Faced with the end of the program that financed the monitoring of the Cerrado by the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe), the vice president of the Brazilian Society for the Progress of Science (SBPC) and professor at the Physics Institute of the University of São Paulo (USP) , Paulo Artaxo, said in an interview with CNN on Wednesday that “it is essential for society to carry out adequate monitoring of the biome”.
Inpe claims that the inspection activities of the biome will not be harmed and that the institute is awaiting the release of funds to carry out the monitoring for another four years.
“It is important to point out that no modern nation can fail to monitor what is happening in its territory with its biomes”, considered the professor. The specialist defended that the resumption of funds for the institute is essential.
Artaxo also said that the Cerrado is one of the Brazilian biomes that has been “most deforested and most mistreated over the last few decades”, and that Brazil urgently needs to take care of the biomes present in its territory. According to the professor, the excessive use of pesticides and illegal occupation are the main threats to the biome.
“The excessive use of water, the excessive use of pesticides and pesticides are causing the rivers that start in the Cerrado to be born already poisoned with pesticides. This is unacceptable for Brazilian society”, said the vice-president of the SBPC.
According to the professor, the monitoring carried out by Inpe was being carried out extremely adequately in recent years, and that the preservation of the Cerrado should be a “national goal”.
Artaxo considers that dealing with Brazilian hydrographic basins is strategic for agribusiness. The professor stated that “there is no contradiction between having good agricultural productivity and, at the same time, preserving the maintenance of ecosystem services that Cerrado, Amazon and Pantanal provide”.
“If we want Brazil to continue to be an agricultural power, we have to preserve the Amazon and preserve the Cerrado”, he reinforced.
The professor defended that, for this preservation to be done correctly, it is essential to continue with the continuous and well-done monitoring carried out by Inpe.
Reference: CNN Brasil
