setembro, 27 2024

Cerrado is the source of eight of the 12 main river basins that supply Brazil, connecting the Amazon to the north, the Caatinga to the northeast, the Pantanal to the southwest and the Atlantic Forest to the southeast. Despite its socio-environmental impact, it is the country's fastest-devastated biome: it has lost around 1M hectares of native vegetation to deforestation by 2023. The figure represents an area the size of two Brazilian Federal Districts and an increase of 67.7% on the previous year. It is also the first time that the Cerrado's deforested area has exceeded that of the Amazon since the annual report on deforestation in Brazil (RAD) began to be published by the MapBiomas network. 

Since it “pumps” its water to the rest of the country, it is known as the “Heart of the Waters” in a new campaign that intends to increase awareness among Brazilians about the biome and the region. Over 3,500 springs flow into the Amazon region without counting those that supply the Pantanal, the Caatinga and the Atlantic Forest, supplying thousands of cities, industries and agriculture. 

The second biggest biome in South America has essential aspects, as it covers 11 states and Brazil's Federal District, and is responsible for around 12% of the population (25M people), in addition to 80 indigenous ethnic groups and several quilombola communities as well as other traditional peoples. Although it provides nearly half of Brazil's fresh water, the transformation of native Cerrado areas into pastures and farmland is causing the region's climate to warm by almost 1°C and dry out by 10%, according to a study published in the scientific journal Global Change Biology. 

As regards biodiversity, it is the world's richest savannah. More than 12,000 species of plants are expected to be found there. The area also has at least 2,373 species of vertebrates, around a 5th of which are endemic, which means that such species are exclusive to the Cerrado. 

Not only is the Cerrado underground, but it also has a forest inverted, with deep-rooted trees that absorb and store rainwater, distributing it to millions of springs throughout the year, including during the dry season. Deforestation compacts and erodes the soil, making it difficult to retain water for aquifers and damaging rivers throughout the biome. 

Therefore, the “Cerrado, Heart of the Waters” project focuses on water issues. It aims to highlight the biome as an essential part of human life at the COP in Belém, scheduled to start in 2025 in the capital of Pará. “We want people to know the importance of the Cerrado to our lives, including agriculture,” says the executive director of the Cerrados Institute (Instituto Cerrados), Yuri Salmona. 

Nowadays, the Cerrado is accountable for 60% of all Brazil's agricultural production, including crops such as soybeans, corn and cotton - 14% of all soybeans and 16% of beef produced in the Cerrado. Crops that depend on climate stability and are already beginning to suffer the impacts of deforestation. Agricultural expansion, the main cause of deforestation in the Cerrado, alters the local and regional climate, which can lead to a reduction in productivity and harvests, as well as aggravating global warming. “Around 28% of the corn and soybean agricultural areas in the Midwest are already outside the ideal climate for planting, a figure that could rise to 70% in 30 years,” explains Ane Alencar, scientific director of the Amazon Environmental Research Institute (Instituto de Pesquisa Ambiental da Amazônia - IPAM), referring to a study published by the institution in the scientific journal Nature Climate Change. The start of the agricultural rainy season is already 36 days behind schedule, and rainfall has fallen by an average of 8.6% in the Cerrado. 

There are few obstacles to halting the advance of deforestation in the biome. The Brazilian Forest Code stipulates that at least 20% of rural land in the Cerrado must be preserved as native vegetation, with this requirement increasing to 35% for areas of the Cerrado located within the Legal Amazon. In contrast, private properties in the Amazon are required to maintain up to 80% of native vegetation. Moreover, the Cerrado has few Conservation Units (CUs) and Indigenous Lands, comprising only 8.6% and 4.8% of the biome’s territory, respectively. “The prospects for increasing these percentages are low, due to land prices and the limited budget allocated by the government for establishing protected areas,” says Isabel Figueiredo, coordinator of the Cerrado Program at the Institute for Society, Population, and Nature (Instituto Sociedade, População e Natureza - ISPN).  

“Cerrado is deteriorating. Deforestation in the Cerrado has exceeded 20,000 km² in the past two years. On top of that, the region is suffering directly from the climate crisis; the biome is drying out and becoming hotter. We have wildfires started by human activity. We must overturn this catastrophic scenario to ensure that the biome maintains all its ecosystem services and, at the same time, restore what has already been destroyed,” adds WWF-Brazil conservation specialist Bianca Nakamato. 

About the campaign 'Cerrado, Heart of Waters'  

The "Cerrado, Heart of Waters" campaign aims to raise public awareness about the biome that houses the headwaters of eight of Brazil's main watersheds and is responsible for providing a large portion of the country's freshwater. Located in the center of the country, the Cerrado occupies more than a quarter of the national territory and connects the Amazon, Caatinga, Pantanal, and Atlantic Forest. Due to deforestation, the biome has already lost 50% of its native vegetation. This campaign is a joint effort of the Instituto Cerrados (IC) with Instituto Sociedade, População e Natureza (ISPN), WWF-Brazil, Instituto de Pesquisa Ambiental da Amazônia (IPAM) and Rede Cerrado. Learn more at www.cerrado.org.br.