Carbon sequestration potential of rubber-tree plantation in Thailand

Thailand has approximately 3 million hectares of latex-producing natural rubber plantations. These rubber plantations have large potential to sequester atmospheric carbon into the biomass and soil. We use eddy covariance technique to measure the net ecosystem exchange (NEE), which is the vertical net flux of CO2 above the rubber plantation, as the estimate of CO2 sequestration potential of rubber plantation. NEE of a 19-year old, latex-producing rubber plantation of a monoclonal stand of rubber trees (Hevea brasiliensis Mull.Arg.) clone RRIM 600 at Chachoengsao Rubber Research Center was observed for 4 years, starting from 2013. The results showed that annual CO2 sequestration from 2013 to 2016 ranged from 28.0 to 43.1 tons CO2 ha−1 yr−1 and averaged 36.7 tons CO2 ha−1 yr−1. In 2016, there was 2.95 million hectares of latex-producing natural rubber plantations in Thailand producing 4.342 million tons of natural-rubber latex. Thus, the estimated CO2 sequestration potential of these plantations was approximately 108 million tons of CO2. In addition, it was estimated that rubber plantation in Thailand sequestered approximately 24.9 kg of CO2 to produce each kilogram of natural-rubber latex. This large carbon sequestration potential associated with natural latex production information shows that natural latex is very friendly to the environment. These observations have important implications not only for the potential management of carbon sequestration in Thailand, but also for the establishment of marketing strategy to enhance the natural rubber competitiveness, especially in comparison to the less environmental-friendly synthetic rubber.