The Impact of Rubber on the Forest Landscape in Borneo

Rubber is the most widespread smallholder tree crop in South-East Asia. Although initially large estates planted the bulk of the region’s rubber, smallholders soon captured most of the production. Currently, Indonesia’s rubber plantations cover 3.4 million ha, of which smallholders account for more than 75% (BPS, 1999). In peninsular Malaysia, the area in rubber has declined since the 1970s, but rubber remains the second most common tree crop in terms of area, with 1.5 million ha in 1990 (Vincent and Ali, 1997). Large estates produce much of Malaysia’s rubber, but smallholders dominate rubber production in the State of Sarawak (Cramb, 1988). Some analysts blame the expansion of rubber for greatly contributing to the conversion of mature tropical forest in both Indonesia and Malaysia (Vincent and Hadi, 1993). This chapter critically examines to what extent smallholder rubber production actually led to forest conversion in West Kalimantan (Indonesia) and neighbouring Sarawak (Malaysia). Although we shall not discuss either Sumatra or mainland Malaysia in detail, it appears that parts of these regions went through similar processes (Vincent and Hadi, 1993; Angelsen, 1995). This chapter presents two main arguments. First, as long as there was low pressure for land, swidden-fallow farmers who grew rice could easily incorporate rubber into the fallow component of their production systems. The introduction of rubber did not lead to encroachment into primary forest, nor did it greatly affect the broader forest landscape, comprised of primary forest, secondary forest and forest gardens.We use evidence related to the adoption of