Rubber trees are dominating landscapes in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, and southern China but smallholder livelihoods have been affected in very different ways by the different policies that surrounding rubber production.

The East West Center carries an article about a new report prepared by the Climate Change, Agriculture, and Food Security (CCAFS) Research Programme of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR).

Farmers who take up rubber production after the government provides them with seedlings, secure land tenure, loans, and technical expertise - such as in parts of Thailand and China - have been able to escape poverty. However, in Cambodia and Laos, where farmers enter into a range of contracts with foreign companies they tend not to receive profits from their rubber and in some cases have even lost their land.

The report brings into question whether tree crops such as rubber, coffee, and cashews are more beneficial to the environment or sequester more carbon than traditional shifting cultivation.

Stating that there is no one-size-fits-all policy is appropriate for the region as a whole, the authors suggest that in some locations, policies “should help farmers maintain or rehabilitate traditional farming systems, with fallow periods that are long enough to allow regeneration of mature secondary forests” while in other areas they “should aim not only to increase carbon sequestration but also to improve the livelihoods of subsistence farmers and to protect other environmental services”.

Read the full story: Report highlights the effects of expanding rubber plantations on farmers and the environment

Read the report: Swidden, rubber, and carbon: Can REDD+ work for people and the environment in montane mainland Southeast Asia?