Fostering water resource governance and conservation in the Brazilian Cerrado biome

Abstract

The Brazilian Cerrado, one of the most threatened biomes of our planet, illustrates the challenges and opportunities of reconciling economic development with conservation of land and water ecosystems. Here, we assess the state of the art of and present new information on the impacts of agricultural expansion, dams, and water use, and make recommendations for basin management, conservation, and restoration of water-related Cerrado ecosystems and rivers. The conservation of the Cerrado requires not only the preservation of remnants of its vegetation but also the ability to keep the hydro-geomorphological and ecological functionality of its rivers, particularly the Araguaia River, the last large well preserved and unregulated system. If business as usual continues, the Cerrado riverine ecosystems may never rebound.

Vulnerability of the biota in riverine and seasonally flooded habitats to damming of Amazonian rivers

“…This scenario will become even more severe owing to the stimulus the waterway is likely to give to the expansion of agriculture, livestock rearing, and mining. Only fragmented natural Cerrado patches remain because ~50,000 km 2 of Cerrado are already deforested and fragmented, and only 1,901 km 2 are officially protected areas, with ~49,880 km 2 of available remnant natural area without specific legal protection (Latrubesse et al, 2019). Moreover, the effectiveness of the current protected areas may be low for certain groups of organisms such as Amazonian stream‐dwelling fishes (Frederico, Zuanon, & De Marco, 2018), which implies the need for innovative strategies for effective conservation of biodiversity (Azevedo‐Santos et al, 2018).…”

Multi-Scale Landscape Influences on Genetic Diversity and Adaptive Traits in a Neotropical Savanna Tree

“…Over the last 50 years, more than 50% of its vegetation cover has been cleared or transformed into agriculture, pasture or urban area (Sano et al, 2010). Landscapes in the Cerrado biome are now comprised by islands of savanna surrounded by ocean of crops and pastures (see Latrubesse et al, 2019), thus jeopardizing species long-term conservation and ecosystem services maintenance.…”

Geomorphology of fluvial deposits in the middle Tocantins River, eastern Amazon

“…Historically, the Tocantins River main stem is the most impacted tributary of the Amazon fluvial system, with several already built dams, while the Araguaia River is still well-preserved due to absence of dams (Latrubesse et al, 2019). However, the building of the planned Marabá hydropower plant in the Tocantins River will affect both rivers, with potential severe effects on the studied floodplains and related aquatic ecosystems (ICMBio, 2018;Lees et al, 2016;Winemiller et al, 2016).…”