Forest fires exacerbate carbon emissions, threaten biodiversity and cause welfare losses to local populations. Most fires accidentally ignite from mismanaged swidden and pasture fires. We provide evidence that fire risk in the Brazilian Amazon, the world's largest remaining tropical forest, perpetuates low yield and environmentally degrading agricultural activities. Using a combination of household interviews and remotely sensed data on fire occurrence in Eastern Amazon municipalities of Paragominas and Santarém, we show that smallholders in consolidated farm-forest frontier regions are locked into a vicious cycle that inhibits their adoption of fire-free practices. Households that invest in more capital-intensive fire-free agricultural technologies experience greater revenue losses from escaped fires than non-fire users. Changes in revenues are as sensitive to these fire impacts as they are to changes in physical capital investments. To overcome this fire-poverty trap, a “big push” of coordinated local incentives is needed. Policies mitigating fire risk may achieve a triple-win that reduces greenhouse gas emissions, forest degradation, and fosters inclusive economic development.

森林火灾加剧了碳排放，威胁了生物多样性，并给当地居民造成了福利损失。大多数火灾是由于管理不当的沼泽和牧场火灾意外点燃的。我们提供的证据表明，巴西亚马逊地区（世界上最大的热带森林）中的火灾风险使低产和破坏环境的农业活动永久存在。通过结合家庭访谈和东部亚马逊地区的Paragominas和Santarém发生火灾的遥感数据，我们发现，合并的农林边境地区的小农陷入了恶性循环，阻碍了他们采用无火做法。投资于资本密集型无火农业技术的家庭比无火用户遭受逃生大火的收入损失更大。收入的变化对这些火灾的影响同对实物资本投资的变化一样敏感。为了克服这一贫困陷阱，需要“大力推动”协调的地方激励措施。减轻火灾风险的政策可以实现三赢，从而减少温室气体排放，森林退化并促进包容性经济发展。