Event report
Amazon Meets Berlin #1: Cocoa bioeconomy
- 16 October 2026, 5:30–7:30 pm
- Medulla, Berlin
Women-led solutions for the cocoa bioeconomy
On Friday, 16 October, about 25 people joined us at Medulla for the first Amazon Meets Berlin evening: Women-Led Solutions for the Cocoa Bioeconomy.
Our question: under what conditions can cocoa really deliver for the forest, the climate and local communities?
What we looked at together:
- Most of the cocoa in German chocolate comes from West Africa, where it has been a major driver of forest loss. The Amazon grows only a tiny share.
- How cacao is grown matters. In forest-based agroforestry systems, it grows in the shade alongside açaí and other crops.
- Two women in Pará show it in practice: Dona Nena (Filha do Combu) and Noanny Maia (Cacauaré), making chocolate from forest-grown cacao.
Our takeaway: when the forest stays standing, women have a real say and the value stays in the community, cocoa can be part of the solution. And it helps when we, as buyers, ask where our chocolate comes from.
Thank you to everyone who came, to Medulla for hosting, and to Dieter Mennekes Umweltstiftung (DiMUS) for supporting the series.
Learn more in our journal.
