East Asian medicinal tree may go extinct from illegal trade
Copyright © 2000 The Earth Times
August 25, 2000
By JASON TOPPING CONE
The East Asian Aquilaria genus of trees, coveted for its agarwood heartwood used for its medicinal qualities as well as use in perfumes and incense, may be driven to commercial extinction by over-harvesting and illegal trade according to environmentalists.
A report recently released by the wildlife trade monitoring group Traffic, part of the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and World Wildlife Fund (WWF), describes the "indiscriminant, intensive, and illegal trade" of Aquilaria trees as a serious environmental management challenge for countries where the species is found. According to Traffic, Indonesia, India, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea and Vietnam are among these countries.
Eight species of Aquilaria have already declined to the point where they are considered threatened according to the IUCN. Traffic is calling for development and promotion of responsible harvest techniques such as the use of scientific criteria in approving the harvest and trade under Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. The Aquilaria tree became protected under CITES in 1995.
According to Robbins, the agarwood in mature trees, used for the oil, is detected by cutting down the trees which may or may not contain the valuable resin.
The oil distilled from agarwood can garner as much as $2,500 to $5,000 per pound on the market, but can fetch even higher amounts for the highest quality oil according to Traffic. The agarwood oil's high value has prompted exports of 920 tons of the wood between in 1995 and 1997 in Indonesia alone. Traffic warns that if agarwood is harvested at current rates that there will a shortage in the tree species.
"The enormous volume and value of agarwood in trade," said Christopher Robbins, program officer with Traffic-North America. "reflects the price consumers are willing to pay for an increasingly scarce resource."
"Agarwood is similar to mucus produced by humans," said Robbins. "In that both are natural byproducts of the healing process that begins when a foreign agent invades the organism. Agarwood is thought to produce a resin as a means to fight fungal infection or a response to wounding."