BACKGROUND Not many people realize that currently the largest and most endangered ecosystems and cultural communities in South America are not in the Amazon, but instead the Brazilian Cerrado. The Cerrado is a biome that borders the Amazon and covers 20% of Brazil. Cerrado can be translated as “dense” or “closed” and refers to the natural vegetation of this type of savannah due to the diversity and density of the mix of trees, shrubs and grasses. The Cerrado region is home to around 15 million inhabitants including both rural and urban settlements, and the land is used by 80 different indigenous peoples and many rural communities recognized under Brazilian law as “traditional peoples”. These traditional peoples often have centuries of cultural adaptation to making their livelihoods in the Cerrado environment through farming, herding, fishing, hunting, and harvesting wild products.
source: https://www.actionaidusa.org