The Bitter Sweet Future of Cocoa Showcased During COP30, Belém

Izete dos Santos Costa, also known as Dona Nena, at her Chocolate factory and gift shop in Combu Island, Belem. Credit: Annabel Prokopy/IPS
Izete dos Santos Costa, also known as Dona Nena, at her Chocolate factory and gift shop in Combu Island, Belem. Credit: Annabel Prokopy/IPS
  • by Tanka Dhakal (belÉm, brazil)
  • Inter Press Service

BELÉM, Brazil, December 24 (IPS) - Izete dos Santos Costa, also known as Dona Nena among locals in Combu Island, welcomed hundreds of people from around the world during the recent climate conference in Belém.

Her team showcased local crafts and chocolate-making processes in the land of the Amazon rainforest—far from the deafening air conditioner sounds at the Parque da Cidade, where the COP30 negotiations were ongoing.

Yet her story’s ultimate happy ending is dependent on the outcomes of climate negotiations, as Amazonia is on the frontlines of climate change.

Delegates and participants delighted at the chocolate-making process and relished tasting chocolate treats made from cocoa from the forest.

Cocoa fruit at the backyard of Dona Nena’s factory; once it turns yellow they harvest it and use its beans to make chocolate. Credit: Tanka Dhakal/IPS
Cocoa fruit at the backyard of Dona Nena’s factory; once it turns yellow they harvest it and use its beans to make chocolate. Credit: Tanka Dhakal/IPS
Harvested Cocoa fruit and its beans on display with other fruits collected from the Amazonia. Credit: Tanka Dhakal/IPS
Harvested cocoa fruit and its beans on display with other fruits collected from Amazonia. Credit: Tanka Dhakal/IPS
Visitor exploring Dona Nena’s gift shop, where visitors can buy chocolates and locally made souvenirs. Credit: Annabel Prokopy/IPS
A visitor exploring Dona Nena’s gift shop, where visitors can buy chocolates and locally made souvenirs. Credit: Annabel Prokopy/IPS

For nearly 20 years, Dona Nena has been making a living by promoting local tourism and chocolate made from cocoa grown in the forest near her house.

“Twenty years ago, there was no tourism in this area. There was basically one single restaurant,” Dona Nena said while smiling and waving to visitors at her chocolate factory, Filha do Combu, also known as Dona Nena’s Chocolate House [located about an hour away from the COP venue].

In the scorching heat and humidity, visitors are introduced to the process of harvesting cocoa beans and other Amazonian fruits and how these are transformed into organic chocolate.

Her product became famous when renowned Belém chef Thiago Castanho liked the chocolate so much he helped promote it within the top Brazilian culinary circles.

“At that time, he didn’t teach me how to refine the chocolate, but he did use it as a flagship in his restaurant for everyone,” she said.

Blending Organic Chocolate Factory Into Immersive Experience

For a few years her team produced the chocolate and collaborated with chef Castanho for marketing. People noticed and loved it.

“The friends of the chef started to come here. They were interested in finding out about the process,” she said. “I started to receive them at my house; that’s how the tourism side of the chocolate factory started in 2012.”

After initial interest from the chef and their friends, other people started coming. Then Dona Nena built a family-owned chocolate factory into an immersive tourism hub, letting visitors know where cocoa comes from and how the process works, and, at the end, letting them taste chocolate.

Cocoa beans in the process of fermentation; after this, they will be roasted to make chocolate. Credit: Tanka Dhakal/IPS
Cocoa beans in the process of fermentation; after this, they will be roasted to make chocolate. Credit: Tanka Dhakal/IPS
Tour guide Juliana Cruz shares chocolates with visitors for tasting. Credit: Tanka Dhakal/IPS
Tour guide Juliana Cruz shares chocolates with visitors for tasting. Credit: Tanka Dhakal/IPS
Chocolate made from cocoa beans at Dona Nena's factory. Credit: Tanka Dhakal/IPS
Chocolate made from cocoa beans at Dona Nena’s factory. Credit: Tanka Dhakal/IPS
Cocoa trees at the backyards of Dona Nena’s factory, which is within Amazonia. Credit: Tanka Dhakal/IPS
Cocoa trees at the backyard of Dona Nena’s factory, which is within Amazonia. Credit: Tanka Dhakal/IPS

“I am proud to have brought many tourists and inspired other restaurants to settle on the island,” she added. “It is helping local communities to grow and develop.”

Twenty people work at the factory and as tour guides; the majority of them are women. One of them is Juliana Cruz, a tour guide. She takes a group of visitors into the forest, where she shows the traditional way of harvesting cacao beans and explains fermentation, bean drying, and the chocolate-making process.

Dona Nena’s chocolate factory grew as a center of attraction for people who want to have an on-the-ground experience of the Amazon rainforest and its sweet sides.

Chocolate’s ‘Dark Side’

For the last 20 years, Dona Nena’s life has revolved around cocoa and chocolate. Cocoa trees, native to the Amazon for 7,000 years, are always central to her success.

But just in two decades of working with it, Dona Nena is seeing changes.

“I am noticing declining yields of cocoa, and fruits are becoming smaller,” she said. “It’s not only cocoa; other fruits here, in general, are all decreasing.”

Confirming her observations, research shows that climate change could reduce the production of cocoa. It is sensitive to a dry climate, and it may impact yield. Research published in 2022 says it is possible that by 2050, a loss in a suitable environment for cocoa plants in the Brazilian Amazon is likely if precipitation decreases and temperature increases because of climate change.

But Dona Nena is concerned about the future of cocoa trees. “I am seeing fewer species around,” she said.

This feature is published with the support of Open Society Foundations.

IPS UN Bureau Report

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