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Summary The savanna biome is diverse, including formations ranging from almost treeless grasslands to more or less closed-canopy woodlands with considerable variation in plant composition, biomass, and net primary productivity (NPP). Savannas cover an extensive area in the tropics, inhabited by a fifth of the human population and supporting the majority of the world's livestock and large mammals. Population pressure and land use changes are high and are likely to increase in the foreseeable future. Savanna areas are increasing due to deforestation and abandoned agriculture, and decreasing due to cultivation and degradation, the balance is probably a decrease. These changes often occur in remote areas and are poorly documented.