Deforestation in Brazil’s cerrado up 25% over one year
Deforestation in Brazil’s cerrado increased more than 25 percent (10,688.73 km²) from August 2021 to July 2022, the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation reported Wednesday (Dec. 14).
In 2021, the area where native vegetation was suppressed totaled 8,531.44 km². The highest percentages of deforestation were recorded in the states of Maranhão (26.51%), Tocantins (19.9%), and Bahia (13.36%).
The data were verified by the cerrado surveillance initiative PRODES. The program identifies and measures the areas larger than one hectare where the native vegetation has been removed, regardless of the subsequent use of these regions.
The cerrado is one of the five major biomes in Brazil, covering about 25 percent of the national territory, an area between 1.8 and 2 million km². Per official figures, it is one of the regions with the greatest biodiversity in the world, with more than 6 thousand tree species and 800 bird species.
