Legal deforestation can jeopardize plant diversity conservation in an agricultural frontier in the brazilian Cerrado: a spatial explicit contribution to Santana and Simon (2022)

The work of Santana and Simon (2022) provides a unique database on angiosperm flora in the Cerrado?s agricultural frontier (known as MATOPIBA), revealing that its plant biodiversity remains largely unknown. However, ongoing deforestation combined with areas that can still be legally deforested, has the potential to jeopardize plant conservation in the region if measures to prevent land clearing are not adopted. Based on the databased provided by the authors, high resolution vegetation maps and land tenure data, it is demonstrated that almost 5 Mha of Cerrado vegetation has been converted from 1990 to 2020, and further 10.1 Mha can still be legally cleared, which 1.58 Mha in small, 2.25 Mha in medium and 6.27 Mha in large farms. This has practical implications for biodiversity conservation in the MATOPIBA and, thus, the clearing of areas where populations of endemic and threatened, as well as rare, species occur should be avoided. In general, the whole region should be better sampled in order to fill the knowledge gap on its plant diversity, but certain areas could be prioritized to optimize sampling efforts and provide botanical information that inform conservation plans with the objective to avoid the extinction of endemic, threatened and unknown species. Proactive conservation measures are yet palliative because the current environmental legislation still allows the suppression of large extensions of Cerrado vegetation - likely to be converted to mechanized agriculture as soon as it becomes profitable.

Automated summary

The study by Santana and Simon (2022) reveals that the plant biodiversity in the agricultural frontier of Cerrado, known as MATOPIBA, remains largely unknown. Deforestation and potential legal land clearing pose a threat to plant conservation in the region. The authors demonstrate that a significant amount of Cerrado vegetation has been converted and there is still a possibility for further clearance. Protecting areas with endemic, threatened, and rare species is crucial for biodiversity conservation. Efforts should be made to better sample the entire region and prioritize certain areas for sampling to gather botanical information and inform conservation plans.