Cerrado requires protective actions to curb deforestation – 08/10/2023 – Environment

The accelerated pace of conversion of the Cerrado’s natural vegetation into agricultural areas is impacting the biome’s ecosystem services.

To curb the problem, it is necessary to implement stricter protection actions, complemented with territorial planning focused on the formation of ecological corridors and the recovery of degraded pastures. This is the warning made by Brazilian researchers in a letter published in the scientific journal Nature Sustainability.

The second largest biome in South America, with an area of ​​2 million square kilometers, equivalent to the territory of Mexico, the Cerrado is the most biodiverse savannah in the world, with more than 11,600 species of native plants. Also known as the “cradle of waters” in Brazil, it is home to several hydrographic basins that supply the South and Southeast regions.

However, it has been recording deforestation records — an increase of 16.5% between August 2022 and July 2023, reaching 6,300 km² destroyed in the period.

The data are from the Deter alert system, from the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe), released on the 3rd of August. It was the worst result since the beginning of the measurement, between 2017 and 2018. Most of the alerts are in the area known as Matopiba, which covers Maranhão, Tocantins, Piauí and Bahia. Almost 75% of deforestation in the biome is in the region.

In 2022, deforestation in the Cerrado had already been 25% greater than in the previous year, reaching 10,689 km². It is almost equal to the total deforested in the same period in the Amazon (11,568 km²), which covers a territory twice as large.

“It’s a reflection. There are fewer actions to curb deforestation in the Cerrado than in the Amazon, for example, while activities derived from this conversion bring profit. However, its environmental, economic and social functions are of equal interest to the planet. The agreement itself Mercosur-European Union has obstacles related to sustainability in the agricultural production chain, but it still neglects the Cerrado. It is necessary and advantageous to prioritize it in diplomatic discussions”, tells Agência FAPESP the first author of the letter, Michel Eustáquio Dantas Chaves, post-graduate PhD student at the Earth Observation and Geoinformatics Division (DIOTG-Inpe) supported by FAPESP.

According to the researchers, the loss of vegetation has contributed to extreme weather events, increasing the temperature, reducing the ability of plants to release moisture into the air (evapotranspiration) and altering the rainfall regime, with consequent threat to the viability of multiple cultivation systems and to productivity.

“The recent rate of deforestation is high and is already affecting edaphoclimatic conditions [características do meio ambiente, como: clima, relevo, temperatura, umidade do ar, precipitação pluvial para a atividade agrícola e outras] vital. This jeopardizes even the future of national production, which may trigger environmental and socioeconomic crises, as well as affect food security policies”, explains Chaves.

Precaution

In the letter published in Nature Sustainabilitywith the title Reverse the Cerrado’s neglect (Reverting the neglect of the Cerrado), scientists warn that the biome has been excluded from efforts that could guarantee sustainability.

They cite as an example the Soy Moratorium –a pact made between non-governmental organizations, agroindustries and governments with the commitment of not buying commodities from deforested areas– only applied to the Amazon, some bills and the new rule of the European Commission on imports of products without deforestation. These norms leave part of the Cerrado unprotected, as a “sacrifice zone” for agricultural development.

“The moment demands strategies that unite the provision of ecosystem services and agricultural production. The Cerrado is a key part of this challenge, but is usually remembered only for its agricultural potential. Its condition of being the most biodiverse savannah in the world, regulating the climate, water and storing carbon ends up neglected. We proposed mechanisms for the Cerrado to be respected as the engine of Brazil’s agri-environmental capacity”, completes Chaves.

He signs the article together with researcher Guilherme Mataveli, from Inpe, who also receives support from FAPESP, and four other scientists: Ieda Sanches and Marcos Adami (DIOTG-Inpe), Rafaela Aragão (Griffith University) and Erasmus zu Ermgassen (Université Catholique de Louvain).

The group points out that technological investments made in the Cerrado since the 1970s have raised Brazilian grain productivity from 1,258 to 4,048 kg/hectare, indicating that it is feasible to reconcile agricultural activity and conservation policies. He sees the recent restoration and expansion of the Plan for the Prevention and Control of Deforestation (PPCD) for all Brazilian biomes as equally positive.

The plan aims to establish sustainable productive activities, environmental monitoring and control, land and territorial planning and normative-economic instruments to reduce deforestation and CO2 emissions, in line with the national commitments assumed in the Paris Agreement and in the Conference of the Parties of the Nations Nations (COP).

The scientists estimate, however, that the implementation of the PPCD in the Cerrado depends on specific policies for the biome, which involve coordinated efforts between municipal, state and federal governments, in addition to the need to increase the number of inspection agents and include farmers and traditional communities. in public policies and in the debate on compensation for those who preserve native vegetation through Payments for Environmental Services, provided for in Law 14,119/2021.

“The PPCD aims to reduce illegal deforestation. However, the Cerrado has more than 330,000 km² of vegetation that can be legally deforested [excedentes de reserva legal]. We need to integrate the protection of natural capital into structural policies for educational and technological development”, they point out.

For Chaves, strengthening monitoring systems is essential for sustainability. Since 2017, Inpe has maintained the Project for the Development of Systems for Preventing Forest Fires and Monitoring Vegetal Coverage in the Brazilian Cerrado.

Recently, the researcher and Ieda Sanches published in the journal Remote Sensing Applications: Society & Environment a study showing how it is possible to identify agricultural crops more accurately from field data, knowledge about agricultural calendars, machine learning, spectral indices and data cubes produced by the Brazil Data Cube project, developed by Inpe.

“Reducing uncertainties helps to provide legal certainty, recover agro-environmental epistemic sovereignty and support public policies. Therefore, investing in technological initiatives that make this possible is not an expense. It is an investment”, he concludes.

Reverse the Cerrado’s neglect letter can be read at www.nature.com/articles/s41893-023-01182-w.