A eucalyptus boom in Brazil’s biodiverse Cerrado savanna is drying up land and water springs, making subsistence farming more difficult, local authorities and farmers tell Mongabay.

Adilso Cruz, a 46-year-old rancher from the Alecrim settlement in Mato Grosso do Sul state, said the water shortages began around 2013, coinciding with the growth of eucalyptus plantations in the region, and have gotten worse since.

“Streams that used to run all year started flowing less, drying up, and then taking a long time to fill again,” Cruz told Mongabay by phone. “Grass is suffering because water is disappearing from the topsoil.

”I had 70 head of cattle. Now I have 42, and I’ll need to sell more,” he added. As farms sold their land to eucalyptus plantations, they also sold off their herds, causing cow prices to plummet. “I estimate about a 45% drop in income,” Cruz said.

A study led by Valticinez Santiago, the deputy environment secretary of Selvíria, a eucalyptus-heavy municipality, found that springs located 50 meters (164 feet) from plantations, the legal minimum, had either dried up or were severely degraded. Santiago told Mongabay that they used satellite imagery to map out 400 springs surrounded by eucalyptus farms and now recommend expanding the buffer to 500 m (1,640 ft) to better protect water sources.

The expanse of eucalyptus farms in Mato Grosso do Sul state has increased fourfold in 15 years, from just over 375,000 hectares (741,000 acres) in 2010 to 1.6 million hectares (3.95 million acres) in May 2025.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva signed a law in May 2024 that eliminates the need for environmental licenses for eucalyptus. In practice, Santiago told Mongabay, authorities can no longer access private land to evaluate environmental impacts without a warrant, which is hard to obtain without on-site evidence.

Roughly 90% of the farms are owned by large investment banks.  

Corporations including Apple, Meta and Microsoft have invested millions in eucalyptus to offset their carbon emissions. However, critics say eucalyptus is not effective at sequestering carbon, as the trees are harvested every six years and turned into pulp for cardboard and toilet paper, meaning any carbon they’ve stored is easily re-released into the atmosphere.

Cruz said about half the families have already left his settlement. Those remaining are struggling to survive and often take extra work with the eucalyptus companies.

“A lot of people here end up providing labor to the very people who are taking away their ability to produce food and have financial freedom,” Cruz said. “This land was something we fought for … It was a dream. But many are seeing that dream fall apart and feel forced to resign themselves to it.”

Banner image: Aerial view of eucalyptus logs. Image courtesy of Tamás Bodolay/Repórter Brasil.