Brazil's Ministry of the Environment establishes The Action Plan to Prevent and Control Deforestation and Wildfires in the Cerrado Biome (PPCerrado), a "political framework for the conservation and sustainable use of the most threatened biome in Brazil" (see Mongabay, Sep 15, link below).

The Cerrado covers an area of over 2m square kilometers in east-central Brazil and is the country’s second largest ecological area after the Amazon basin. It is an area of mixed vegetation types including tree and scrub savannah, grasslands and dry forest. (see Conservation International, see link below).

Biodiversity is considered the richest of all the earth's tropical savannahs, with over 10,000 plant species (including a high level of endemism), as well as hundreds of vertebrate species (see Environmental Literacy Council, link below).

Large scale development of the Cerrado started in the late 1950’s with the creation of the country’s new capital Brazilia. Since then about 80% of the Cerrado has been converted for human use, either totally (crop production, construction of roads and towns) or partially (grazing, charcoal production) (see Conservation International, link below).

As a result, the Cerrado has become “one of the most threatened and over-exploited regions of Brazil, second only to the Atlantic Forests in vegetation loss and deforestation” (see WWF, link below).

Currently just over 8% of the Cerrado is protected. The new plan will add to this another 15% of the area, and will include other actions such as better monitoring and law enforcement on the ground (WWF, 22 Sep 10, link below).