Increasing Demand for Natural Rubber Necessitates a Robust Sustainability Initiative to Mitigate Impacts on Tropical Biodiversity

Conservation Letters

Eleanor Warren-Thomas¹  Paul M. Dolman¹ 

[1] School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK

关键词: Agroforestry;    carbon emissions;    ecosystem services;    Hevea brasiliensis;    land‐sparing versus land‐sharing;    land‐use change;    forest loss;    monoculture;    plantation;   

DOI  :  10.1111/conl.12170

来源: Wiley

【 摘 要 】

Abstract

Strong international demand for natural rubber is driving expansion of industrial-scale and smallholder monoculture plantations, with >2 million ha established during the last decade. Mainland Southeast Asia and Southwest China represent the epicenter of rapid rubber expansion; here we review impacts on forest ecosystems and biodiversity. We estimate that 4.3–8.5 million ha of additional rubber plantations are required to meet projected demand by 2024, threatening significant areas of Asian forest, including many protected areas. Uncertainties concern the potential for yield intensification of existing cultivation to mitigate demand for new rubber area, versus potential displacement of rubber by more profitable oil palm. Our review of available studies indicates that conversion of forests or swidden agriculture to monoculture rubber negatively impacts bird, bat and invertebrate biodiversity. However, rubber agroforests in some areas of Southeast Asia support a subset of forest biodiversity in landscapes that retain little natural forest. Work is urgently needed to: improve understanding of whether land-sparing or land-sharing rubber cultivation will best serve biodiversity conservation, investigate the potential to accommodate biodiversity within existing rubber-dominated landscapes while maintaining yields, and ensure rigorous biodiversity and social standards via the development of a sustainability initiative.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
Copyright and Photocopying: © 2015 The Authors Conservation Letters Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.