Where is Xishuangbanna?
Xishuangbanna is located in the southern corner of Yunnan province in China, near the border of Laos and Myanmar (Figure 1). Located in a tropical forest environment, Xishuangbanna is typically warm in the winter with hot and rainy summers (Marks, 2012, p. 18). Home to about 100,000 people, this region has been incredibly important both historically and ecologically in China.
Why Xishuanbanna?
With over 5,000 unique tropical forest species, Xishuangbanna is one of the largest biodiversity hotspots in all of China, and arguably in all of Asia. Although Xishuangbanna only represents 0.2% of China’s total land cover, it has been estimated that 16% of China’s species can be found in the area (Li et al., 2012, p. 838). Additionally, the region is home to thirteen distinct ethnic communities that add an incredible amount of social and religious diversity to the region (Sturgeon, 2012, p. 117).
What is happening?
Here is a general timeline of the events of Xishuangbanna, which have culminated in extremely high rates of deforestation to plant commercial rubber plantations:
As early as 400BCE: Communities in Xishuangbanna farm tea sustainably, using already existing native tropical plants to provide natural shade for the tea bushes
1949: China transitions to a communist state, and intense pressure is placed on the social groups in Xishuangbanna to help with the effort to industrialize
1951: The Chinese government saw the potential for rubber plantations in the southern part of China, and issued the “Decision on Cultivating Rubber Trees” in 1951, leading to the establishment of rubber plantations throughout the region (Xu, 2006, P. 257)
Early 1980s: Den Xiaoping opens trading borders, causing more pressure from the West to produce goods using rubber
1988 to 2012: The total area of rubber plantations has grown from 4.5% to over 22.2% within Xishuangbanna (Chen et al., 2016, p. 3)