西雙版納橡膠園 經濟驅動與生態思維

JingHONG, China — In the farming village of Tuanjie, in the hills above Jinghong, in southwest Yunnan Province, nearly every family lives in a two- or three-story concrete house, testament to a prosperity built during the boom years for natural rubber production.

中國景洪——在中國西南地區雲南省景洪市的山丘上，有一座務農的村莊叫團結村，村裏幾乎每戶人家都住在兩三層高的水泥樓房裏。這一棟棟房屋見證了當年因出產天然橡膠而帶來的繁榮景象。

Sitting in a gleaming new kitchen larger than the thatched hut that once stood on the same spot, Wang Guiying, 51, recalled hunting wild animals to survive and growing cotton to make her own clothes in the days before her family in 1983 became the first in the village to plant rubber trees. “Our lives then just got better and better,” she said.

51歲的王桂英（Wang Guiying，音）坐在亮堂堂的簇新廚房裏。想當年，她家的整幢茅草屋還沒有如今這間廚房大。當時不但得獵殺野味謀生，還得自己種植棉花製衣，直到1983年，她們家在村裏率先種起橡膠樹。“從此以後，日子過得越來越好，”她說。

By 2011, the Wangs were earning nearly $13,000 a year from their four-acre farm, while neighbors with larger plots earned close to six-figure incomes. Family members built their two-story home, bought a car and a flat screen television and went on group tours to distant Beijing and nearby Vietnam.

到了2011年，王家每年可從自家的4英畝田裏賺8萬元人民幣，而有地較多的鄰居甚至能賺進六位數字。當地人家開始建造兩層樓房、購買汽車和平面電視，並參加去北京的長途旅行團，或是到鄰近的越南遊玩。

This year, because of the drop in oil prices, which set the price for natural as well as synthetic rubber, they predict they will make only about $1,600.

然而今年油價跌落，與之掛鉤的天然橡膠和合成橡膠的價格也應聲下降。王家預計今年只能掙到1萬元人民幣。

“We don’t know why the price went down, but we have nothing else to depend on,” said Ms. Wang’s son-in-law, Jie Er, 32.

“我們也不明白怎麼會跌價，但除了橡膠，我們沒有別的指望了，”王桂英32歲的女婿介洱（Jie Er，音）說。

Recognizing that, environmental officials just outside Jinghong, the region’s major city, have been testing a plantation model that they hope will become the blueprint for a more sustainable and economically stable rubber industry.

鑑於橡膠價格的下跌，該地區中心城市景洪城郊的環境官員測試起全新的開墾模式，希望藉此打造出能夠持續發展且經濟效益更爲穩定的橡膠產業。

On approximately 165 acres of land, workers have interspersed the rubber trees with cacao, coffee and macadamia trees, as well as high-value timber species. The mix, promoted as “environmentally friendly rubber,” is intended to decrease soil erosion, improve water quality and increase biodiversity, among other benefits.

在佔地約165英畝的田地上，農民們交錯種上了橡膠、可可、咖啡和澳大利亞堅果，以及具備高經濟價值的木材樹種。官方將這種間作方式稱爲“環境友好型橡膠種植”，目的在於減少水土流失、改善水質並提升生物多樣性等。

Rubber plantations first appeared in this tropical region in the mid-1950s as state farms run by the centrally planned economy. Mile after mile, the uniform rows of rubber trees fan out across the valleys where Asian elephants and white-cheeked gibbons once roamed. From afar, they meld into an unnaturally even carpet of single-shade green, a stark contrast to patches of remaining natural forest.

橡膠種植最早於上世紀50年代中期以國營農場的形式出現在雲南。這片熱帶地區原先是亞洲象及白頰長臂猿的棲息地。當時中國推行中央計劃經濟，整齊劃一的橡膠樹在山谷間綿延不絕地生長。從遠處望過來，這片綠色的橡膠林地呈現人工的單一色塊，和鄰近的原始森林形成強烈對比。

The transition to a free-market economy combined with rising rubber prices led to the rapid expansion of plantations beginning in the late 1990s. These days, over a fifth of all land in the Xishuangbanna prefecture of Yunnan Province is devoted to rubber production, an area of cultivation that tripled in size between 2002 and 2010. Natural forest coverage, in turn, has fallen to less than 50 percent in 2003 from nearly 70 percent in the late 1970s, snuffing out wildlife in a corner of China renowned as one of its most biologically diverse.

到了90年代晚期，中國向自由市場經濟轉型，又恰逢橡膠價格上揚，因此種植規模開始迅速擴張。到了現在，西雙版納州超過五分之一的土地都用來出產橡膠，僅是2002至2010年間的種植面積就增長了兩倍。在70年代晚期，雲南仍保有將近70%的原始森林，而到了2003年，原始森林的覆蓋率跌落至不及50%的水平。這裏是全中國生物多樣性最豐富的地區之一，如今野生動物日漸稀少。

Li Qingyou, director of the Bio-Industrial Crops Office, the governmental body that is seeking to convert nearly a fourth of the region’s rubber-growing areas to this new more eco-friendly model by 2020, stood next to his Jeep facing a view of new high-rises and the Mekong River beyond, feet planted on the slope separating a row of coffee trees from rubber trees.

州政府旗下的發展生物產業辦公室希望，在2020年以前，把該地區近四分之一的橡膠林地，變爲更有助於生態發展的這種新種植模式。發展生物產業辦公室主任李慶友站在吉普車旁，眺望新的高樓及遠方的瀾滄江，腳下的斜坡將一排咖啡樹和其他的橡膠樹分隔開來。

“We used to be so focused on developing the economy that we planted rubber and ignored the environmental impact,” he said, “but now we realize that this isn’t good for us, and it isn’t good for the economy either.”

“以往爲了全力發展經濟而種植橡膠，卻忽略了對環境造成的影響，”他表示，“如今我們瞭解到這對我們不利，也無益於經濟發展。”

Last year, the prefecture-level government spent $1.6 million to convert nearly 21,500 acres of existing rubber plantations into environmentally balanced ones. According to officials, an additional 16,000 or so acres are in the pipeline for this year. With rubber prices at a 10-year low and farmers panicked over sinking incomes, officials say they have a rare opportunity to promote their ideas, which include introducing new products that make farmers less dependent on a single revenue stream.

去年，州政府花費千萬元人民幣來將近2.15萬英畝的既有橡膠林改造爲生態平衡林地。根據官員的說法，今年還將把1.6萬英畝左右的林地納入規劃。由於橡膠價格創10年新低，農民也因收入下跌而恐慌，官員表示他們有難得的機會推行這個理念，其中也包括引進新物產，讓農戶不至於太依賴單一收入來源。

“When rubber prices were very high, it simply wasn’t easy to get anything done,” said Pan Yuwen, 48, a technical adviser in a government department specially created to assist farmers with following the new practices.

“橡膠價格還很高的時候，根本推行不了任何事情，”政府部門的技術顧問、58歲的潘育文（Pan Yuwen，音）表示。這個部門的創建，就是爲了協助農民學習新的栽種模式。

There is no official consensus as to what exactly “environmentally friendly rubber” ought to be; researchers are divided as to what intercropping species and planting practices would best balance economic needs against purely environmental concerns.

對於“環境友好型橡膠種植”的定義，目前並沒有一致的權威說法。科研人員在間作作物的種類與栽種方法上存在分歧，爭論的內容是何者能夠在經濟需求與單純的環境關懷之間達到平衡。

The current program includes measures like the distribution of free seedlings — some 500,000 in 2014 — and the discouragement of planting rubber trees on steep slopes or in areas over 2,600 feet in elevation, where soil erosion and other environmental damage are much worse and yields proportionately lower.

目前的計劃包括髮放免費幼苗——在2014年發放了50萬株——之類的措施，以及阻止農民在陡坡或海拔超過800米的地方種植橡膠樹，因爲那麼做會造成更嚴重的土壤侵蝕等環境損害，並相應減少產量。

Though rubber farmers typically engage in intercropping while the trees are still young and have not yet developed full canopies, it is uncommon for farmers to integrate other species into mature plantations. Yet, tea, cacao, coffee and a number of Chinese medicinal plants can grow even in the midst of a rubber forest, as can valuable, slow-growing trees like teak.

膠農通常在橡膠樹較爲年幼、尚未長成完整的樹冠時進行間作，在已成熟的橡膠林之間整合其他作物的做法並不常見。不過，茶、可可、咖啡與幾樣中藥藥草可以在橡膠樹之間存活，還有一些價值高但成長緩慢的樹種亦是如此，例如柚木。

Mr. Jie said he was intrigued by the seedling distribution program, though he would never cut down his rubber trees, which take seven years to mature. “We’re wondering if we should also start planting macadamia nuts or Aquilaria trees,” tall evergreens that produce resinous agarwood, which is used in perfumes and is one of the world’s most expensive raw materials.

介洱說他對分發幼苗的計劃感到好奇，但他不會砍掉自家那些需要七年才能長成的橡膠樹。“我們在想，要不要也種些澳大利亞堅果或是沉香樹。”沉香樹是一種高大的常綠喬木，可以生產富含樹脂的沉香木，用於生產香水，是世界上最昂貴的原材料之一。

Many others in Tuanjie spoke of plans to leave and take jobs as day laborers in Jinghong to make ends meet.

團結村還有許多人談到，要爲了生計離開此地，到景洪市打短工。

Critics of the government’s rubber program say it lacks clear environmental standards as well as incentives that could get local farmers to participate. And the vast majority of rubber plantations now belong to individual small holders like the Wang family who own long-term rights to use of the land and make their own economic decisions.

批評政府橡膠計劃的人指出，該計劃缺乏明確的環境標準，也缺乏明確的獎勵措施吸引當地農民參與。絕大多數的橡膠樹農是像王家這樣擁有長期土地使用權、並可以自己做出經濟決策的個體小農。

“The government has no power to effectively push this program out, because at a policy level they have no way to stop villagers with no idea of what it means to be environmentally friendly from doing whatever they want,” said Chen Jin, director of the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden Research Center, which helped develop the Jinghong model site. The process of educating villagers would be slow, he added, “like brewing tea with cold water.”

“政府沒有力量有效推廣這個計劃，因爲在政策層面上，他們無法阻止不懂環境保護意義的村民爲所欲爲，”西雙版納熱帶植物園主任陳進表示。該機構曾協助開發了景洪市的示範區。他還說，教導村民的進展很慢，“就像用冷水泡茶。”

He dismissed the government’s progress indicators and targets as inflated to the point of being “simply impossible.”

他不認同政府的進度指標與目標，認爲它們被誇大到了“根本不可能”達到的程度。

Mr. Li of the Bio-Industrial Crops Office acknowledged that the targets were somewhat fanciful but said they were devised to show just how serious the government is about changing the status quo. “Otherwise, people will lack enthusiasm,” he said.

發展生物產業辦公室的李主任承認目標有些不現實，但表示設置這些目標是爲了顯示政府有改變現狀的決心。他說，“否則，民衆會缺乏熱情。”