Industrial plantations in the tropics

21 Sep 2012

Industrial rubber plantation near Villavicencio, Colombia.

Several social and environmental groups are commemorating “International Day against Monoculture Tree Plantations” today, September 21, due to concerns about deforestation, pollution, and displacement of local communities.

Plantations, including timber plantations and oil palm estates, expanded from 184 million hectares in 1990 to 279 million hectares by 2010, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) More than half the expansion occurred in Asia.

The plantation pictured above is the largest rubber plantations in Latin America. It is located in Eastern Colombia, in a region known as the llanos.

A few more plantation pictures from my recent reporting trips.

Rubber plantations or conversion for rubber

Rubber in South Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo)

Rainforest clearing for rubber in West Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo)

Rubber in Colombia

Rubber in Laos

Oil palm plantations or conversion for palm oil production

Malaysia

Sabah, Malaysia

Malaysian Borneo

Malaysia

Sabah, Malaysia

Malaysian Borneo

Sumatra, Indonesia

Central Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo

Central Kalimantan, Indonesia

Costa Rica

Timber plantations for pulp and paper production

Acacia in Malaysia

Malaysia

Credits

Rhett Butler Editor

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