Ok, i am no fan of Bolsonaro either but i think there are a few misconceptions people have about The Amazon, indigenous and so on.
-Encroachment, deforestation and similar problems are actually worse in other provinces such as Acre or western Brazil.(or neighboring countries)
The Living Planet report just released mentions how from 1970-2014 The Amazon lost 20%.
Rather alarmingly, it also mentions how population decline of wildlife is worst in places such as river, estuaries etc at 83% overall, and how Central and South America overall is showing a 89% loss even!
- Similarly the situation of the indigenous people is also worse in those already more affected areas, while Amazonia still offers more refuge.
Tribes such as the Akuntsu, Munduruku or others who gained fame often actually live elsewhere or emerge from tiny remaining forest patches in more developed areas, or also places like Peru or Colombia.
This offers some hope that others remain unidentified in the heart of the Amazon.
I suspect many do myself.
You can find a truly excellent database here btw:
https://pib.socioambiental.org/en/Table_of_Indigenous_Peoples So in general concerning "the lungs of the Earth" what we appear to see is an encirclement working it's way inward from the edges and damaging habitat in the process.
For logistical reasons, it may not be that different under Bolsonaro in that respect and would still take a long time to truly destroy the Amazon.
(Of course his loathing of the indigenous and the habitat remains outrageous)
Climate change may do more damage and considerably faster through factors such as droughts and failure to cope evolutionary in time.
A study over the last 30 years which i just read speaks of how this is mostly affecting smaller species of trees.
Taller and more drought resistant vegetation less affected but still in trouble nonetheless.
No link for that, it has been paywalled sorry.
We'll have to wait and see of course but Bolsonaro is neither the first or only hard ass to mention he doesn't care about it all and placing industrial activity before environment.
That has been happening historically anyway and he may do outrageous things but i doubt it is possible for his regime to ramp it up by 200% or whatever out of the blue.
