Rio Pardo de Minas - Minas Gerais, Brazil, 2018
Cerrado is one of Brazil’s most important biomes. With its 2.045.000 km² (roughly 505.330.505 acres), it’s second only to the Amazon as the largest biome in Latin America. Holding three of the biggest hydrographic basins in the continent, it has an important role in water supply. For those characteristics, it was nicknamed “Brazil’s water tank”. In the last 50 years, however, the Cerrado has already lost almost half of its original vegetation, mostly due to the rise of monoculture and livestock farms, linked to the agribusiness, as well as the proliferation of mining enterprises. The geraizeiros’ struggle has the preservation of the Cerrado’s water network as a central demand. They face enormous obstacles, from the private predatory capital to the government in all its levels.
