Each year, fires in the Brazilian Amazon burn an area twice the size of Costa Rica as ranchers and farmers ignite their lands, converting forests into fields, reclaiming pastures from invading weeds, and inadvertently burning forests, grazing land and plantations in the process. The annual risk of accidental fire discourages landholders from investing in their property, and perpetuates the dominance of extensive ranching and slash and burn agriculture over fire-sensitive tree crops and forest management for timber production. Fire increases the flammability of Amazonian landscapes, initiating a vicious positive feedback cycle in which rainforests are replaced by fire-prone vegetation.
This book presents an analysis of fire in the Brazilian Amazon with the goal of identifying means by which the negative effects of Amazon fires might be reduced.