The Economic Value of Ecosystem Services of Rubber-Based Agroforest Plantations in South Thailand

Abstract

The objective of this study was to estimate the ecosystem service values of three types of rubber-based agroforest plantations and monoculture rubber plantations in the southern region of Thailand, covering a life cycle of 25 years. Three ecosystem services were investigated in this study: timber production, CO 2 sequestration, and O 2 production. The study used data collected from 29 plantations and used growth prediction models from previous research to determine the quantity and value of the ecosystem services. The results showed that at at the 25 th year, the agroforest rubber plantation that cultivated Hevea brasiliensis Mull-Arg. with Hopea odorata Roxb., Shorea roxburghii G.Don. and Swietenia macrophylla King. provided the highest value of timber production, CO 2 sequestration and O 2 production (190622.62 USD/ha, 5918.5 USD/ha and 90779.3 USD/ha, respectively), whereas the monoculture rubber plantation provided the lowest value (11715.12 USD/ ha, 565.8 USD/ha and 6587.5 USD/ha, respectively). Overall, the agroforest plantations provided higher benefit than monoculture plantations. The findings can be used to support farmers and governmental agencies to diversify monoculture rubber plantations, which will ultimately contribute to environmental and human well-being.

Estimating the Economic Value of Carbon Sequestration by Sago Palm (Metroxylon sagu Rottb.) in Thailand

“…Although there is no research on the sago palm value of CO2 sequestration to compare with this study, there is work done on other commercial crops. Compared with rubber monocultures in the year 25 of planting, sago palm has a higher value of CO2 sequestration from living biomass, which was 581.23 USD, compared to 565.8 USD for rubber monocultures [37]. Furthermore, in year 26 of planting, sago palm plantations continue to provide CO2 sequestration value, while rubber monoculture requires replanting.…”

“…This replanting process results in biomass carbon loss from the wood harvesting process, which affects the soil's accumulated organic carbon during the harvested year [38]. However, the wood product of rubber trees is considered a provisioning service (products obtained from ecosystems including food, materials, fiber, fuel, and genetic resources [13]) that can provide direct income for farmers in the year 25 [37] and may affect the net present value of the direct benefit. The need to study the cost-benefit of both direct and indirect income covering the replanting year is evident in order to compare the highest benefit of each commercial crop planting more clearly.…”

On the relation between monocultures and ecosystem services in the Global South: A review

“…Suarez and W. Gwozdz (Meylan et al, 2017), rice (Liu et al, 2020), and umari (Wood et al, 2016); improvements in carbon stock in topsoil was reported by palm oil (Labrière et al, 2015). Moreover, climatic regulation, air purification, oxygen generation and CO 2 sequestration were reported in palm oil, rubber plantations and rice (Lavelle et al, 2014;Liu et al, 2020;Nattharom et al, 2021;Zhang et al, 2012). Other positive contributions of monocultures were net primary production in grain (Li et al, 2020), and contributions for pollination by coffee (De Beenhouwer et al, 2013), or even maintenance of bats species richness in palm oil plantations (Celygómez et al, 2021).…”