Abstract: The negative ecological effect caused by large area rubber cultivation in Xishuangbanna has being received broad attention. In this paper, questionnaire survey and field investigation were applied to analyze the relations between rubber cultivation and potable water shortage in Geniu administrative village, Jinghong County of Xishuangbanna. It was found that large scale rubber cultivation and potable water shortage for human and domestic animals were synchronically. The water resource consumption due to harvesting rubber product in 2009 was 3.4 times of that in 1995. 52.7% of villagers approved that rubber cultivation was one of factors causing the potable water shortage, and only 5.4% of villagers had the willing to mitigate potable water shortage by cutting down rubber area. It would be necessary to highlight the study of water consumption due to latex production by rubber trees and to bring the rubber farmers into solution of the eco-hydrological problems caused by rubber cultivation.

Key words: Forestland, Ecological water requirement, Evapotranspiration, Soil moisture content, Huang-Huai-Hai region