Prospective forests and farmers’ perspectives: the politics of rubber trees and ecological restoration in southwest China

Extensive forest cover change has increased scientific and governmental attention to ecological restoration globally. However, restoration plans often neglect local stakeholders and the multi-scalar politics in which they are entwined, thereby jeopardizing social and ecological conditions. These pitfalls point to the utility of political ecology for recasting restoration ecology with a focus on power relations and bottom-up analyses. This thesis examines prospective ecological restoration in southwest China where monoculture rubber cultivation in Xishuangbanna has led to alarming ecological changes. Scientists and the prefecture government are planning “environmentally-friendly rubber plantations,” but ethnic minority farmers’ viewpoints have been disregarded. This study uses ethnographic and participatory mapping methods to gain farmers’ perspectives on land use and restoration plans. A political ecology analysis reveals significant obstacles, and possibilities, for restoration in Xishuangbanna. In putting forward an approach called political restoration ecology, this study also contributes to advancing the field of restoration ecology.