Chen Huafang, Yi Zhuang-Fang, Schmidt-Vogt Dietrich, Ahrends Antje, Beckschäfer Philip, Kleinn Christoph, Ranjitkar Sailesh, Xu Jianchu
Key laboratory of Biodiversity and Biogeography, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, China.
World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) East and Central Asia, Kunming, China.
PLoS One. 2016 Feb 23;11(2):e0150062. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0150062. eCollection 2016.
The rapidly growing car industry in China has led to an equally rapid expansion of monoculture rubber in many regions of South East Asia. Xishuangbanna, the second largest rubber planting area in China, located in the Indo-Burma biodiversity hotspot, supplies about 37% of the domestic natural rubber production. There, high income possibilities from rubber drive a dramatic expansion of monoculture plantations which poses a threat to natural forests. For the first time we mapped rubber plantations in and outside protected areas and their net present value for the years 1988, 2002 (Landsat, 30 m resolution) and 2010 (RapidEye, 5 m resolution). The purpose of our study was to better understand the pattern and dynamics of the expansion of rubber plantations in Xishuangbanna, as well as its economic prospects and conservation impacts. We found that 1) the area of rubber plantations was 4.5% of the total area of Xishuangbanna in 1988, 9.9% in 2002, and 22.2% in 2010; 2) rubber monoculture expanded to higher elevations and onto steeper slopes between 1988 and 2010; 3) the proportion of rubber plantations with medium economic potential dropped from 57% between 1988 and 2002 to 47% in 2010, while the proportion of plantations with lower economic potential had increased from 30% to 40%; and 4) nearly 10% of the total area of nature reserves within Xishuangbanna has been converted to rubber monoculture by 2010. On the basis of our findings, we conclude that the rapid expansion of rubber plantations into higher elevations, steeper terrain, and into nature reserves (where most of the remaining forests of Xishuangbanna are located) poses a serious threat to biodiversity and environmental services while not producing the expected economic returns. Therefore, it is essential that local governments develop long-term land use strategies for balancing economic benefits with environmental sustainability, as well as for assisting farmers with the selection of land suitable for rubber production.
中国快速发展的汽车行业导致东南亚许多地区单一栽培橡胶的面积同样迅速扩大。西双版纳是中国第二大橡胶种植区，位于印缅生物多样性热点地区，供应国内约37%的天然橡胶产量。在那里，橡胶带来的高收入可能性推动了单一栽培种植园的急剧扩张，这对天然森林构成了威胁。我们首次绘制了1988年、2002年（陆地卫星，30米分辨率）和2010年（快鸟卫星，5米分辨率）保护区内外橡胶种植园及其净现值的地图。我们研究的目的是更好地了解西双版纳橡胶种植园扩张的模式和动态，以及其经济前景和保护影响。我们发现：1）1988年橡胶种植园面积占西双版纳总面积的4.5%，2002年为9.9%，2010年为22.2%；2）1988年至2010年间，单一栽培橡胶扩展到了更高海拔和更陡峭的山坡；3）经济潜力中等的橡胶种植园比例从1988年至2002年的57%降至2010年的47%，而经济潜力较低的种植园比例从30%增加到了40%；4）到2010年，西双版纳自然保护区总面积的近10%已转变为单一栽培橡胶。基于我们的研究结果，我们得出结论，橡胶种植园迅速扩张到更高海拔、更陡峭的地形以及自然保护区（西双版纳大部分剩余森林所在之处），对生物多样性和环境服务构成了严重威胁，同时并未产生预期的经济回报。因此，地方政府制定长期土地利用战略以平衡经济利益与环境可持续性，并协助农民选择适合橡胶生产的土地至关重要。
