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Rubber tapping
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Please help improve this article or section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. (January 2007) |
Rubber tapping is the process by which rubber is gathered. An incision is made in the bark of a rubber tree. The fluid then drains into a vessel.
This industry is prevalent in areas containing rain forest, such as Brazil in the Roraima rainforest or Malaysia. It is less destructive to the environment and rainforest and is legal.
Each night a rubber tapper must remove a thin layer of bark along a downward half spiral on the tree trunk. If done carefully and with skill, this tapping panel will yield latex for up to 5 years. Then the opposite side will be tapped allowing this side to heal over. The spiral allows the latex to run down to a collecting cup. The work is done at night so the latex will run longer before drying out.
For the rubber tappers to legally extract the latex, they must first buy land that contains rubber trees. Even on huge pieces of land there are usually very few of these trees, so the tapper must buy lots of unused trees.
Chico Mendes, a Brazilian rubber tapper, unionist and environmental activist who have become famous worldwide for his fight to save the Amazon Rainforest from deforestation.