Summary
The Brazilian government once again threatens its natural heritage by issuing a decree that liberates the sugarcane plantations in the Pantanal and the Amazon regions. The production of a non-sanctioned crop is likely to become the newest driver of deforestation in these biomes. Direct conversion of forests, migration of livestock to new forested areas, rising land values, the danger of forest fires spreading and of carbon emissions from burning sugarcane during harvesting can all create a carbon balance debt and impact on water balance that could take centuries to offset and will compromise the sustainability of the Brazilian ethanol sector. (Published under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)