Cerrado

The Cerrado (Portuguese: "thick", "dense") is a vast tropical savanna ecoregion of Brazil.

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The Cerrado covers an area of 1,916,900 km² (740,100 square miles), including the state of Goi?s and the Federal District, most of Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, and Tocantins, the western portions of Minas Gerais and Bahia, the southern portion of Maranh?o and Piau?, small portions of S?o Paulo and Paran?, and extends into northeastern Paraguay and eastern Bolivia. The Cerrado accounts for 22% of Brazil's area, an area the size of Alaska.

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The cerrado is characterised by an enormous range of plant and animal biodiversity, but these natural riches are increasingly threatened by single-crop plantations (monoculture; particularly soybeans), the expansion of agriculture in general, and coal mining.

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Nobel Peace Prize laureate Norman Borlaug has described the cerrado as one of Earth's last remaining arable frontiers for the expansion of agriculture.

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Portuguese: Portuguese is an adjective refering to matters related to Portugal. It may refer to the following articles:...

Tropical savanna: redirect Tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands...

Ecoregion: An ecoregion is "a relatively large area of land or water that contains a geographically distinct assemblage of natural communities."...