Mumbai, May 21 -- When it comes to attempts at reducing deforestation and protecting indigenous land rights, voluntary corporate commitments and self-regulated commodity schemes have predominantly failed. Ultimately, the kinds of abuses we have already seen caused by industrial rubber expansion need national legal reforms which vitally uphold indigenous peoples' rights and protect ecosystems. An inclusive sustainable rubber platform that is anticipating and working towards sectoral regulation could help raise standards across the whole of the sector and be the

beginning of positive change for the rubber industry.

When I first started working at Global Witness six years ago, nobody was talking about sustainable rubber or the harms caused...