The first review of the effects on biodiversity and endangered species found the problem was comparable to oil palm and was linked to the growing tyre market.
The study focussed on four biodiversity hotspots in which rubber plantations are expanding:
Sundaland (Malay Peninsula, Borneo, Sumatra, Java, and Bali)
Indo-Burma (Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, most of Myanmar and Thailand, and parts of Southwest China, including Xishuangbanna and Hainan Island)
Wallacea (Indonesian islands east of Bali and Borneo but west of New Guinea, plus Timor Leste)
The Philippines.
It found that numbers of bird, bat and beetle species can decline by up to 75% in forests that have been converted to rubber.
Sustainability initiatives
The researchers, from UEA and the University of Sheffield, are calling on tyre manufacturers to support initiatives such as certification schemes.
Commenting on the study, Dr Matthew Struebig of the Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology, University of Kent, UK, said certification standards for the rubber industry were key to protecting forests.
"There's a lot we can do as scientists and the public to make rubber production more wildlife-friendly," he said.
"It can range from agro-forestry - mixing rubber with other trees - to retaining patches of natural vegetation along rivers or in small conservation set-asides, as is done in organic farming in Europe.
"The onus is on the rubber industry to develop a certification standard that is credible, for the public to support that, and for scientists to help develop ways to manage the rubber crop in an environmentally friendly way."
The research is published in the journal Conservation Letters.
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