Why Brazil's Jair Bolsonaro has environmentalists worried for the Amazon

Existing threats

The forest is being cut down to make way for activities like cattle ranching, soy bean farming, mining, hydropower dams and new highways.

Deforestation fell dramatically between 2004 and 2012, but in recent years it has been increasing, and the powerful agricultural lobby in the Brazilian congress is pushing for more development of the forest. It endorsed Bolsonaro during his election campaign.

A fire burns trees next to grazing land in the Amazon basin on November 22, in Ze Doca, Brazil, 2014. Fires are often set to clear forest for grazing land.

Indigenous lands

Brazil's Ministry of Agriculture is heavily influenced by the agricultural lobby. Soon after taking office this week, Bolsonaro signed an executive order giving the ministry responsibility for certifying indigenous lands as protected territories.

About 13% of Brazil is legally designated as indigenous land, mostly in the Amazon. That land is reserved for the country's 900,000 indigenous people (less than 0.5% of the population). Indigenous groups said the president's order would lead to "an increase in deforestation and violence against indigenous people."