Farming and cattle-raising have invaded 26.5 million hectares of the Brazilian Savanna over the past 36 years

From 1985 to 2020, agriculture and cattle ranching were responsible for the disappearance of 98.9% of the 26.5 million hectares of native vegetation cover lost in the Cerrado biome, according to a study by MapBiomas . The remainder is attributed to urban expansion.

The wetlands, points out an article on the O Eco portal, had their areas reduced by 10.3% in the last 36 years. “These changes are important indicators of alterations from an ecological point of view in these systems, because they point out that in some areas there is a loss of water in these wetlands, as well as a transition to areas of dry field and savanna,” explained Dhemerson Conciani, of the MapBiomas Cerrado team, in the webinar that presented the data.

The study also highlights the loss of vegetation in the agricultural expansion frontier known as Matopiba, a showcase of Brazilian agribusiness that occupies part of the states of Maranhão, Tocantins, Piauí and Bahia. Between 2010 and 2020, more than half of the total lost by the biome (3.23 million of 6.04 million hectares) was in the region.