Tropical lowland rainforests are increasingly threatened by the expansion of agriculture and the extraction of natural resources. In Jambi Province, Sumatra/Indonesia, the interdisciplinary EFForTS project focuses on the ecological and socioeconomic dimensions of rainforest conversion to jungle rubber agroforests and monoculture plantations of rubber and oil palm. In order to understand the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functions (BEF) in rainforest conversion systems as well as to facilitate the reconciliation of economic interests and ecological sustainability therein, we conducted detailed ecological and socioeconomic evaluations of these systems since 2012. Here, we will present key methods and results to describe the current ecological and socioeconomic consequences of rainforest conversion in Sumatra. Specifically, we present data on temperature and humidity, canopy structure, litterfall, litter carbon content, tree biomass, plant diversity, canopy ant diversity, oribatid mite diversity as well as labour and gross margin estimates across related households in Jambi Province.
Results/Conclusions
Our data confirm that rainforest transformation and land-use intensification lead to substantial losses in biodiversity and related ecosystem functions, such as decreased above- and belowground carbon stocks. Due to rapid step-wise transformation from forests to agroforests to monoculture plantations and renewal of each plantation type every few decades, the converted land-use systems are continuously dynamic, thus hampering the adaptation of animal and plant communities. On the other hand, agricultural rainforest transformation systems provide increased income and access to education, especially for migrant smallholders. Jungle rubber and rubber monocultures are associated with higher financial land productivity but lower financial labour productivity compared to oil palm, which influences crop choice: Smallholders that are labour-scarce would prefer oil palm while land-scarce smallholders would prefer rubber. By collecting long-term data in an interdisciplinary framework, and sharing our insights with decision-makers and stakeholders, we aim at contributing to the reconciliation of economic interests and ecological sustainability in the growing rubber and oil palm industry.