On the last day 30, PRODES had already released the official estimate for Legal Amazon, which showed the loss of 11,568 km² in 2022, maintaining the high level of rates recorded in previous years. Now the bill has reached the Cerrado.

In 2022, the most destroyed states were matopiba, reaching 71% of the total deforested in the biome. The state of Maranhão leads the ranking of devastation with 2,833.9 km², 27% of the total deforested in the biome. Next appear bahia, Tocantins and Piauí.

In addition to the deforested area of more than 10,000 km², the data presented show that in 2022 there was a 25% increase in the devastation of the biome compared to last year, when the annual rate was 8,531.44 km². This is the third consecutive year of increased destruction in the Cerrado, a situation never seen in the historical series of INPE monitoring since 2000. Under bolsonaro, the deforestation of the biome accumulated an area of 33,444 km2, more than six times the area of Brasilia.

"We need to change the trajectory of deforestation of the Cerrado urgently, after 3 consecutive years of increased destruction. Preserving the biome is essential to maintain the water regimes that irrigate both commodity production and family agriculture, and fill hydroelectric reservoirs throughout the country. To deforest the Cerrado is to act against agro, against the fight against hunger and inflation - less Cerrado means more expensive food and electricity", says, in a statement, Edegar de Oliveira Rosa, director of Conservation and Restoration of WWF-Brazil.

The Cerrado has almost 1 million km² of native vegetation remaining, almost twice the area of France, and includes the most biodiverse tropical savannas in the world, representing more than 5% of the world's biodiversity. The biome is home to 25 million people, about 100 indigenous peoples and countless traditional communities.

However, the Cerrado has already lost half of its area, and in recent years has suffered the effects of the accelerated advance of the agricultural frontier, the largest in the world, especially in the Matopiba region, with soybean monoculture and livestock. But the destruction of the biome harms the agribusiness itself, as it contributes to the elongation of the drought and the increase in temperatures, reducing productivity and accelerating the climate crisis.

"The Cerrado is the most biodiverse savannah on the planet and houses the springs of eight of brazil's twelve hydrographic basins. The expansion of agriculture was responsible for the destruction of more than half of the original cerrado cover and the remaining areas are strongly degraded and fragmented. The result of this has already been seen -- the increase in temperatures and drought in recent years have been responsible for reducing the productivity of more than 20% of soybeans and corn in Matopiba, for example," says Mariana Napolitano, science manager at WWF-Brazil.

On 5 December, the European Union passed a law to stop products associated with deforestation. For now, the law passed deals only with items produced in areas of forests deforested after 31 December 2020. These areas cover only 26% of the remnants of the Cerrado, leaving 74% of the biome unprotected. In a frightening destruction scenario, it is crucial that European law urgently includes tree savanna areas in its next review. Also, the new government needs to take urgent measures to contain deforestation in the biome, so that deforestation reduces again.