Trees - the heart of our ecosystem
Trees are not just simple plants that produce oxygen and provide shade. They are the pillars of life that support our environment in ways that are often overlooked.
The invisible power of trees
Trees communicate and cooperate with each other in fascinating ways. The book “The Hidden Life of Trees” by Peter Wohlleben offers impressive insights into the hidden networks that trees form underground. Their roots are interconnected and form a gigantic underground network, often referred to as the “Wood Wide Web”. Through this network, trees exchange nutrients and information, support sick or young trees and create a harmonious balance in their habitat. Such an exchange shows that trees are much more than lone warriors - they are part of a community and can teach us a lot.
Research has shown that mother trees specifically pass on nutrients to their seedlings to ensure their survival. They can even signal dangers such as pest infestation or drought to each other, which underlines the importance of forests as complex, living communities. All of this has changed our mindset. We see trees not just as a resource, but as an indispensable part of our ecosystem.
Why we protect the rainforest
Protecting the rainforest is of the utmost importance to us. Rainforests are not only the lungs of our planet, but also home to an immeasurable diversity of life. Their preservation should be a much more important goal for all of us than short-term economic benefits such as additional agricultural land or large plantations. At Desta's Coffee, we understand that the most valuable thing we can do is not to maximise our yield, but to preserve these precious ecosystems.
The proverb ‘Today people know the price of everything, but the value of nothing’ reminds us that the true value of the rainforest goes far beyond the price that is attributed to it at first glance. So we are not only concerned with how many kilograms of our premium coffee we can produce, but also with the preservation of a functioning ecosystem that ensures the survival of countless species - including our own.
Our commitment
Through our intensive engagement with the topic of trees, we see it as our responsibility to do our part to protect the rainforests. We have made a conscious decision against the deforestation of existing forests and favour sustainable cultivation methods that preserve the forests and their complex networks. We realise that protecting the rainforest and its trees is not only a moral obligation, but also an investment in the future - for us, for future generations and for the planet.