(Adds Bolsonaro comment in paragraphs 8 and 9)
By Rodrigo Viga Gaier
RIO DE JANEIRO, Oct 25 (Reuters) - Brazil's presidential front-runner said on Thursday he was not set on leaving the Paris climate accord if elected, going back on a prior pledge to follow the pullout by U.S. President Donald Trump, a role model for his anti-establishment run.
Right-wing Congressman Jair Bolsonaro's decision marks a surprising about-face for a candidate who enjoys strong support from Brazil's powerful agribusiness lobby and has called conservation efforts a threat to Brazilian sovereignty.
Speaking at a news conference in Rio de Janeiro, Bolsonaro also said he that he wanted to work with the United Nations to deal with a large influx of Venezuelan refugees in Brazil's north. He said he did not want conflict with the neighboring country, whose socialist government he has repeatedly criticized.
Brazil's most polarized election in a generation has stirred political violence and threats against journalists, while Bolsonaro's policy pledges have raised alarm among many, including environmentalists.
But Bolsonaro has been adopting a more moderate tone as he nears an increasingly likely victory in Sunday's run-off election against leftist rival Fernando Haddad.
Bolsonaro's lead narrowed slightly in a Datafolha opinion poll released late on Thursday, but he still has a commanding 56 percent of the vote to Haddad's 44 percent. A week ago, the same poll had Bolsonaro with 59 percent and Haddad with 41 percent.
Bolsonaro previously said that, if elected, he would pull Brazil out of the Paris climate accord due to disagreements over how the Amazon rainforest should be protected. Trump pulled the United States out of the accord in June 2017.
On Thursday, however, Bolsonaro said he would respect the accord as long as he got assurances that Brazil would not cede sovereignty to native tribes or international jurisdiction over the Andes mountains, Amazon rainforest and Atlantic Ocean — the so-called Triple A region.
"Let's put on paper that the Triple A isn't in play and neither is the independence of any indigenous land, and I'll uphold the Paris Agreement," Bolsonaro told journalists.
This month, a group of non-governmental organizations including Greenpeace and WWF-Brasil signed an open letter saying that Bolsonaro's proposals present a serious threat to Brazil's environment that could lead deforestation "to explode."
Brazil is home to about 60 percent of the Amazon, one of nature's best defenses against global warming.
NO DETAIL ON THREAT
Earlier on Thursday, one of Bolsonaro's senior advisers said in a video, without presenting evidence, that the candidate would not attend debates with his rival due to a threat against him from an unnamed "criminal organization."