Research prior to the COVID-19 pandemic has shown that the rural poor often turn to wild resources to cope with adverse shocks. We report on the first study addressing natural insurance against health shocks during the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on riverine communities without road access in the Peruvian Amazon. We consider the most devastating shock people may experience, the death of a close family member. Using data from an in-person survey of almost 4000 households in 235 randomly selected communities before the pandemic as baseline, we conducted telephone surveys with over 400 communities during the early phase of the pandemic. We found that before the pandemic, forest peoples relied on game and non-timber forest products to cope with mortality, whether in their own household or their community. Once COVID-19 arrived, people reduced their reliance on hunting and resorted instead to fishing. These patterns were differentiated by gender and indigeneity. Tropical forest environments, which include also aquatic habitat, provide vital insurance against mortality, but just how may be altered during a pandemic. These novel findings have important implications for research and policies on forest conservation and pandemics.

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COVID-19 大流行之前的研究表明，农村贫困人口经常求助于野生资源来应对不利的冲击。我们报告了第一项针对 COVID-19 大流行期间健康冲击的自然保险的研究，重点关注秘鲁亚马逊地区没有道路的河流社区。我们认为，人们可能经历的最具毁灭性的打击是亲密家庭成员的死亡。我们以疫情前随机抽取的 235 个社区近 4000 个家庭的实地调查数据为基线，在疫情初期对 400 多个社区进行了电话调查。我们发现，在大流行之前，森林居民依靠野味和非木材森林产品来应对死亡，无论是在自己的家庭还是社区。一旦 COVID-19 到来，人们减少了对狩猎的依赖，转而以捕鱼为生。这些模式因性别和本土性而异。热带森林环境，包括水生栖息地，为防止死亡提供了重要的保障，但在大流行期间可能会发生改变。这些新发现对森林保护和流行病的研究和政策具有重要意义。

后热带森林环境提供针对 COVID-19 的保险首次出现在《生态与社会》上。