The Caatinga, the only biome that is exclusively Brazilian and vulnerable due to its arid climate, lost 26,576 square kilometers of forest from 2002 to 2008, with just 53.6 percent of its original forest intact. The Caatinga, the only biome that is exclusively Brazilian and vulnerable due to its arid climate, lost 26,576 square kilometers of forest from 2002 to 2008, with just 53.6 percent of its original forest intact.

Brazil's Ministry of Environment reported as much on Mar. 2.

The main cause is logging for firewood and coal, according to Paulo Pedro de Carvalho, activist with the Caatinga Coordination Project of the Semiarid, known as ASA for its Portuguese name, a network of more than 700 organizations.

“The families aren't trained to coexist with the Semiarid and, without options for income, the population exploits the vegetation,” he told Tierramérica.

Monoculture farming and pastures replace the extracted plants and burned land, degrading the soil and accelerating desertification processes. The Caatinga covers 826,411 square kilometers of the Brazilian Northeast, or 10 percent of the national territory.