Cerrado是巴西七个生物多样性地区之一，占地150万平方公里。该地区拥有巴西三分之一的生物，占世界动植物的5%，是亚马逊河、旧金山河和巴拉圭河三大水文流域的发源地。它有独特的植物群，以稀树和低矮灌木为代表，它们是非洲稀树草原和欧洲草原上的植物在南美大陆的变种。Cerrado融合了全国的生物群落，具有生态、地缘政治和文化的特殊性。

The Cerrado is one of the country’s seven biomes and covers an area of 1.5 million km². It holds about a third of all Brazilian biodiversity, 5% of the world’s flora and fauna, and is home to the headwaters of the three largest hydrographic basins in the country (Amazon, São Francisco, and Paraná/Paraguay). It has a unique flora and stands out for its generously-spaced trees and low-slung brushwood, blending into a South-American variation on the African savannah and the European steppe. Given its ecological, geopolitical and cultural specificities, the Cerrado is considered the biome of national integration.

▼建筑与环境，building and surroundings © Gabriel Castro

Cerrado的土壤一度被认为酸性太强，不适合耕种。但自从1980年代，农学家大量施用工业石灰，使得土质发生改变。如今，巴西70%的农业产量都来自这里。

The soils of the Cerrado were once regarded as too acidic to farm. But since agronomists began applying industrial quantities of lime in the 1980s, these soils have been transformed. The Cerrado now produces 70% of Brazil’s agricultural output.

▼建筑外观，appearance © Gabriel Castro

近年来，Cerrado遭受的生态破坏是亚马逊的两倍，亚马逊热带雨林的大部分生物仍艰难存活。Cerrado曾经占地2亿公顷，而光在过去20年里， 60%多的土地消失在耕地之中。这里本应得到无尽的保护，而现在只有2%的生态系统受到保护，更甚的是巴西农学家和部长仍不认为其具有保护价值。

In recent years, the rate of ecological destruction of the Cerrado has been twice that of the Amazon, and while the majority of the Amazon rainforest still survives, more than 60% of the Cerrado’s former 200 million hectares have disappeared under the plough, and most of that within the last two decades alone. It has been a black hole for conservation: only 2% of the ecosystem is protected. However, Brazilian agriculturalists and ministers still talk as if it had no conservation value at all.

▼百叶细节，detail of louvers © Gabriel Castro