Bogota (Colombia), Jan 28 (AP) Alexis Damancio Silva can't forget the hardship in his town of Puerto Narino in far southern Colombia last year when extreme drought nearly dried up the Amazon River. Pink dolphins and fish died. Crops dried up. The town lost its easy access to markets.

Silva is hopeful the US would help fund projects that could make Indigenous communities like his more resilient - solar panels for energy to refrigerate fish, for example, or cisterns to catch precious rain water.

“We ask the government of President Trump...to send us resources,” to help the region's Indigenous people, he said in a Zoom interview with The Associated Press. Little comes from the state, he said.

Environmental groups say that's unlikely to happen, and that was even before Trump froze new funding for almost all US foreign assistance.

They fear Donald Trump's second administration will bring nothing good for the Amazon rainforest. Besides Trump's Day 1 move to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement, they fear he'll cut US funding for policing that has targeted illegal logging, mining and other things that have damaged the rainforest. They also worry he will back right-wing politicians who favour aggressive development in the Amazon, which is critical for storing carbon dioxide that would otherwise warm the planet.

“The implications of the Trump administration for the Amazon rainforest range from very concerning to horrifying,” said Andrew Miller, advocacy director of nonprofit Amazon Watch.

Trump's first week back in office was loaded with executive orders that prioritised fossil fuels, including declaring an energy emergency in the US and his intent to sweep aside barriers to developing oil and gas. They've also been wrapped in an “America First” message that doesn't fit with expansive foreign aid.

On Sunday, he swiftly faced down Colombia President Gustavo Petro on Sunday by threatening steep tariffs after Petro refused to allow military planes carrying deported migrants to land in Colombia. Trump's plans to play hardball in the region were evident weeks ago when he suggested he could use military force to take control of the Panama Canal.

Miller said his organisation had advised its partners “to assume the Trump administration priorities will not include climate, environmental or Indigenous rights programmes.” In Trump's first term, US Agency for International Development's budget ranged from about $17 billion to $27 billion annually, with significant proposed cuts that were often moderated by Congress. Under President Joe Biden, USAID's budget rose to $30.5 billion in 2024, with a focus on global health, climate action, humanitarian aid, and promoting democracy. The new administration said the aid freeze would be in place for 90 days as it considers which programmes to keep.

In Brazil, home to around 60% of the Amazon, organised crime like logging and drug trafficking thrived under the far-right presidency of Jair Bolsonaro, with severe environmental consequences. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva made the protection of the Amazon a central priority when he took office in 2023.

Brazil's environment minister, Marina Silva, told the AP that Trump's return poses a significant test for US democracy and international institutions, and that as the world's second-largest emitter of greenhouse gases, it is “crucial” the US fulfil its responsibilities.

She sees some hope, saying the world has much stronger climate governance nowadays in the face of the climate crisis.

“This doesn't mean we'll have an easy time with Trump in office, quite the opposite,” Marina Silva said. “We just have to acknowledge that we´re already seeing some companies and leaders... abandoning or loosening commitments made previously.” Since Trump's election, several major US banks have withdrawn from a network aimed at lending practices that square with a global commitment to reduced emissions.

Silva said it's important for countries to keep “reaffirming the size of the climate challenges” and showing how to overcome them. “Reality needs to take precedence over President Trump's well-known denialist rhetoric,” she said.

The Trump administration did not respond to messages seeking comment.

Support for pro-development politicians? Development in the Amazon is a polarising issue in Brazil. Lawmakers who support it focus on economic growth, job creation, and infrastructure. More liberal lawmakers, environmentalists and Indigenous rights groups oppose it over damage to the environment and impacts on people who live in the forest.

Lula has had some success in clamping down on illegal logging, mining, drug trafficking, and conversion of land for agriculture. That came with support from Biden, who in November became the first US president to visit the Amazon and pledged $50 million to the Amazon Fund, which raises money to protect the Amazon rainforest. Much of that money went toward increased policing in the region.

Carlos Nobre, a Brazilian climate scientist and leading researcher studying the Amazon rainforest, said he didn't see Trump continuing that commitment. He also said he is concerned about Trump's past support for Bolsonaro, and expected him to again boost right-wing politicians.

Though Bolsonaro is prohibited from running for office until 2030, his son Eduardo is a potential presidential candidate next year and Brazil's National Congress has plenty of members who favour Amazonian development.

Jair Bolsonaro, who has supported Trump's false claims of a stolen 2020 election, tried to attend his inauguration but wasn't allowed to leave Brazil to attend. Eduardo Bolsonaro did attend.

Miller expected Trump to tilt toward “extreme right-wing candidates” who offer him praise, boosting them in elections.

"Their policies, should they be elected, will spell disaster for the Amazon rainforest in the foreseeable future," Miller said. “Trump 2.0 will offer Amazonian governments a permission structure to ignore or walk back climate commitments, precisely at the moment when protection of the rainforest demands greater ambition and regional coordination.” Miller is most concerned about US support for multilateral human rights mechanisms like the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

“Both are important for the protection of threatened Amazon community leaders and environmental defenders," he said.

Funding cuts and multinational cooperation John Walsh, director for drug policy and the Andes at the Washington Office on Latin America, said funding cuts are his major concern after policy.

“We can expect steep cuts if not entire elimination of US foreign aid that was directed towards climate mitigation and adaptation globally,” Walsh said. “That's matched by the incoming administration's focus on how to cut the federal budget in ways that will fall almost entirely on discretionary programmes that don't have solid constituencies domestically." Trump was generally sceptical of multinational cooperation in his first term, preferring a more unilateral approach to foreign policy with his administration often prioritising US interests over international agreements or collaborations.

"For an issue like climate change, that is a collective action problem ... and for the world's largest economy and historically the largest emitter of carbon dioxide to absent itself from that ... is significant," Walsh said. (AP) SCY SCY