Demand for rubber to make tyres is having a ‘catastrophic’ impact on the world’ s forests, scientists have warned. Up to 21 million acres of jungle will be torn down to make way for rubber plantations in the next decade alone, according to researchers at the University of East Anglia. The demand is putting endangered gibbons, leopards and elephants in south east Asia at risk, a study published in the journal Conservation Letters says. A scene of devastation captured on Indonesia's Borneo island. Endangered species in south east Asia at risk . Lead researcher Eleanor Warren-Thomas said: ‘The tyre industry consumes 70 per cent of all natural rubber grown, and rising demand for vehicle and aeroplane tyres is behind the recent expansion of plantations. ‘But the impact of this is a loss of tropical biodiversity. ‘We predict that between 4.3 and 8.5 million hectares (10.6 - 21 million acres) of new plantations will be required to meet projected demand by 2024. The tyre industry consumes 70 per cent of all natural rubber grown, and rising demand for vehicle and aeroplane tyres is behind the recent expansion of plantations . ‘This will threaten significant areas of Asian forest, including many protected areas.’ She said many protected areas have already been lost to rubber plantations - including three-quarters of the Snoul Wildlife Sanctuary in Cambodia, which was cleared for rubber between 2009 and 2013. Miss Warren-Thomas added: ‘In Cambodia, forest areas earmarked for further rubber plantations contain critically endangered water birds like the White Shouldered Ibis, globally threatened mammals like Eld’s deer and Banteng, and many important primates and carnivores. ‘Macaques and gibbons are known to disappear completely from forests which have been converted to rubber. 'our review shows that numbers of bird, bat and beetle species can decline by up to 75 per cent.’
Up to 21 million acres of jungle will be torn down in the next decade alone . University of East Anglia research says forest species at risk from industry . Rising demand for rubber tyres for cars and planes driving deforestation .