At the edge of the Amazon rainforest Brazil’s lesser known, less protected, and second largest ecosystem, the Cerrado, is rapidly transforming. Its diverse savannas, grassland, and forests house some 5,000 endemic species, whose habitats are vanishing at extreme speed.

Accelerating losses

Deforestation in the Cerrado increased by 68 percent between 2022 and 2023, prompting new efforts to protect the area.

Vanishing landscape

The cerrado’s natural vegetation is being cleared to make way for cattle grazing and crops including soybeans, rice, and sugar.