The Rubber Juggernaut

Abstract

The demise of swidden cultivation in Southeast Asia may have devastating environmental consequences.

Rubber Plantation Expansion Related Land Use Change along the Laos-China Border Region

“…This phenomenon was similar to the expansion features in Xishuangbanna, China [37,46]. Economic interests and national policies were the primary causes of rubber expansion [10,16,32,[45][46][47]. Swidden land was mainly located in northern mountainous areas, where the obvious expansion indicated human activities have frequently impacted slashing and burning cultivation in the recent decade [33,48].…”

“…Woodland reduction was so obvious, especially in northern part of three districts (e.g., Sing District, Long District, and Luang Namtha City) and the areas along the Kunming-Bangkok highway [12]. Population growth and swidden agriculture were the primary causes of deforestation [17,29,32]. Rubber plantation was mainly distributed in the border region of China and Laos with the expansion from the border region into the non-frontier of Laos with Luang Namtha City as the center.…”

Urban Expansion and Its Impact on the Land Use Pattern in Xishuangbanna since the Reform and Opening up of China

“…On the other hand, rubber has a negative impact on urban eco-environmental conditions. Besides, the urban green space in the newly-built urban areas could also be affected because of water and soil degradation [39,40]. Therefore, this situation must be addressed in urban planning and development.…”

“…In recent decades, especially since the reform and opening up policy, Xishuangbanna has also experienced fast urban expansion and dramatic land use change. Previous studies in Xishuangbanna mainly focused on specific issues, like rubber plantations [39][40][41], road network impact [42][43][44] or biodiversity [45], and few of them have paid attention to a comprehensive understanding of land use pattern change in response to urban expansion. This paper aims to figure out the characteristics of urban expansion and land use pattern change in Xishuangbanna by addressing the following questions: (1) how did the urban area expand in Xishuangbanna in the spatial-temporal perspective ever since 1976; (2) how did urban expansion affect land use pattern change in Xishuangbanna; (3) what are the consequences of land use pattern change in response to urban expansion.…”

Rubber Tree Distribution Mapping in Northeast Thailand

“…In many parts of mainland Southeast Asia rubber plantations are expanding rapidly in areas where the crop was not historically found [1]. Over the last several decades more than 1,000,000 hectares of land have been converted to rubber plantations in non-traditional rubber growing areas of China, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Myanmar [2,3]. Like many mainland Southeast Asian countries, Thailand has experienced dramatic social and environmental change over the past decade [4].…”