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
Rubber in Laos
Oil palm plantations or conversion for palm oil production
Malaysia
Sabah, Malaysia
Malaysian Borneo
Malaysia
Malaysia
Sabah, Malaysia
Malaysian Borneo
Sumatra, Indonesia
Sumatra, Indonesia
Sumatra, Indonesia
Sumatra, Indonesia
Sumatra, Indonesia
Sumatra, Indonesia
Sumatra, Indonesia
Central Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo
Central Kalimantan, Indonesia
Costa Rica
Costa Rica
Costa Rica
Timber plantations for pulp and paper production
Acacia in Malaysia
Malaysia
Malaysia
Malaysia