Brazil’s Amazon at risk

Rio de Janeiro: Promises by Brazil’s far-right presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro and his entourage bode badly for the future of the Amazon -- called the "lungs of the planet" -- if he wins, environmentalists warn. The candidate is seen as pliant to the powerful agrobusiness lobby in his country known for putting profit ahead of preservation.

One of his most controversial campaign pledges is to merge the agriculture and environment ministries into one.

"Let us be clear: the future ministry will come from the productive sector. We won´t have any more fights over this," Bolsonaro, who vows to boost Brazil´s fragile economy, told a media conference four days after winning the October 7 first-round in the presidential race. "If he´s elected, that will be the beginning of the end for the Amazon," his leftist rival in Sunday’s run-off, Fernando Haddad, said last week.

Geraldo Monteiro, a political science professor at Rio de Janeiro State University, said: "As he´s backed by the agrobusiness lobby in congress, which is really strong, Bolsonaro virtually wants to make the environment serve the interests of agrobusiness."