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Reverse the Cerrado’s neglect

Nature Sustainability volume 6, pages 1028–1029 (2023)Cite this article

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The Cerrado biome in Brazil is the most biodiverse savannah in the world1 and has a key role in stabilizing both the local and the global climate, storing carbon and providing fresh water to the country2. Yet, the Cerrado has little protection and is being converted for agriculture at an alarming rate. Recently released official data reveal that, in 2022, deforestation in the biome rose for the third consecutive year3. The area cleared was 25% higher than the previous year, reaching 10,689 km² (ref. 3), rivalling the rates of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon (12,479 km²), despite the Cerrado being only half the size3. Almost three-quarters of that conversion took place in the MATOPIBA agricultural frontier, where nearly 25% of Cerrado’s soybean harvest is planted4. The current high rates of conversion even jeopardize the future of agricultural production in the Cerrado. The loss of the Cerrado has contributed to extreme climate events over the past decade5, which increased surface-sensible heat flux, reduced evapotranspiration and crop yields and threatened the feasibility of multi-cropping systems6, as well as exacerbated land concentration and farmers’ indebtedness.

The Cerrado is currently excluded from leading agribusiness sustainability efforts — notably, the Soy Moratorium, a successful multi-stakeholder zero-deforestation agreement that applies only to the Amazon biome. Moreover, new legal proposals are set to worsen this situation — both domestic bills, such as PL-2633/2020, PL-510/2021 and PL-337/2022, and international regulation. The new European Commission’s due diligence legislation on the import of deforestation-free products adopts a strict forest definition that leaves 74% of the Cerrado unprotected7, arguably leaving the Cerrado as a ‘sacrifice zone’ for agricultural development8.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) for the grants 2021/07382-2 (to M.E.D.C.), 2016/02018-2, 2019/25701-8, 2020/15230-5 and 2023/03206-0 (to G.M.), the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) for the grants PQ-306334/2020-8 (to M.A.) and PQ-310042/2021-6 (to I.D.S.), the Brazilian National Institute for Space Research (INPE), the Université catholique de Louvain and the Griffith University.

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Michel E. D. Chaves, Guilherme Mataveli, Erasmus zu Ermgassen, Rafaela B. de A. Aragão, Marcos Adami, Ieda D. Sanches.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Brazilian National Institute for Space Research – INPE, São José dos Campos, Brazil

    Michel E. D. Chaves, Guilherme Mataveli, Marcos Adami & Ieda D. Sanches

  2. Earth and Life Institute, UC Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

    Erasmus zu Ermgassen

  3. Centre for Planetary Health and Food Security, Griffith University, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

    Rafaela B. de A. Aragão

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  1. Michel E. D. Chaves
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Correspondence to Michel E. D. Chaves.

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Nature Sustainability thanks Ivan Bergier Tavares de Lima and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Chaves, M.E.D., Mataveli, G., zu Ermgassen, E. et al. Reverse the Cerrado’s neglect. Nat Sustain 6, 1028–1029 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-023-01182-w

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