Environmental experts have warned of the severe threat to the Amazon posed by Brazil's far-right president-elect Jair Bolsonaro.

The former army captain and avid supporter of Brazil's former military dictatorship has in the past spoken passionately of closing environmental agencies tasked with forest protection and opening up indigenous territories to mining and agribusiness.

Bolsonaro had also said he would pull out of the Paris Agreement on climate, following in the footsteps of US President Donald Trump — whom he admires deeply.

But last Thursday, Bolsonaro backpedaled on that pledge, likely adopting a more moderate tone ahead of the Sunday election which he won with 56 percent of the vote.

'Disaster' for the Amazon

"A Bolsonaro presidency would be an unmitigated disaster for the Amazon's forests and forest peoples," said Christian Poirier, program director at the nongovernmental organization Amazon Watch, which recently published a report on deforestation in the Amazon.

"His antagonism for the land rights of indigenous and traditional communities and disdain for environmental protections jeopardize vast tracts of preserved forests, which could fall victim to reckless industrial development such as agribusiness and mining," Poirier added.

Brazil is home to around 900,000 indigenous people, who mostly live in the country's Amazon states.

The Waiapi tribe has been fighting to defend their land against a massive mining project

Empowering indigenous people is widely seen as among the most effective ways of combating deforestation and buffering the effects of climate change.

Read more: Granting indigenous land rights could save the climate — or not

At a 2017 event in Rio de Janeiro, Bolsonaro promised crowds that if elected, he would not give "one centimeter" of demarcated territory to indigenous people.

The Tuesday before the election, in a television interview in Brazil's north-eastern Piaui state — a new frontier for soybean production — he reiterated his antagonistic stance on indigenous land demarcation.

"You cannot wake up today and suddenly realize in the newspaper that your farm will be demarcated as indigenous land," he said.

Brazil's Articulation of the Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (Apib) and Indigenous Missionary Council (Cimi) released statements condemning the position.

"Cimi vehemently repudiates the slanderous, defamatory and vile accusations of the candidate Jair Bolsonaro against the indigenous peoples of Brazil, and expresses solidarity with them for the unjust offenses that they once again suffer," read part of the note from Cimi.

Watch video 12:00 Share Brazil's indigenous population fights back Send Facebook google+ Whatsapp Tumblr linkedin stumble Digg reddit Newsvine Permalink https://p.dw.com/p/36siO Brazil’s indigenous population fights back

Indigenous under attack

In terms of environmental defenders killed in Brazil, 2017 was the bloodiest on record with 57 murders, making it the deadliest country in overall numbers according to a Global Witness report on worldwide murder of environmental activists.

Although indigenous people make up less than 1 percent of Brazil's population, a disproportionate number are being killed in land conflicts.

"Bolsonaro's authoritarian stance on crime and liberalized gun ownership could drive a brutal wave of rural conflicts benefitting powerful rural mafias vying for control over contested lands and resources," said Poirier.

Read more: The financial system killing environmental activists

Environmentalists were offered some brief relief on Thursday as press reports circulated claiming that Bolsonaro would not pull Brazil out of the Paris Climate Agreement if elected, something he had pledged to do in the past.

In 2017, 4.5 million hectares of Brazil's rainforest were destroyed, mostly due to illegal logging and deforestation

In his governing program, Bolsonaro only mentions the environment once — when he proposes a single ministry for environment, agriculture, fishing and rural development. Currently, separate ministries manage these issues.

"We will preserve the environment, but we will not disturb the lives of those producers in Brazil," he told viewers via Facebook live on Wednesday night ahead of the election, referring to agricultural production.

Read more: Beef (and Burger King) still eating away at forests

This came just a week after Bolsonaro's likely new agriculture minister, Luiz Antonio Nabhan Garcia, president of the conservative Democratic Association of Ruralists, compared the Paris agreement to "toilet paper."

Meanwhile, Bolsonaro's likely transport minister, retired general Oswaldo Ferreira, has pledged to build more hydroelectric dams in the Amazon to tackle Brazil's power shortage issues — despite environmental concerns.

Threatened lifeline: The Tapajos River Along the banks The Munduruku people live mainly in forest regions and riverbanks, in villages spread along the Tapajos River in the Brazilian states of Para, Amazonas and Mato Grosso. With an estimated population of 12,000 to 15,000 people, the Munduruku are the most numerous indigenous group along the free-flowing Tapajos River.

Threatened lifeline: The Tapajos River The forest The dwellers of the Sawre Muybu Indigenous Land have sought for at least three centuries to officially demarcate their territory. The 178,000-hectare area includes rainforest that is threatened by illegal loggers and mining — and more recently, by the construction of reservoirs for hydropower.

Threatened lifeline: The Tapajos River The 'chief' Munduruku people live largely as they have for centuries. Villages are represented by women known as "cacicas." Maria Aniceia Akay Munduruku, from the upper Tapajos, has taken part in her people's movement against the construction of hydropower dams, including by demarcating indigenous land. She doesn't speak Portuguese: Her husband helps her to communicate with others outside the village.

Threatened lifeline: The Tapajos River The essence of life The Tapajos River is the essence of life for the indigenous Munduruku people. They depend on its water for sustenance, and to get around. The waters teem with vitality — there are 324 identified species of fish living in the waters, beside Amazonian manatees and giant otters.

Threatened lifeline: The Tapajos River Rich biodiversity Along the river also live hundreds of species of birds, lizards and amphibians. Tapirs and giant anteaters ply the riverbanks, while jaguars and ocelot also prowl the rainforest and savannah. The region is among the world's most important for rare land and water species.

Threatened lifeline: The Tapajos River The students Munduruku children attend the village school, under the guidance of indigenous teachers. In this picture, girls play in the shared classroom at Sawre Muybu village during their holiday break. Animals such as monkeys, parrots, dogs and capybaras are welcome among the children.

Threatened lifeline: The Tapajos River Living off the land Manioc flour is the staple food in Munduruku villages — cassava planted on the family farm is crushed, shredded and then roasted in a wood-burning stove. Also sweet potatoes, yams and bananas are grown. Although Munduruku consume mainly food grown in the local fields, items such as sugar, salt and coffee have also made their way into the traditional diet. They are purchased in town once a month.

Threatened lifeline: The Tapajos River The threat An aerial view shows the Teles Pires dam, on the homonymous tributary to the Tapajos. The lighter green color indicates the area of forest that was submerged — critics point out that rotting vegetation from inundated forest produces considerable quantities of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. The specter of ongoing drought also casts doubt on future usability of such hydropower stations.

Threatened lifeline: The Tapajos River International partners This aerial image shows construction at the Sao Manoel hydropower dam, which is supposed to begin operation by January 2018. Partially funded by Chinese companies, the cost of the project is estimated to reach €600 million euros. The plant, located on the Teles Pires River, will have the capacity to generate 700 megawatts of electricity.

Threatened lifeline: The Tapajos River The consequences If built, the Sao Luiz do Tapajos dam would inundate this stretch of the river — including its shallows, rapids, beaches, waterfalls, inlets and shores. Once full, it would create a reservoir the size of New York City. Planned dams could flood up to 7 percent of indigenous territory, resulting in loss of land, poorer water quality and less fish — deeply affecting Mundukuru livelihood. Author: Nádia Pontes, Pará, Brazil



Powerful agribusiness backing

Bolsonaro also has the backing of Brazil's powerful agricultural caucus in congress.

In an official note, Congresswoman Tereza Cristina, president of the Agriculture Parliamentary Front (FPA), said the caucus was "attending to the call of the national productive sector, from individual entrepreneurs to small farmers and representatives of big business."

Last year, the agricultural caucus pushed for legislation to reduce forest protections, give amnesty to land-grabbers and reduce indigenous land demarcations.

"The same threats to the Amazon from congress will continue," said Marcio Astrini, public policy coordinator at Greenpeace Brazil.

"The difference is that they have an ally in the president," he added.

Bolsonaro is greeted by supporters during an agribusiness fair in the Rio Grande do Sul state in southern Brazil

Some agribusiness companies are also concerned about Bolsonaro's environmental agenda.

Just before the presidential election, the Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture — including companies such as the biggest private soybean producer Amaggi and international food conglomerate Cargill — signed a public letter calling on the Brazilian government to protect the environment and stick to the Paris Agreement.

Brazil's agricultural sector depends on stable climatic conditions, which can only be ensured by conserving the rainforest, they said.

According to Carlos Nobre, a Brazilian scientist and senior member of the World Resources Institute, a tipping point for the Amazon forest to become savannah is closer than expected, due to climate change and forest fires.

"He would be much worse for Brazil than Trump in the United States," said Nobre of Bolsonaro.