The Cerrado could lose 33.9% of river flows by 2050, if the pace of agricultural exploitation remains at current levels. Faced with this situation, authorities and specialists must dedicate the same attention they reserve to the Amazon, since one biome does not exist without the other. The alert for the situation is from the founder and executive director of Instituto Cerrados, Yuri Botelho Salmona. This Tuesday (22) is celebrated World Water Day, established by the United Nations (UN). Salmona measured the effect of land appropriation for monocultures and pasture, which resulted in an article published in the international scientific journal Sustainability. The research was supported by the Society, Population and Nature Institute (ISPN). In all, 81 river basins in the Cerrado were analyzed in the period between 1985 and 2022. According to the survey, a decrease in flow was found in 88% of them due to the advance of agriculture. The research indicates that the cultivation of soybeans, corn and cotton, as well as livestock, have influenced the hydrological cycle. The study also shows that changes in land use lead to a reduction in water in 56% of cases. The remainder (44%) is associated with climate change. “When I talk about land use change, we are, after all, talking about deforestation and what you put on top of it, after you deforest”, said Saloma, in an interview with Agência Brasil. According to the researcher, the west of Bahia is one of the places where the scenario has deteriorated the most. As for the climatic consequences, the researcher explains that the so-called potential evapotranspiration is accentuated. Salmona also explained that this is the most extensive study ever carried out on the rivers of the Cerrado. “What’s increasing is solar radiation. It’s getting hotter. You have more incidence, it’s getting hotter and you have greater evaporation of steam, of water, and that’s where climate change is acting, very clearly, in a widespread, in the Cerrado. In some regions, stronger, such as Maranhão, Piauí and western Bahia, but it is general”, he detailed. Rainfall Another factor that has changed is the rainfall pattern. As Salmona emphasized, what is observed is not necessarily a lower level of rainfall. “We saw that places where it is raining less is not the rule, it is the exception. What is happening a lot is the decrease in rainfall periods. The same volume of water that fell in four, five months is falling in two, three. With that, you have a smaller capacity to filter this water to a deep soil and it becomes available in a dry period”, he commented. One of the reasons that explains the chain reaction effect of deforesting the cerrado is the fact that the biome’s vegetation has roots that look like shower loofahs, that is, capable of storing water. This is what allows, in the dry season, the water retained in the soil to leak through the rivers. According to the researcher, around 80% to 90% of the water in the biome’s rivers comes from groundwater.
Agência Brasil
Folha Nobre - Desde 2013 - ©