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The Cerrado is the second largest biome in Brazil and also the most biodiverse savanna on the planet, with diverse phyto physiognomies including grassland, savanna and forest areas and accounts for a third of Brazil’s biodiversity. However,  the native vegetation of the Cerrado is disappearing at an alarming rate, and 50% of the biome has already been converted to agricultural lands, mainly in the MATOPIBA –  a region that comprises the states of Maranhão, Tocantins, Piauí and Bahia where there was strong agricultural expansion from the second half of the 1980s onwards.

Araticum – Articulation for the Restoration of the Cerrado – is a collaborative and multi-sector network that acts as a coalition to promote large-scale restoration of the biome. Its main objectives include leveraging the ecological restoration of different Cerrado vegetation types; integrating different sectors, including productive sectors; strengthening local organizations that need technical and methodological support, as well as state environmental agencies; and fostering existing public policies and the creation of new ones; between others.

Launched in 2020, the network has about 100 members from a few dozen organizations, and since February 2021, IIS has joined it.

As one of the partners, IIS has contributed to discussions to consolidate the network and to construct an action plan to promote large-scale restoration in the biome. IIS works in two working groups (WGs), being represented in the Territorial Intelligence WG by researchers MSc. Nina Pougy and PhD. Raísa Vieira and in the Dissemination and Training WG by MSc. Lara Monteiro.