Cerrado or devastation
Fabio Martins, specialist in the Law of Traditional Peoples and Communities and legal advisor to Rede Cerrado. This article was written for the 133rd edition of the WBO weekly bulletin, dated September 6, 2024. To subscribe to the newsletter, simply enter your email in the form.
September 11 is Cerrado (or Savannah) Day. Still largely unknown to the public, the biome is the second largest in the country, with an area of 2,036,448 km², about 23 percent of the national territory, reaching 36 percent, if the transition zones with other biomes are included. Its continuous area covers the states of Goiás, Tocantins, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Minas Gerais, Bahia, Maranhão, Piauí, Rondônia, Paraná, São Paulo and the Federal District, with isolated patches in Amapá, Roraima and Amazonas. Composed of fields, trails, and forests, it is considered the most biodiverse savannah in the world, with approximately 5 percent of the species on the planet and more than 30 percent of the species in the country. It hosts half of all known birds, more than two-thirds of all mammals, at least 210 species of amphibians, 1,200 species of fish, 300 species of reptiles and 13,140 species of plants. Lack of knowledge about the biome is one of the problems in addressing the systematic devastation of the Cerrado.
PREDATORY EXPANSION IN THE CERRADO
Of the large Brazilian biomes, the Cerrado is where the confrontation between the accelerated advance of agricultural production and the demands for environmental protection and conservation is most present and urgent. The transformation of the Cerrado since the 1960s into the largest frontier for the expansion of Brazilian agriculture is the result of the massive introduction of technology and resources for soil fertilization and irrigation of monocultures. Approximately 50 percent of the biome is already deforested. Although deforestation as a whole fell by 11.6 percent in Brazil in 2023, there was a 67.7 percent increase in deforestation in the Cerrado, with 93 percent of alerts containing evidence of irregularities. Another important fact is that the legal framework for conservation of the Cerrado is very flexible. While the Forest Code protects 80 percent of native vegetation located on privately-owned lands in the Amazon against deforestation, in the Cerrado the legal reserves cover only 20 percent to 35 percent of the biome. In other words, the legislation provides for a much smaller proportion of the Cerrado for conservation, when compared to the Amazon. Legislative permissiveness is, therefore, one of the evils of the devastating package of measure regarding the Cerrado.
THE WATER IMPORTANCE OF THE CERRADO
The Cerrado is known as the “Cradle of Waters,” as it is the site of 80 percent of the country's irrigation infrastructure, consuming immense volumes of water daily. The situation is worrying, as data indicate a reduction in the volume of available water, as well as changes in rainfall patterns and shorter periods of precipitation. As for water use in electricity generation, the Cerrado is responsible for 70 percent of the volume used by the Tucuruí Hydroelectric Plant, 50 percent by Itaipu, and 100 percent by Sobradinho, benefiting more than 40 percent of the population living in the Paraná-Paraguay, Tocantins-Araguaia, São Francisco and Parnaíba basins. The Cerrado is, therefore, essential to the country's energy matrix, which highlights the importance of this biome when it comes to the relationship between deforestation and changes in water availability. Since devastation is projected over time, and its effects on the water regime are part of “long -term cycles,” it means that the impacts of the deforestation that is occurring today will be felt in a few years, just as the impacts we see today are the effect of past deforestation. And, since deforestation implies a reduction in infiltration and the recharging of aquifers, this compromises the supply of groundwater and reduces the capacity to sustain the growing consumption of water in agriculture during the driest periods. The inadequate use of water is yet another evil in the devastation of the Cerrado.
Firefighters from the Brasília Environmental Institute and the Federal District Fire Department battle a fire in a Cerrado area near Brasília airport. Photo: Marcelo Camargo/Agência Brasil
INDIGENOUS PEOPLE, QUILOMBOLAS, TRADITIONAL PEOPLES, AND COMMUNITIES
The Cerrado is also known as the “Sacrifice Biome,” in which both it and the peoples who inhabit it are systematically ignored. Centuries-old communities, whose ways of life have been made invisible, continue to be the target of all sorts of attacks that lead to their erasure. With approximately 12 percent of the country’s population, the biome is home to at least 83 Indigenous peoples in 216 Indigenous territories, 44 territories of quilombolas and traditional communities, in addition to seven extractive reserves and two sustainable development reserves. Data from the Pastoral Land Commission from 2023 reveal an increase in conflicts in the countryside. A “racist discourse” that characterizes the Cerrado as an “unproductive void” to be “developed” imposes a logic that justifies deforestation as a necessity. The biome’s marginalization extends to the Federal Constitution, which did not include the Cerrado as a national heritage site. As if the devastation already imposed were not enough, there are new threats, such as Law No. 14,701/2023, and Proposed Constitution Amendment PEC 48/2024, which limit the recognition land demarcation of Indigenous territories.
However, these people are like the deep roots of plants that are capable of surviving adversity. With their traditional way of life, these people insist on preserving the waters. They are also guardians of the herbs, roots, traditional litanies, and the “enchanted ones” and their mysteries. These peoples and their knowledge are a great wealth. Their denial is yet another evil in the devastation of the Cerrado.
