Wetlands in Brazil's Cerrado are carbon-storage powerhouses

Wetlands in Brazil's Cerrado are carbon-storage powerhouses

The Amazon rainforest is famous for storing massive amounts of carbon in its trees and soils, helping regulate the global climate. Yet a paper published in New Phytologist shows that one of South America's largest carbon-storing ecosystems exists in an often-overlooked grassy savanna: the Cerrado in Brazil.

The secret superpower of Brazil’s vast savanna

You’ve heard of the Amazon rainforest, but have you heard of its neighbor, the cerrado? It’s a vast savanna — the most biodiverse in the world — of swaying grasses punctuated by trees. But its most remarkable feature, and its climate superpower, is hidden underground within its wetlands: concentrated carbon known as peat.  New research suggests that the cerrado is storing far more carbon than anyone realized — six times more, per hectare, than t…

Brazil’s Cerrado Wetlands: Mighty Carbon Storage Giants

Beneath the sprawling greenery of the Amazon rainforest lies an often-overlooked reservoir of carbon, not within towering trees or deep jungle soils, but in the grassy savannas of Brazil’s vast Cerrado biome. Contrary to popular belief that tropical forests dominate carbon storage, recent groundbreaking research has revealed that the wetlands of the Cerrado — particularly […]

These Underprotected Brazilian Wetlands Store Carbon with Staggering Density

The Cerrado savanna occupies about 26% of Brazil and is home to more than 12,000 plant species and diverse animal life. It’s also speckled with groundwater-fed wetlands that serve as the headwaters for two-thirds of Brazil’s major waterways, including the Amazon River, making it not only a biodiversity hot spot but also a critical ecosystem to preserve water security in the region.   “This carbon is vulnerable.” This savanna’s wetlands also have…