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Beyond the Amazon - Why the Rainforest's fame get in the way of preserving other ecosystems

Cattle and Deforestation

Historians have long pointed out that man shapes his environment whilst moulding himself to suit his surroundings, creating in this way a defined territory. The same can be said of the cattle-raising industry.

Brought over by the Portuguese together with chickens, pigs and other domestic animals, oxen became "an ecological weapon used to occupy territory", according to Padua. The animal doesn't like the rainforest, whose soil and closed environment makes movement difficult, preferring open ecosystems with less trees. That was why Brasil's colonizers tended to bring cattle to scrubland areas and fields, creating the matrix for many of today's regional cultures. Even in the Amazon, traditional cattle herding was only possible in open areas like the fields of Marajó and Roraima. It's only recently that man has began to do what he never did before: cut down the rainforest to herd cattle.

Illustrious but Unknown

Biodiversity, one of the key reasons for the preservation of any biome, is common in tropical regions but extremely so in the case of Brasil. "The Brasilian Cerrado (situated in the centre of the country) is the savannah with the highest density of biodiversity and biomass in the world, much more so than the ones in Africa. The Caatinga (in the Northeast) is the only region in the world with a semi-arid tropical ecosystem", explains Nobre.

The Caatinga is the least known ecosystem in Brasil, followed by the Pantanal. The Amazon region dominates studies being carried out in the country. In all, 434 groups describe their research as being related to Amazonia, whilst 173 projects focus on the Cerrado, 101 on the Atlantic Rainforest, 49 on the Pantanal, 45 on the Caatinga and two on the Southern plains.

If it were just a question of untouched areas, however, the world's biodiversity would have probably already disappeared, seeing as three quarters of the Earth's surface has been occupied by man. Nevertheless, recent research suggests that even amongst the fragmented Atlantic Rainforest, if portions of untouched land are preserved, it's possible to safeguard a large amount of the ecosystem's biodiversity.