The Cerrado – Brazil’s savanna deserves protection
Wednesday 26 Aug 2020
![The Cerrado – Brazil’s savanna deserves protection](https://www.naturebasedsolutionsinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/helena-lopes-VC5ELZDTBTE-unsplash-scaled-e1601973891509.jpg)
This article explains how the Cerrado, the world’s most biodiverse savanna, has been neglected in part due to being overshadowed by its charismatic neighbour – the Amazon rainforset. In fact, the Cerrado is invaluable:
- Its deep soil holds water from the wet season, feeding into eight watersheds which together provide 40% of Brazil’s freshwater
- It is a critical carbon store, 2/3 of which lies underground, in the >25m deep soil and the tree roots within
- It holds ~5% of the world’s biodiversity, with 40% of its species being endemic
Unlike the rainforest, fire plays a vital part in the life cycle of Cerrado plant species, meaning some fire is necessary to maintain high biodiversity.
Unfortunately the Cerrado is being converted to farmland at a devastating rate. It’s importance as an ecosystem needs to be globally recognised so that it receives the protection and management it deserves.
Read the full Landscape News article here.