From primary forests to rubber plantations: A huge ecological loss

The production and consumption of rubber occupy a pivotal position in the global economy, with the manufacture of more than 1 billion tires per year globally now relying on natural rubber.1 According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the world export price of rubber has quintupled from 2001 to 2021. Robust market demand and sharp price inflation have greatly fueled the expansion of rubber plantations. Reports from the Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries (ANRPC) indicated that global natural rubber production has increased 22-fold during the last 24 years (from 0.68 Mt in 2000 to 15.14 Mt in 2023), with over 90% of this output originating from Southeast Asia, particularly Thailand, Indonesia, and Vietnam.