Pedaling for preservation and sustainable development

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The adventure

The preservation of the Cerrado, combined with the practice of an adventure sport, is the main component of the TransCerrado expedition 2022 edition. This year, cyclists will cycle for the cause focused on the conservation units of the Cerrado.

The focus will be on the Chapada dos Veadeiros National Park, in Goiás.

The four cyclists will travel, for five days, 420 kilometers immersed in trails in the park and surroundings, between the 25th and 30th of July.

It’s not just an adventure on two wheels. It’s a scientific expedition. During the trip, the researchers will collect information about the fauna and flora of the second largest biome in Brazil – second only to the Amazon – and the most diverse savannah in the world. In addition, they will talk to park managers and the local population about the role of the conservation unit for the region’s economy and sustainable development. In addition, as in last year’s edition, members of the expedition will warn about the risks of fire in the Cerrado and will also discuss solutions for valuing the biome and its tourist potential.

The effort to overcome obstacles along the way will be rewarded with a paradisiacal setting and a call to preserve the Cerrado.

NEWS | IPAM researcher takes TransCerrado experience to Shimano Fest 2022

Scientific expedition that warns about the need to preserve the Cerrado is present at the largest bike festival in Latin America, which takes place between the 18th and 21st of this month, in São Paulo

The TransCerrado – a scientific expedition using bicycles as a means of transportation and organized by the Instituto de Pesquisa Ambiental da Amazônia (IPAM) – will be one of the attractions at Shimano Fest 2022, which will take place from August 18th to 21st, at the Memorial da América Latina, in São Paulo. This is the biggest bike event in Latin America and expects to receive an estimated audience of 50,000 people. This year’s theme will be environmental preservation and support for new cyclists. The project seeks to alert, through science and the world of biking, how important and essential the Cerrado biome is for waters, biodiversity and the well-being of Brazilian society.

IPAM’s senior researcher, Paulo Moutinho, will speak about the role of the market and the sector’s industry in preserving the environment, in a lecture on Friday (19), 1:30 pm. On Saturday (20), at 10:45 am, Moutinho will make another TransCerrado presentation, this time for the general public. Lectures will take place at the Protect Our Playground Auditorium. “TransCerrado opens an innovative door for the market, the industry and the consumer public, in terms of protecting the environment. Through expeditions on two wheels, it is possible to put science, environmental education and outdoor leisure in a single package. The environmental issue is increasingly key, both for a sustainable economy and for a healthier society. And the world of bicycles is a very promising path for that”, reinforces Moutinho.

The 4th edition of TransCerrado took place last month, in the Chapada dos Veadeiros National Park, in Goiás. The cyclists – two IPAM scientists – covered 420 km in four days, visiting small villages and talking to the local population and authorities about the need to protect the second largest biome in the country, which has already lost half of its native vegetation. “In each of these villages, talking to people, we already felt a certain concern. People, for example, feel that it is getting drier and more water scarce every year. Even after intense rainy periods, the rivers and streams no longer hold large volumes of water”, warned Moutinho. Much of this water, when abundant, is maintained due to the presence of the National Park.

Information about the expedition can be obtained on the website or on the TranCerrado page on Instagram. The complete Shimano Fest 2022 schedule is available on the event website.

The path

With a focus on preserving the Cerrado, four cyclists will make the 420-kilometer route through the Chapada dos Veadeiros National Park (GO).

See the route of 2022:

Follow how the journey of the 2021 edition went:

See also where TransCerrado went in 2019, when we cycled more than 700 kilometers talking about conservation and development of sustainable agriculture in the Cerrado:

Who are they?

Paulo Moutinho

PhD, senior scientist and co-founder of the Amazonian Environmental Research Institute, Brazil

Paulo is a 59-year-old ecologist. He’s been working with the impacts of deforestation on climate change and people in Brazil for the last two decades. In 2017, he made a long bike journey, with two other partners, through 1,100 km of the unpaved stretch of the Trans-Amazonian Highway, in the middle of the Amazon, to draw attention to the socio-environmental problems of the region.

Márcio Bittencourt

Technician in Telecommunications and specialist in maritime navigation.

Márcio tem 51 anos, é militar da reserva da Marinha onde trabalhou por 30 anos. Há 14 anos faz parte da Coordenação do grupo de ciclistas Rebas do Cerrado, o maior grupo de mountain bike do Brasil. Nos últimos três têm participado como voluntário na estruturação, implementação e sinalização de trilhas de longo curso que ligam Unidades de Conservação no Centro-Oeste.

Valderli Jorge Piontekowski

Master, coordinator of Technological Innovation at IPAM.

He is a 41-year-old forest engineer. He works in the areas of Geoprocessing and Remote Sensing as a specialist programmer for the production of maps related to human intervention in land cover. He has been riding for two years, exploring trails in the Federal District and its surroundings.

Why the Cerrado?

With 198 million hectares and occupying 26% of the country’s native vegetation area, the Cerrado is the second largest biome in Brazil and the most biodiverse savannah in the world. It is present in 12 Brazilian states plus the Federal District: Bahia, Goiás, Minas Gerais, Maranhão, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Pará, Paraná, Piauí, Rondônia, São Paulo and Tocantins. It is home to about 25 million people, including traditional peoples and communities such as indigenous peoples, quilombolas, extractivists, family farmers, babassu coconut breakers, artisanal fishermen and riverside dwellers.

Known as the “cradle of waters” or “Brazil’s water tank”, the Cerrado is home to eight of the twelve Brazilian hydrographic regions and supplies six of the eight major hydrographic basins in Brazil: the Amazon, Araguaia/Tocantins, North Atlantic/Northeast, San Francisco, East Atlantic and Paraná/Paraguay. Furthermore, it is in the Cerrado that three of the main aquifers in the country are located: Bambuí, Urucuia and Guarani.

Studies indicate that there are around 10,000 species of plants in the Cerrado, of which 44% are exclusive to the biome. There is also a very rich fauna: with 250 species of mammals, 856 species of birds, 800 species of fish, 262 species of reptiles and 204 species of amphibians.

All of this makes the Cerrado a global biodiversity hotspot, home to 1.5% of the flora and 5% of the fauna on the entire planet. Despite all this wealth of natural life, only 12% of its native vegetation is officially protected in Conservation Units and Indigenous Lands, according to MapBiomas – Collection 6.

Also according to MapBiomas, the Cerrado has lost 26.5 million hectares, or 20%, of its native vegetation since 1985. This is equivalent to an area larger than the state of Piauí. In the same period, agriculture occupied an almost complementary area: 26.2 million hectares were dedicated to the activity. Today, agriculture occupies 44.2% of the Cerrado. In 36 years, the Cerrado was the biome most affected by fires, concentrating around 44% of the burned area in Brazil.

Aiming to contribute to the visibility of this 100% Brazilian biome, the TransCerrado adventure begins once again to show the importance of preserving the most biodiverse savannah in the world. Combining conservation with ecotourism, fire prevention with better water, soil and air quality, cultivating sustainable actions for the sowing of a future with Cerrado alive and for all.