Combu, near Belém, Brazil.
Solar energy and scaling up
The chocolate factory, whose products are sold throughout Brazil, runs eight hours a day on solar energy. But power outages remain a challenge. When a fallen tree knocks out power, machines can remain down for days. Doña Nena hopes to double solar capacity to avoid damage and keep production stable.
Dealing with an unstable power grid is one thing, but Combu is not immune to climate impacts either. Recently, cocoa harvests have been reduced; Fruits and trees dry out, shrink and become deformed. And the fear of losing access to drinking water grows every day. Despite the rainy season, not a single drop has fallen in Combu in more than 15 days, says Doña Nena.
From local solutions to global action
This was the scene of Annalena Baerbock’s Sunday visit, her second trip to Combu after her first meeting with Doña Nena as German Foreign Minister.
Upon arrival, Ms. Baerbock told UN News that she was happy to see the project prosper, generating “production chains… in the heart of regional communities (so that) the benefits (can stay here) for the indigenous people, for the local population.”
For Baerbock, the initiative is proof that real solutions already exist: solutions that unite economic growth, sustainable development and the fight against the climate crisis. He highlighted that connecting these scale models is essential to keep global warming below 2°C, ideally at 1.5°C.
“The destruction of forests is the destruction of humanity’s life insurance,” he warned, adding: “COP30 has to be a COP in which we show the whole world that, especially in difficult geopolitical times, the vast majority of countries, but also people around companies and financial actors, are joining forces to fight the climate crisis and, in this way, achieve sustainable growth for all.”
The president of the 80th session of the UN General Assembly, Annalena Baerbock, meets with Brazilian businesswoman Doña Nena on the island of Combu, near Belém.
Lessons from the forest
After tasting Amazonian fruits and several chocolate recipes prepared on site, Doña Nena led Ms. Baerbock along a trail through the forest, where the two had met with a group of women producers two years earlier.
They discussed the project’s emphasis on empowering women who sell their products through the Filha do Combu Association. Doña Nena highlighted that women provide a unique energy of care and dedication that shapes the quality of chocolate.
Along the trail, the forest itself offered symbolism. Together, they watched as a taperebá tree slowly died under the clutches of a parasitic vine.
Doña Nena commented that once the tree dies, the vine will also die, deprived of its only source of nutrients. Ms. Baerbock reflected that this was a diplomatic lesson in disguise, which could even be related to the emissions that devastate the planet.
But the forest also offered hope. They stopped before a sumaúma, a giant from the Amazon believed to be more than 280 years old. These trees can rise up to 70 meters and have witnessed centuries of history, and could witness centuries more, if COP30 is successful.
UN Newsis reporting from Belém, giving you front-row coverage of everything happening at COP30.