ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses commercial rubber cultivation in the setting of the destruction of primary tropical forest and types of possible reforestation. It utilizes the paradox that although rubber trees may be regarded as an environmentally friendly commercial crop all the large areas of rubber gardens in Southeast Asia were initially created by the destruction of original rainforest over the past ninety years. Tree intercropping for smallholders has been grudgingly recognized as desirable by agro-economic authorities. The chapter considers the environmental impact: erosion, monoculture, pollution, and wildlife. Various problems arise in relation to pollution. These include the disposal of acids used in primary processing, atmospheric pollution from secondary processing of the rubber into smoked sheet, and the side effects of chemicals used in cultivation. Rubber growers in official replanting schemes are obliged to use fertilizer during the six or seven years of tree immaturity.
