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• Deforestation last year rose to the highest level since 2015 in Brazil’s Cerrado.
• This has prompted scientists to raise alarm over the state of the world’s most species-rich savanna, a major carbon sink that helps to stave off climate change.

 

About Cerrado

• Cerrado is a vast tropical savanna ecoregion of Brazil.
• The Cerrado, is one of the world’s largest savannas, is often called an “upside-down forest” because of the deep roots its plants sink into the ground to survive seasonal droughts and fires.

• Destruction of these trees, grasses and other plants in the Cerrado is a major source of Brazil’s greenhouse gas emissions, although it is far less densely forested than the more famous Amazon rainforest that it borders.
• The added destruction is particularly concerning, when considering that roughly half of the Cerrado has been destroyed since the 1970s, mostly for farming and ranching.

 

Savannah

• Savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland ecosystem characterized by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close.
• The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to support an unbroken herbaceous layer consisting primarily of grasses

 

Region

• The largest areas of savanna are found in Africa, South America, Australia, India, the Myanmar (Burma)–Thailand region in Asia, and Madagascar.
• In general, savannas grow in tropical regions 8° to 20° from the Equator.

 

Climate

• Conditions are warm to hot in all seasons, but significant rainfall occurs for only a few months each year.
• Mean annual precipitation is generally 80 to 150 cm.
• The dry season is typically longer than the wet season.
• Mean monthly temperatures are about 10 to 20 °C.

 

https://indianexpress.com/article/technology/science/deforestation-biodiverse-savanna-brazilian-scientists-7705786/