Deforestation In The Cerrado Grew 16.5% In A Year
In one year, deforestation in the Amazon had a drop of 7.4%, while an increase of 16.5% was observed in the Cerrado, according to data from the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe). The data show that the Amazon territory had the lowest value in four years, however, in that interval, the Cerrado had 6,359 km² of deforested area, a number that represents almost the size of Macapá. In the Amazon, the accumulated number of alerts in the same period was 7,952 km², an area equivalent to the area of Campo Grande.
Paulo Artaxo, professor at USP’s Institute of Physics (IF) and member of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) team, explains that the data are not surprising, since the new government is structuring public policies that institute and are likely to reduce deforestation in the Amazon region. In the case of the Cerrado, different policies are necessary, since there is a greater allowance for deforestation in this biome.
“I think it is time for the Brazilian population to also take care of the Cerrado, in addition to the Amazon, because it owns the largest hydrographic basins in our country and, therefore, is of fundamental importance in the availability of water for Brazil. So we have to take good care of our natural resources”, explains the expert.
It is also possible to observe that the reduction of deforestation in the Amazon is directly related to increased inspection, however, other measures will have to be taken for the Cerrado, and it is essential that, first of all, the Rural Environmental Registry be implemented for all properties — both the Cerrado and the Amazon. “This is a fundamental instrument for the agencies to combat organized crime to have the CNPJ or CPF for every part of the Brazilian territory”, comments Artaxo.
In conjunction with this point, there is the important issue that organized crime is taking over the Amazon region, so about 99% of deforestation in these places is carried out by illegal activities. According to Artaxo, no nation that intends to be democratic can allow crime to be stronger than the laws that govern the country, thus, the protection of these territories proves to be important for Brazilian democracy.
It is important to assess that the national government is aware of these issues, but police and judicial reinforcement is necessary to fight crimes in this region. “In the Brazilian Cerrado the situation is a little different, but agribusiness continues to expand into regions close to indigenous reserves and this also has to be curbed.” Thus, seeking solutions to this issue requires coordination between the federal government, state governments and municipalities — since deforestation is fought more efficiently at the municipal level.
Challenges
The lack of recognition of territories occupied by traditional peoples is another challenge found within this debate. Artaxo argues that, currently, Brazil has laws to combat this problem, and the real challenge encountered in relation to them is their implementation. “In the case of the Cerrado, the Forest Code allows a deforestation rate, that is, the legal deforestation allowed is very high. This has to be revised downwards if we want to maintain the integrity of the ecosystem that is already being heavily affected by agribusiness that has already invaded land that should not be invaded”, he explains.
Thus, it is necessary to adjust the legislation to increase the number of protected areas and increase society’s capacity to protect the ecosystem services of the Cerrado. The professor argues, therefore, that we must have a zero deforestation pact not only in the Amazon, but also in the Cerrado, since it is an ecosystem that is at the limit of its sustainability. “It is urgent for the government to implement stricter measures to curb deforestation. The important thing is that today we have remote sensing tools that make it possible to control deforestation in an extraordinary way”, concludes Artaxo.