L’intervention de l’Union européenne à travers le 11ème Fonds européen de développement (FED) inscrit le secteur de l’environnement, de la conservation de la biodiversité et de l’agriculture durable dans les priorités nationales de la République démocratique du Congo (RDC). Le projet Formation, Recherche, Environnement dans la Tshopo (FORETS) contribue au développement du paysage centré sur la Réserve de biosphère de Yangambi (RBY).
Tag: rubber plantations
Carbon balance of rubber (Hevea brasiliensis) plantations: A review of uncertainties at plot, landscape and production level. Agriculture
Rapid expansion of natural rubber plantations in South-East Asia and other regions has greatly altered ecosystem based carbon (C) stocks with potential impacts on climate change mitigation and future C trading opportunities. Therefore reliable estimations of carbon sequestration and emission at the landscape level after land cover transition from forest swidden agriculture and other land use types are needed. We reviewed studies on C stocks and dynamics in rubber plantations considering the contribution of aboveground and belowground biomass soil organic matter collected latex and other minor components. C sequestration occurred after conversion of arable land to rubber plantations while C losses usually prevailed if forest was converted to rubber. These general trends strongly depended on local climate conditions and soil properties as well as on topography. Non-traditional planting of rubber under subtropical conditions with a dryer climate and at high elevations (300–1000 m above sea level) decreased the C sequestration potential of rubber. We show how rotation length rubber clone and management strategies like tapping frequency or planting density affect C stocks discuss the uncertainties in C stock estimation and highlight improved approaches. An important conclusion is that upscaling of C stocks and dynamics under different climate scenarios and rotation lengths to a regional level requires the use of time averaged C stocks. Enhanced remote sensing techniques can greatly improve C stock estimates at the regional level allowing for an accounting of the variability caused by terrain and plantation properties. A partial life cycle assessment of rubber production revealed greenhouse gas emissions as a minor contribution when compared to land use change effects on plant and soil C stocks and C accumulation in latex wood products and seed oil. The review highlights scantily explored topics and proposes directions for future studies which should decrease uncertainties in C estimates in rubber dominated landscapes.
Natural rubber systems and climate change: Proceedings and extended abstracts from the online workshop, 23–25 June 2020
The International Rubber Study Group (IRSG), with the International Rubber Research and Development Board (IRRDB), the CGIAR research program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry (FTA) led by CIFOR, and the French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD), ran an open digital workshop on natural rubber systems and climate change on 23–25 June 2020, attended by more than 500 scientists and stakeholders.
The purpose of the workshop was to review recent research results on impacts of climate change on rubber production, potential means of adaptation and contribution to mitigation of climate change, and to identify knowledge and research gaps as well as recommendation for action.
This document brings together the extended abstracts of the presentations and summaries of the discussions held during the workshop.
Sustainable development of rubber plantations in a context of climate change: Challenges and opportunities
Land use is a central issue for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. Plantations of all major tropical commodities are expanding quickly. This creates opportunities for development. It also raises concerns about the impacts of these plantations on the environment, landscapes and livelihoods. Natural rubber is a particularly interesting example to consider in the perspective of sustainable development of a commodity’s producing countries and value chains. This paper is a collaboration between the Forests, Trees and Agroforestry (FTA) research program of the CGIAR (FTA n.d.) and the International Rubber Study Group (IRSG) (IRSG n.d.). FTA works across a range of plantations, value chains and tree crop commodities, from timber, palm oil, cacao, coffee and tea to bamboo, rattan and rubber, among others.