Step aside, superheroes this year’s Tropentag workshops proved that biodiversity wears the real cape. From cocoa farms in West Africa to agroforestry plots in Latin America, and even the unlikely rise of a Brazilian palm, the message was clear: nature’s variety is not just beautiful, it’s practical, powerful, and packed with potential.

The journey began with two beloved beans: coffee and cocoa. A workshop on biodiversity and smallholder livelihoods in coffee and cocoa production tackled the delicate balancing act between conserving ecosystems and sustaining farmer incomes. It turns out that behind every comforting cup of morning coffee lies a complex story of trade-offs, synergies, and opportunities. Will the world’s sweet tooth and caffeine cravings continue to drive deforestation, or can biodiversity-friendly production rewrite the narrative?

From beans we moved to branches, agroforestry. The Roots to Regions workshop dug deep (pun intended) into how agroforestry can scale up sustainably. Imagine trees and crops as friendly roommates: one provides shade, the other food; one fixes soil, the other fills bellies. The challenge? Turning inspiring pilot projects into widespread practice that feeds communities while restoring landscapes.

And then came the wildcard of the biodiversity dance: the macaúba palm. This alternative oil crop, highlighted in the workshop on novel crops and the bioeconomy, showed that biodiversity isn’t just about protecting what we already know, it’s about discovering new options. From alternative oils to bio-based value chains, this palm has the potential to shake up markets and rethink sustainability in unexpected ways.

What tied these three workshops together was a sense of curiosity and possibility. Biodiversity isn’t just a conservation slogan it’s a toolkit for resilience, livelihoods, and innovation. Whether it’s reimagining cocoa farms, scaling agroforestry, or exploring palms that could diversify the global economy, these conversations pointed to one truth: the answers to our sustainability challenges might already be growing quietly in the forest.

So the next time you sip your coffee, savour your chocolate, or read about a novel crop from halfway across the globe, remember you’re not just enjoying a product. You’re tasting biodiversity’s promise and even its forest dreams.