agosto, 17 2026

By Fábio de Castro and Solange Azevedo

Due to the richness of its biodiversity and cultural diversity, the Brazilian Cerrado is one of the most strategic natural regions on the planet for conservation. And starting today, August 17, with the beginning of the 17th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP17) of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), Brazil will have an important opportunity to place the conservation and restoration of the biome at the center of the international debate, boosting policies, investments and actions capable of reversing its degradation. 
With the theme “Restoring Land, Restoring Hope”, UNCCD COP17 will be held until August 28, in Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia. The 197 countries that are part of the convention will seek solutions to interconnected challenges, such as desertification, droughts and land degradation, which already affect 40% of the world's land. Among the main topics under debate will be restoration, conservation, food systems, funding and productive transition – agendas with a direct impact on the future of the Brazilian Cerrado. 

Present in 11 states and the Federal District, the Cerrado is the second largest biome in Brazil. The territory is home to the springs of eight of the country's 12 main hydrographic regions and concentrates about 30% of Brazilian species, contributing to approximately 5% of the world's biodiversity. About 28 million inhabitants depend on this biological and geographical diversity, including 80 indigenous peoples and countless traditional communities, which also represent a cultural heritage of enormous value. Due to its water and ecological importance, the transformations in the Cerrado have impacts that go beyond its limits and influence other biomes, such as the Amazon and the Pantanal. 

Despite its strategic role for biodiversity, water security, food production and climate stability in Brazil, the biome has already lost half of its original area, mainly due to the expansion of pastures and agriculture, with a focus on soy. Predatory models of production and consumption, the unsustainable use of natural resources and the advancement of economic activities over natural areas not only threaten the Cerrado but are also among the structural causes of global climate, biodiversity and land degradation crises. 

Science has shown that these crises cannot be faced in isolation. Therefore, it is necessary to integrate the agendas of the Rio Conventions on Climate, Biodiversity and Desertification, in addition to the conservation of the oceans, which also play a fundamental role in climate regulation. In 2026, governments will have an unprecedented opportunity to advance this integration, as, within four months, UNCCD COP17, COP17 of the Convention on Biological Diversity (UNCBD) and COP31 of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will be held. 

"The Cerrado holds a strategic position for biodiversity, water security, food production and climate stability in Brazil. Discussing this territory means discussing the future of our country,” says Taruhim Quadros, Restoration Leader at WWF-Brazil. 

According to her, restoration - the central theme of UNCCD COP17, is crucial for reversing the degradation of Cerrado soils, which reduces the productive capacity of landscapes, increases vulnerability to droughts and extreme events and intensifies the pressure to convert natural areas for agricultural production, the main driver of deforestation in the biome. 

“We are in a very positive global context for the restoration agenda, and Brazil arrives at this COP with an important advantage. Over the past few decades, the country has accumulated scientific knowledge, successful experiences and restoration networks involving grassroots organizations, rural producers, indigenous peoples and traditional communities. These actors are already showing ways to restore the Cerrado on a large scale,” says Taruhim. 

The Brazilian challenge, however, is no longer to demonstrate that restoration works, but to transform these experiences into broad, long-lasting and high-quality results. “Restoring at scale means much more than planting trees. It means creating conditions for restoration to be sustained in the long term, to generate benefits for the territories and to strengthen the resilience of the landscapes," she explains. 

This transformation requires a combination of factors, such as governance, funding, knowledge, monitoring, structured production chains and active participation of local communities. "It is necessary to build a true restoration infrastructure, connecting territorial experiences to the institutional, economic and technical conditions necessary for these solutions to be replicated," concludes Taruhim. 

For Luiza Soares, who leads the Brazil without Waste Program at WWF-Brazil, expanding restoration also depends on a transformation of food systems, which need to reconcile food production with ecosystem conservation. 

“It will not be possible to conserve the Cerrado or recover degraded land without transforming food systems. Food production needs to go hand in hand with the protection of biodiversity, water resources and ecosystem services. More sustainable food systems reduce the pressure on natural environments, strengthen the restoration of landscapes and help to face, in an integrated way, the climate, biodiversity and land degradation crises," she points out.

Success stories

An example of Brazilian initiatives that point out paths for large-scale restoration, generating income for local communities, is the Articulation for the Restoration of the Cerrado (Araticum). A reference platform for the coordination of recovery actions in the biome, Araticum has had the support of WWF-Brazil for five years and brings together 180 institutions in 9 states and the Federal District. 
The initiative aims to stimulate the expansion of large-scale restoration actions to recover up to 2 million hectares of vegetation by 2030, while strengthening the sociobiodiversity economy and generating income for the Cerrado populations. 

Brazil has also shown how civil society can contribute to boosting public policies. With the goal of restoring 4 million hectares in the country, the Union for Restoration – formed by WWF-Brazil and other organizations – signed a partnership with the Ministry of the Environment to launch the Restaura Biomas project in 2025. 
The initiative will channel US$ 13 million from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) to restoration projects on about 600,000 hectares distributed throughout the Brazilian biomes. 

At the same time, articulations such as the Alliance for the Pantanal Headwaters, launched by WWF-Brazil and other organizations in 2025, show that it is possible to engage the private sector and create direct connections between investments and field actions. The initiative seeks to expand the recovery of degraded pastures and the restoration of ecosystems in the Cerrado, demonstrating that production, economic development and conservation can advance in an integrated way. 

Experiences like these show that Brazil already gathers knowledge, initiatives and actors capable of contributing to the global restoration agenda. The challenge now is to scale up this accumulated experience, connecting local actions to international commitments and expanding funding, cooperation and implementation mechanisms. 
“COP17 is an opportunity to move from ambition to implementation, turning global commitments into concrete actions in the territories. Brazil plays a strategic role in this process, showing that the recovery of degraded lands, the conservation of biodiversity and the confrontation of the climate crisis are inseparable agendas. Building more resilient landscapes is essential to ensure lasting benefits for people, the economy and nature," concludes Tatiana Oliveira, International Strategy Leader at WWF-Brazil