EN 
PT_BR 
Estado onde a preservação ambiental e o crescimento do agronegócio caminham juntos, Goiás tem se destacado nacionalmente por um mecanismo que garante incentivo econômico aos produtores rurais comprometidos com a proteção ao cerrado. Esse é o objetivo do Cerrado em Pé – Programa Estadual de Pagamento por Serviços Ambientais (PSA), que protege mais de 15 mil hectares de área.
Through this initiative, the Goiás State Government makes an annual payment of R$$ 498 per hectare to landowners who demonstrate preservation of areas within the biome beyond the legally mandated allotments. Those who restore at least one degraded spring per year receive an even higher amount, R$$ 664 per hectare. The funds come from the State Environmental Fund (Fema).
"This is a very important step. We're demonstrating how environmental protection in the Cerrado should be carried out," stated Governor Ronaldo Caiado. He considers this a key initiative of his administration, demonstrating the state's progress on the sustainability agenda. "Thanks to a joint effort by the state and producers, we're proving that it's possible to produce while also caring for the environment."
How it works
To apply, rural landowners must have at least two and no more than 100 hectares of land suitable for vegetation removal—that is, land they could clear for use in planting or livestock. The first call for applications, published in December 2024 by the Secretariat of Environment and Sustainable Development (Semad), prioritizes people in socially vulnerable situations, small farmers, and women.
In two calls for applications for the first annual cycle, published in May and August of this year, 471 applications were approved out of a total of 571. The owners own rural properties located in nine municipalities in the North and Northeast regions: Niquelândia, Minaçu, São João d'Aliança, Cavalcante, Monte Alegre de Goiás, Alvorada do Norte, Damianópolis, Mambaí and São Domingos. To date, the disbursement has been R$1,500,000.4 million.
The beneficiaries must maintain the vegetation identified in the contract; assist in the work of monitoring and protecting the area; prevent fires and inform Semad if the property is affected by fires; and ensure the conservation of native vegetation also in the areas of Legal Reserve (RL) and Permanent Preservation Areas (APP), in accordance with state and federal legislation.
State that reduced deforestation the most
Goiás is the state that reduced deforestation the most in 2024, according to data from the Mapbiomas network. This information is included in the Annual Report on Deforestation in Brazil (RAD 2024). The reduction in native vegetation loss in Goiás was 71.9% compared to the previous year.
Deforestation alerts for Goiás fell from 3,519 in 2023 to 659 in 2024, and the area affected by them fell from 69,300 hectares to 19,400 hectares in the following period. The Cerrado biome saw the largest reduction in absolute numbers, dropping from 1.1 million hectares deforested in 2023 to 652,000 hectares the following year (a difference of 41.2%).
In the other biomes, the decline was 377,708 hectares in the Amazon (16.8%), 174,511 in the Caatinga (13.4%), 23,295 in the Pantanal (58.6%) and 896 in the Pampa (42.1%). In the Atlantic Forest, there was a slight increase in deforestation in the period, going from 13,212 hectares in 2023 to 13,472 in 2024, a fluctuation of 2%.
