Under the Radar

Landgrabs and Deforestation in Brazil’s Cerrado – Violating the Birthplace of Waters 

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The Brazilian Cerrado, the world’s most biodiverse savannah, is critically important for ecological, cultural, and economic reasons. It is home to Indigenous, quilombola (rural Afro-Brazilian) and peasant communities who possess valuable knowledge of this unique biome and protect its biodiversity with historical cultural practices – and who also possess unique and inalienable rights under Brazilian law and numerous United Nations conventions. The Cerrado is home to 5% of the world’s plant and animal species, with over 12,000 plant species, of which nearly 40% are endemic. A crucial water source, the Cerrado is the source of some of South America’s most important rivers, giving rise to its nickname, “the birthplace of waters.” The Cerrado also plays a key role in mitigating climate change by storing significant amounts of carbon in its deep root systems and soil. Protecting the Cerrado is crucial not only for Brazil but also for the planet and humanity, influencing global biodiversity, water cycles, and climate regulation. Yet despite its importance, the Cerrado is one of Brazil’s most threatened ecosystems, with over 50% of its original area already deforested or converted to industrial agriculture.   

In partnership with grassroots investigators at the Brazilian Network for Social Justice and Human Rights, AidEnvironment, ActionAid and other partners, Friends of the Earth has published a series of exposés on the destruction of the Cerrado. The pattern of destruction is clear: violent actors and financial interests drive people off their land and turn it over to agribusiness companies which amass wealth by committing ecocide through deforestation, land degradation and agrichemical poisoning. Reversing the destruction will require fundamental transformation, beginning with a halt to the expansion of agribusiness plantations and the financialization of land.  

Demanding Accountability 

Many US and transnational corporations are responsible for land conversion in the Cerrado. Among them are the big agribusiness traders Bunge, Cargill, Louis Dreyfus, Archer Daniels Midland and SLC Agricola. But notably present also is U.S. investment firm TIAA, which owns hundreds of thousands of acres of Cerrado land. Over the years, TIAA has not proven to be forthcoming with advocates in addressing public concerns about its contribution to land conversion in the Cerrado. That’s why our partners in Brazil are asking TIAA representatives to meet with local communities in western Bahia Brazil, to hear their grievances directly.  

In order to encourage greater transparency, in early April 2025, we sent TIAA over 2000 letters from Friends of the Earth members asking the following question:  

TIAA has publicly committed to invest in communities; yet report after report shows that TIAA’s practice of farmland acquisition appears to have undermined local community rights, from the US heartland to the birthplace of waters of Brazil.  TIAA — can you kindly explain how buying up critical biodiversity hotspots and land taken from local communities aligns with TIAA’s commitments to sustainability and social responsibility?   

We asked TIAA to send a response to Friends of the Earth, to be posted on our website and shared with TIAA participants and leaders of the Brazilian communities most affected by these issues. When we receive this response, it will be posted below.   

Related Resources

• Report (2018): Trasnational Corporations & Land Speculation in Brazil 
• Blog (2018): Is Land Speculation Helping Destroy Brazil’s “Birthplace of Waters”? 
• Report (2020): TIAA’s Accumulation of Farmland is Not Responsible 
• Report (2022): Caught Red-Handed — Bunge and and the Directors of Deforestation 
• Report (2022): Industrial Soy Expansion in Brazil 
• Report (2023): Land Grabbing & Ecocide — How Bunge, TIAA, and Harvard Fuel the Destruction of the Brazilian Cerrado