Threats to the Caatinga

Northeastern musical icon Luiz Gonzaga captures the hardships of those living in the Semiarid region well: “When I saw the land burning, like a bonfire for Saint John, I asked God in heaven, ‘Oh, why such cruelty?’ (…) What a brazier, what a furnace. Not a single crop. For lack of water, I lost my livestock.”

"My sorrel horse died of thirst." This is the reality many catingueiros have learned to live with. Many have already given up, seeking opportunities in other Brazilian states, including in mass rural exodus movements. However, those who remain hopeful for better days, despite the challenges, face them creatively, using innovative technologies to coexist with this burning land.

In addition to adverse natural conditions, there is a history of practices that have exacerbated the degradation of this biome. Years of logging (for plaster production, brickworks, charcoal production, etc.), deforestation, burning, overgrazing, inappropriate agricultural practices such as monocultures and the use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers, and many other actions have contributed to the deterioration of the Caatinga, leading to desertification¹, soil impoverishment, reduced biodiversity, and, consequently, a worsening of the population's quality of life.

The main aggravating factor in desertification is the degradation of native vegetation. In this sense, the data is alarming, since almost 46% of the Caatinga had been deforested by 2008². The state of Alagoas alone already accounts for 82% of its native area deforested. These high percentages are striking, making deforestation one of the main threats to the biome. Unlike the Cerrado and the Amazon, in the Caatinga, agriculture is not the main cause of these figures, but rather the consumption of firewood and charcoal for energy purposes, mainly from wood sourced from illegal deforestation. According to a study conducted in Paraíba in 2012, 56% of the industrial/commercial demand for firewood was met with wood sourced from illegal deforestation³.

Although not the main driver of deforestation, agriculture⁴ also poses a serious threat to the integrity of the biome, while also constituting an important basis for the region's economy. Since the beginning of the Caatinga's occupation, agricultural practices have been adopted that have contributed to its accelerated degradation, such as: the suppression of native vegetation, the indiscriminate use of fire, the use of chemical inputs, planting on riverbanks and reservoirs, and excessive grazing. The continuous removal of forest products, without replenishing nutrients, reduces soil fertility and intensifies the biome's degradation.

With the advent of commercial agriculture in the biome, large areas highly dependent on irrigation and external inputs were established, with production geared toward export, resulting in even greater environmental and social impacts. One example is the tropical fruit production centers. The three main ones are located in the Sub-Middle São Francisco Valley, in Juazeiro-Petrolina, where mango, grape, passion fruit, papaya, and banana are produced; in the Açu and Apodi Valleys (RN), where melon is produced; and in the Jaguaribe River Valley (CE), where grapes, melon, acerola, mango, soursop, and cashew are produced. Other important commercial crops in the Semiarid region are soybeans and castor oil plants (for biofuel production).

The main driver of pressure on threatened fauna species in the Caatinga is agriculture, which exerts pressure on 90 of the 131 species counted.⁵ Some species are virtually extinct in the biome, such as the Spix's macaw (with a few individuals remaining in aviaries), and several others are threatened, such as the three-banded armadillo, the puma, and the Araripe manakin.⁶

One aspect that presents a certain vulnerability is the fact that only 8,8% of the Caatinga territory is protected by conservation units (CUs), of which only 2,23% of the area corresponds to the category of full protection and 6,44% to sustainable use.⁷ One alternative has been the creation, through private partnerships, of Private Natural Heritage Reserves (RPPNs), which correspond to 35,6% of the CUs in the Caatinga, but this is still very incipient.

Added to these issues, rising temperatures caused by climate change can also intensify the desertification process. Generated by the emission and accumulation of greenhouse gases, fueled by deforestation, climate change most drastically affects semiarid regions, such as the Caatinga, where the country's Desertification Susceptible Areas (DSAs) are located. Currently, these areas total just over 1,3 million km² and encompass nine northeastern states and the northern regions of Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo⁸, threatening the lives of more than 30 million people who live there.

A study conducted two scenarios for 2100: an optimistic one, in which all the Kyoto Protocol's greenhouse gas reduction requirements were met; and a pessimistic one, in which no reductions were made. In the second scenario, the results would be catastrophic, resulting in a temperature rise of between 2 and 5°C in the biome⁸, further worsening living conditions in the semiarid region. It should be noted that environmental changes further intensify the effects of climate change, which, in turn, also cause environmental degradation: a highly destructive cycle.

Life in the Caatinga has its challenges and difficulties, but if something isn't done to minimize these threats, such as public policies, countries' commitment to international agreements, and the involvement of society as a whole, the situation will certainly worsen, and coexisting with the Semiarid region will become much more difficult. Rural exodus will increase, with all its attendant social impacts, while the population's living conditions will become even more precarious, and biodiversity will be negatively affected. A very sad story for the only exclusively Brazilian biome!