COVID-19 and agricultural fire pollution in the Amazon: Puzzles and solutions

Abstract

• Coincidence of COVID-19 and air pollution from agricultural burnings greatly impacts respiratory health in the Amazon. • The current approach of constraining burnings and social interactions is hindered by policy puzzles. • An agenda to generate knowledge on the effectiveness of potential solutions for the puzzles is detailed. • It includes RCTs and research-practitioner collaboration on agricultural, environmental and health policy. • Practical issues and knowledge gaps requires the agenda to be scaled-up as a broader policy R&D process for the Amazon. In the Amazon, the quick spread of COVID-19 coincides with the high level of air pollution released during the “burning season”, when thousands of square kilometres are prepared for agriculture. Mitigating health consequences by constraining fire use and social interaction is hindered by the dependence of local food security on fires, of enforcement on on-the-ground surveillance and of primary care on home visits. Based on fieldwork experience, alternatives to test potential solutions to the policy puzzles are proposed, highlighting the role of smallholder mechanization and of community health workers (CHWs). It is argued that randomized control trials could be designed to assess the effectiveness of tractor scheduling workshops, grassroots-based tractor administration, mobile-health-aided data collection by CHWs and data-driven algorithms to plan their home visits. The need for researcher-practitioner collaboration for optimized targeting of on-the-ground illegal fire deterrence is also stressed. The trials and the potential solutions to be trialled are more likely to be successful whether integrated into a broader and perennial process of research and development of interventions for sustainable development of the Amazon, whose need was widely revealed by the ongoing pandemic.