An important carbon sink with an enormous capacity to infiltrate water into the soil and ensure the replenishment of aquifers in Brazil’s semi-arid region, the caatinga is the country’s biome most threatened by desertification. The recovery of 10 million hectares of degraded land in the biome is one of the main goals of the Brazilian Action Plan to Combat Desertification and Mitigate the Effects of Drought, known as PAB-Brasil, launched Tuesday (Dec. 16) in Brasília.

Unveiled by the Brazilian Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change, the plan includes 175 initiatives focused on combating desertification and recovering degraded land in all Brazilian biomes by 2045.

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“By doing so, we want to leverage the entire socio-productive restoration process, ensuring the recovery of degraded soil and vegetation, water availability, healthy food production, job creation, and other ecosystem services,” said Alexandre Pires, director of the ministry’s Department for Combating Desertification.

According to the United Nations, environmental degradation caused by poor land use and drought intensified by climate change are the main causes of desertification – which is the loss of the land’s productive capacity. Arid, semi-arid, and dry sub-humid regions are the most threatened, but worldwide, 75 percent of the population could be affected in the coming decades.

In Brazil, according to a study released in June by the Superintendence for the Development of the Northeast (Sudene), desertification threatens the productive capacity of the soil in 18 percent of the Brazilian territory. Thirty-nine million people live in the caatinga region, which is mainly concentrated in the Northeast.

Brazilian biomes

In addition to the caatinga, the cerrado and Atlantic forest are already under threat and, according to a report presented at the launch of PAB-Brasil, areas susceptible to desertification have been identified in the pantanal for the first time.

In view of this, all indigenous peoples, traditional communities, and family farmers have been included in the registry for payment for environmental services – a public policy to promote sustainable development that compensates those who promote conservation and environmental improvement.

“Only together will we make progress in combating desertification and mitigating the effects of drought,” said Edel Moraes, the ministry’s national secretary for traditional peoples and communities and sustainable rural development.

Among the initiatives are the construction of an early warning system for desertification and drought, financial support for the development of state plans to combat desertification and mitigate the effects of drought, the creation of conservation units, and landscape connectivity through the restoration of native vegetation.