As of Wednesday, I now contribute articles to
Guardian Sustainable Business, a division of the leading UK newspaper The Guardian. This is a great step for me personally and professionally, and the past few weeks have been exciting and rewarding--the staff, especially Caroline Holtum, has been a terrific group to which I am now providing analysis of sustainability trends around the globe.
To my delight, the first article the Guardian’s staff chose to run was on Brazil’s
cerrado, about which I
wrote over a year ago. The cerrado, a huge swath of savannah-like vegetation that is a buffer between the Amazon and Brazil’s populous coast areas, is an ecological jewel. While activists often focus on the Amazonian rain forest, Brazil’s cerrado is arguably just as important, if not even more critical. Rich in flora and fauna, and crucial for the headwaters that feed Brazil’s abundant sources of fresh water, the cerrado is now threatened. Meanwhile at least half to two-thirds of the original cerrado has been lost as the area is now important economically because of
farming.
Once seen as a dull and worthless stretch of land, the cerrado’s landscape has transformed dramatically since the mid-1990s. The huge subtropical region’s soil had always been nutrient-poor, but large agricultural firms figured out that farms here could thrive if the land was infused with lime and nitrogen. The result has been a huge economic shot in the arm for Brazil: once a food importer, Brazil now feeds much of the world. Nevertheless, threats loom: while the cerrado receives plentiful rainfall, farms will still endure a buildup of phosphates, nitrates, and other elements that could damage farmland in the long run--analogous to the damage my beloved
San Joaquin Valley has suffered for at least two decades.
Hope endures, however: organizations like
Conservation International do great work in this region, and others including the
World Wildlife Fund keep their eyes on the situation. Meanwhile, technology, specifically nano-technology, could have a role in ameliorating the impact that agribusiness has on the cerrado, crucial because the reality is that Brazilian farmers will continue to feed the world.
The cerrado is a compelling case of how we balance a world’s growing population with the need to preserve precious land. I predict the debate will only heighten in intensity as more people learn about this complex ecosystem.
Please read my
article on the cerrado’s water issues and potential for the future and share your thoughts. More articles on various topics are on the way.
About The Author
Leon Kaye
Leon Kaye is the founder and editor of GreenGoPost.com and its advisory division,
GGP Media.
Contact him to discuss how he can work with your organization or event.
His focus is making the business case for sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR).
He writes for San Francisco-based
Triple Pundit,
Inhabitat and now
The Guardian, for which he writes about corporate responsibility, water, and green building. He has also written for AIA's
Architect Magazine.
Leon works out of Fresno and Silicon Valley, California, and when he has free time, he enjoys hiking, gardening, cooking, weightlifting, and planning his next trip to one of the 60 countries he has visited. He has an MBA from USC's Marshall School of Business and is also a proud graduate of the University of Maryland-Baltimore County (UMBC) and Cal State-Fresno.
As of Wednesday, I now contribute articles to Guardian Sustainable Business, a division of the leading UK newspaper The Guardian. This is a great step for me personally and professionally, and the past few weeks have been exciting and rewarding--the staff, especially Caroline Holtum, has been a terrific group to which I am now providing analysis of sustainability trends around the globe.
To my delight, the first article the Guardian’s staff chose to run was on Brazil’s cerrado, about which I wrote over a year ago. The cerrado, a huge swath of savannah-like vegetation that is a buffer between the Amazon and Brazil’s populous coast areas, is an ecological jewel. While activists often focus on the Amazonian rain forest, Brazil’s cerrado is arguably just as important, if not even more critical. Rich in flora and fauna, and crucial for the headwaters that feed Brazil’s abundant sources of fresh water, the cerrado is now threatened. Meanwhile at least half to two-thirds of the original cerrado has been lost as the area is now important economically because of farming.
Once seen as a dull and worthless stretch of land, the cerrado’s landscape has transformed dramatically since the mid-1990s. The huge subtropical region’s soil had always been nutrient-poor, but large agricultural firms figured out that farms here could thrive if the land was infused with lime and nitrogen. The result has been a huge economic shot in the arm for Brazil: once a food importer, Brazil now feeds much of the world. Nevertheless, threats loom: while the cerrado receives plentiful rainfall, farms will still endure a buildup of phosphates, nitrates, and other elements that could damage farmland in the long run--analogous to the damage my beloved San Joaquin Valley has suffered for at least two decades.
Hope endures, however: organizations like Conservation International do great work in this region, and others including the World Wildlife Fund keep their eyes on the situation. Meanwhile, technology, specifically nano-technology, could have a role in ameliorating the impact that agribusiness has on the cerrado, crucial because the reality is that Brazilian farmers will continue to feed the world.
The cerrado is a compelling case of how we balance a world’s growing population with the need to preserve precious land. I predict the debate will only heighten in intensity as more people learn about this complex ecosystem.
Please read my article on the cerrado’s water issues and potential for the future and share your thoughts. More articles on various topics are on the way.
