Environmental and socio-economic impacts of rubber cultivation in the Mekong region

Challenges for sustainable land use

authored by

Inga Hauser, Konrad Martin, Jorn Germer, Pia He, Sergey Blagodatskiy, Hongxi Liu, Manuel Krauß, Arisoa Rajaona, Min Shi, Sonna Pelz, Gerhard Langenberger, Chao Dong Zhu, Marc Cotter, Sabine Stürz, Hermann Waibel, Heidrun Steinmetz, Silke Wieprecht, Oliver Fror, Michael Ahlheim, Thomas Aenis, Georg Cadisch

Abstract

More than 90% of the global natural rubber production originates from monoculture plantations in tropical Asia, especially from countries forming the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS). Rubber cultivation is expected to further increase strongly in the near future, particularly at the expense of natural forests, and is accompanied by various problems and threats to farmers and the environment. Implications on carbon balance and hydrological conditions as well as socioeconomic consequences referring to the situation in the GMS are reviewed. Results indicate considerable changes in ecosystem functions and services at different spatial and temporal scales with impacts on carbon stocks and sequestration, water quality and quantity, runoff and soil erosion. The long-term dependency on rubber as a single crop affects the socio-economic conditions and livelihood of the farmers and exposes them to economic and ecological hazards. Solutions for these interrelated problems require the development of alternative land-use systems and safeguarding important ecosystem functions and services on the one hand as well as providing economic viability on the other. Common suggestions include crop diversification and improved plantation management on the farm scale, and alternative land-use strategies including conservation and restoration of forest on the landscape scale. Successful implementation of more sustainable concepts is only feasible within a socioeconomic framework, involving farmers and political decision-makers in the conceptualization process and the identification of trade-offs between ecological requirements and economic feasibility.

Organisation(s)

Institute of Development and Agricultural Economics

External Organisation(s)

University of Hohenheim
University of Stuttgart
CAS - Institute of Zoology
University of Koblenz-Landau
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (HU Berlin)

Type

Review article

Journal

CAB Reviews: Perspectives in Agriculture, Veterinary Science, Nutrition and Natural Resources

Volume

10

Publication date

2015

Publication status

Published

Peer reviewed

Yes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

veterinary(all), Agricultural and Biological Sciences(all), Nature and Landscape Conservation

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG 15 - Life on Land

Electronic version(s)

https://doi.org/10.1079/PAVSNNR201510027 (Access: Closed)