Government sets up task force to contain deforestation in the Cerrado

Concern about the advancement of deforestation in the Cerrado, contrary to what is happening in the Amazon, mobilized the creation of a federal government task force with seven states, plus the Federal District, which hold portions of the second largest Brazilian biome, which occupies 25 % of the national territory. The initiative is part of the developments of the Action Plan Against Deforestation in the Cerrado (PPCerrado), which was resumed last year.

A meeting at Palácio do Planalto, coordinated by the Chief Minister of the Civil House, Rui Costa, on the afternoon of this Wednesday (27), was attended by governors Carlos Brandão (Maranhão), Romeu Zema (Minas Gerais), Ronaldo Caiado (Goiás), Mauro Mendes (Mato Grosso), Eduardo Riedel (Mato Grosso do Sul), Wanderlei Barbosa (Tocantins), the vice-governor of the Federal District, Celina Leão; and the Secretary of Environment of Bahia, Eduardo Sodré.

Also participating in the agenda were the ministers of Agriculture and Livestock, Carlos Fávaro; the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Marina Silva; the Minister of Planning and Budget, Simone Tebet; and the Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Luciana Santos.

“In the Amazon, the federal government has much greater power of action. In the Cerrado, it is the states that have greater power of action,” Minister Marina Silva told journalists after the meeting. “The large participation of governors is a demonstration that the problem will be resolved, in a pact that involves the federal government, state governments, the productive sector, civil society and the scientific community”, she added.

In addition to the creation of a task force with the direct participation of the governors themselves, the proposed actions include work to unify the states’ databases with the federal government.

The idea is to resume feeding the Rural Environmental Registry (CAR), which was weakened under the previous government, leading states to develop their own platforms for monitoring the situation of rural properties, according to the federal government. In addition to unifying and crossing information, according to the Civil House, a working group between ministers and governors will meet periodically to monitor the data and make decisions.

Source of 40% of the country’s fresh water, the Cerrado had a 19% increase in deforestation alerts last month, compared to February 2023. The biome lost 3,798 square kilometers (km²) of native vegetation, in August from 2023 to February this year, according to monitoring carried out by the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe). The situation is more serious and worrying in the region of the states of Maranhão, Tocantins, Piauí and Bahia – an area known by the acronym Matopiba, identified as the country’s new agricultural frontier. Almost 75% of deforestation in the Cerrado occurs in these four states. Of the 52 municipalities responsible for half of deforestation, 50 of them are in Matopiba.

During the meeting, the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change warned about the impacts of decades of soil degradation with deforestation, in addition to the effects of climate change.

“We are observing a change in the rainfall regime, especially in that region of Matopiba, a decrease in the volume of water in the rivers, in the flow of rivers, something around 19 thousand cubic meters per second (m³/s) and other problems that can create serious situations in relation to economic processes for family farming and agribusiness”, highlighted Marina Silva. The minister also spoke about an unprecedented process of desertification of areas close to the Cerrado.

The Environment department reported that the support of the states in the task force can guarantee the release of resources from the Amazon Fund to finance actions, considering that up to 20% of the resources can be applied to monitoring and control measures in other biomes.