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With the soaring trade in herbal medicine, ‘wildcrafted’ and ‘sustainable’ are the current buzzwords used by traders. Words that summon images of smiling workers gathering leaves, bark, and flowers from forest, meadow and mountainside – not indiscriminately, but with knowledge and sensitivity to ensure survival of plants and habitats for future generations.
In fairness, some companies do try to ensure that wild plants are harvested ethically and sustainably. However, there is no legal definition of the terms, and buying herbal medicines and essential oils with these labels is no guarantee they are from sustainable sources.
While the herbal medicine market has taken its toll, without doubt, the most voracious plunderers of Earth’s finite resources are the multinational drug companies. Renewed interest by the pharmaceutical industry in plant medicines (to isolate and/or standardise their ‘active principles’ or manipulate plant genes to gain lucrative patents), combined with the lack of effective international agreements on conservation of habitats, has resulted in ‘slaughter harvesting’ of medicinal plants and massive depletion of habitats. Even smaller companies producing over-the-counter herbal remedies are collectively contributing to the demise of a number of species.
The true scale of the international trade in medicinal plants is difficult to assess because of lack of reliable statistics and trade secrecy. According to research carried out by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), a staggering 90 per cent of all medicinal and aromatic plants traded throughout the world are still collected from the wild. More conservative estimates from herb traders interviewed by myself give a figure of around 60-80 per cent. In view of this, it’s hardly surprising that an alarming number of medicinal plants have become threatened in recent years.
Certain threatened medicinal plants are now being cultivated on a limited scale, including goldenseal and black cohosh. It would help if more product makers made a point of stating the origin of the plant material used. The more often we ask for cultivated versions of popular medicinal herbs, the more incentive there will be for producers to grow them. Currently, sustainably cultivated goldenseal, for example, costs three times more than the wild harvested plant material.
Below is a mere selection of endangered or otherwise ‘at risk’ species, gleaned from more extensive lists compiled by conservation agencies such as the WWF and United Plant Savers in the USA. Those plants marked with an asterisk are valued not only as herbal medicines, but also for their essential oils. Of this list, only arnica, echinacea (principally E. purpurea) liquorice and species of thyme are also cultivated in significant quantities.
*Arnica (Arnica montana)
*Cedar, true (Cedrus spp.), including Atlas cedarwood (C.atlantica) from North Africa, and Himalyan cedar (C. deodara). .
Devil’s claw (Harpagophytum spp).
Lady’s Slipper Orchid (Cypripedium calceolus var. pubescens, C. calceolus)
Liquorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra)
*Oregano (Origanum spp)
*Thyme (Thymus spp)
Yellow gentian (Gentiana lutea).
American ginseng (Panax quinquefolium)
Beth Root (Trillium spp.)
Black Cohosh (Cimicifuga racemosa)
Blue Cohosh (Caulophyllum thalictroides)
Echinacea (Echinacea spp.)
Goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis)
Peyote (Lophophora williamsii)
Slippery Elm (Ulmus rubra)
Sundew (Drosera spp)
Virginia Snakeroot (Aristolochia serpentaria)
Wild Yam (Dioscorea villosa, D. spp)
*Calamus (Acorus calamus)
Cascara (Rhammas purshiana)
May Apple (Podophyllum peltatum)
Oregon Grape (Mahonia spp). NB Mahonia sonnei (syn. M. aquifolium) is no longer regarded as threatened. It was de-listed as such by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, 1st October 2003.
Pleurisy root (Asclepias tuberosa)
*Spikenard (Aralia racemosa, A. Californica)
*White Sage (Salvia apiana)
Wild Indigo (Baptisia tinctoria)
Following is a selection of endangered medicinal plants and trees most of which are CITES listed. Sandalwood (Santalum album) and rosewood (Aniba rosaeodora) meet the new criteria for CITES listing and are recognised as threatened species by conservation agencies world wide, notably the IUCN World Conservation Red List of Threatened Species.
As before, an asterisk indicates the plant or tree is also valued for its essential oil.
*Agarwood (Aquiliara malaccensis and other Aquilaria species), also known as aloeswood, eaglewood and gaharu. Found in eastern India, though now on the verge of extinction there. Populations are widespread but patchy in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Laos, Burma, Vietnam, and Cambodia.
Aloe species (except Aloe vera), from Africa.
*Amyris (Amyris balsamifera), from the South Pacific and West Indies. .
*Guaiac (Guaiacum officinalis and G.sanctum), from the West Indies.
Indian Yew (Taxus wallichiana), also found in Afghanistan, China, Nepal, Pakistan.
Himalayan Mayapple (Podophyllum hexandrum).
Kutki (Picrorhiza kurroa), from the Himalayas.
Orchid species (Orchidaceae), all species are protected throughout the world.
Prunus bark (Prunus africanas), from the wet montane forests of Africa.
*Rosewood Aniba rosaeodora, and all related species found in Brazil and other parts of South America.
*Sandalwood (Santalum album), from India, Indonesia and other parts of southeast Asia. In fact, wherever the tree grows it is at risk from over-harvesting.
Snakeroot (Rauvolfia serpentina), from India, Malaysia and Indonesia.
*Spikenard (Nardostachys grandiflora, syns. Valeriana jatamansi, Patrinia jatamansis, Fedia grandiflora, Nardostachys jatamansi, N. gracilis Kitamura) from the Himalyas (Nepal and Bhutan). The related Pichorhiza scrophulariiflora (thought to be a synonym of P. kurrooa) may be more commonly traded and, therefore, warrants monitoring with a view to CITES listing.
The manner of collection of the recently endangered Prunus bark (Prunus africanas) in Cameroon and Zaire is a sad reflection of practices adopted by the international trade in medicinal plants as a whole.
Extracts of the bark are used in pharmaceutical preparations in several European countries to treat early stages of benign prostate disease. Businessmen, or their agents, contact local villagers for collection of the bark, which is stripped indiscriminately causing many trees to die. It’s difficult for poor people to resist the chance of an income, no matter how appallingly small, even if they are aware that the long-term effects may be devastating.
IS CULTIVATION THE SOLE ANSWER?
Even though there has been an enormous increase in herb cultivation in recent years, wild harvesting in still prominent in many parts of Europe (including France, Spain and Eastern Europe), also the USA, China, India, Africa, Indonesia, and other regions of the globe. Many medicinal and aromatic plants are unsuited to high volume monoculture, or the market is too small to make commercial harvesting financially viable.
Therefore, the problem of over-exploitation of wild plants cannot be solved by cultivation alone. In any event, most experts believe there is not enough cultivatable land available to meet escalating world demand, unless yet more rainforest is destroyed. The only way forward is to find ways of supporting existing sustainable practices of wild harvesting, alongside sustainable methods of cultivation (i.e. without the use of artificial fertilisers and agrochemicals). No easy task, for we must also make provision for the social and economic needs of the world’s poorest people. Progress will be largely dependent on support from governments and industry.
Furthermore, while sustainable cultivation is to be encouraged, indiscriminate and opportunistic planting is an increasing threat to fragile ecosystems. In Madagascar, for example, virgin forest has been cleared in recent years to make way for the cultivation of Pelargonium species for distillation of geranium oil. While in Indonesia, the boom in patchouli oil prices (distilled from the shrubby herb Pogostemon cablin), prompted large-scale deforestation on the island of Nias in order to grow the plants. In July 2001, catastrophic floods and landslides swept away hundreds of homes and killed 50 people on the Island, the direct result of deforestation in the upper Masio River watershed. Adding to the tragedy, patchouli oil prices have since plummeted, so the plantations have been abandoned.
ENTER THE SOIL ASSOCIATION
The Soil Association (the largest independent inspection body for organic agriculture in the UK) has recently drawn up comprehensive standards for sustainable wild harvesting. Soil Association certification is regarded as more than just a mechanism for controlling indiscriminate gathering of wild plants. As well as ensuring maintenance of biodiversity (the broadly diverse forms into which all living things have evolved), it is also seen as being of fundamental importance for the preservation of cultural traditions, providing income for some of the world’s poorest people.
All fine and dandy on paper, but the reality is somewhat different. True, the Soil Association may be doing excellent work in monitoring organic standards for agriculture in Britain. The overseeing of wildcrafting practises throughout the world, however, is a different matter entirely. Due to reluctance of traders to reveal sources of wild harvested plants, it's impossible for any single agency to know the origin of every plant traded. More to the point, as yet there is no official research into what exactly constitutes a 'sustainable' yield for the numerous individual plant species currently wild-harvested in vast quantities for commercial purposes.
What we do know is that plants are often gathered from remote regions of the globe, usually by local people who sell the plant material on to agents. It remains to be seen, therefore, whether the Soil Association is able to 'head hunt' teams of botanical experts with local ecological knowledge to implement and monitor such a monumental programme. We might wager the task to be an impossibility.
Added to the Soil Association's inexperience of wildcrafting is their lack of knowledge of the complexities of the essential oil trade. Indeed, as we shall see, the certification of organic essential oils is another example of premature branching out. Other EU approved organic inspection bodies such as Ecocert in France, Belgium and Germany can be criticised for making the same errors of judgement.
As a supporter of the organic movement for nearly 30 years, it came as a shock to discover that the Soil Association were about to certify a ‘sustainable’ source of oil from endangered East Indian sandalwood (Santalum album). Similarly, they planned to re-certify from Ecocert a source of 'sustainable' Rosewood oil (Aniba rosaeodora).
After bombarding the Association with informative and heartfelt pleas for sanity, thankfully they have agreed to reconsider certifying these oils. Moreover, they have also agreed to put to their committee members my proposal that nothing should be certified as ‘organic’ if grown on land deforested after 1994, the cut-off date set by sustainable forestry organisations such as Woodmark.
But it’s too soon to celebrate, as the outcome will depend on the vote of the Soil Association's leading membership – mostly traders with vested interests.
Alas, I was too late to prevent the Soil Association from re-certifying from Ecocert a source of essential oil of Atlas cedar wood (Cedrus atlantica). This tree is found only in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco and Algeria and is recognised as a threatened species.
Since October 2003, the Soil Association continues to ignore my communications on the matter in the belief that Ecocert's inspection standards are environmentally sound. Even the research material I sent the Soil Association (which included a study based at Reading University), confirms the threatened status of the tree and its fragile habitat, which is rapidly turning to desert due to drought and inept land management.
In personal correspondence with the Soil Association's President Jonathan Dimbleby (BBC broadcaster, journalist and organic farmer), although he sympathises with my general concerns, he admits that certification of such products is ‘bound to be an evolving process, very often in uncharted territory.’
But surely anyone paying over the odds for a certified organic ‘wildcrafted’ herb or essential oil has every right to demand competence and specialist knowledge from the certifying body? We might question whether the Soil Association is compromising its orginal high standards in pursuit of more lucrative concerns. Although partly a registered charity, it is important to remember that the certification arm of the organisation(SACert) is a limited company and charges substantial fees for its novice wildcrafting enterprise.
THE AROMATICS TRADE
Readers of my books will know that I’ve always advised against the use of rosewood oil because of the environmentally destructive method of its production. As for sandalwood, until recently I had allowed myself to succumb to the rosy picture painted by traders – that for every tree felled, three more were planted. This same mantra is now being intoned for rosewood.
Alas, the true picture is imbued with murky tones. Let’s take a closer look at these two popular aromatics and consider the reasons why they have no place in holistic healing.
SANDALWOOD
The essential oil of Santalum album is found mainly in the heartwood and roots of mature trees. Thus, the tree must be felled in order to capture its precious bane. The sweet, soft-balsamic aroma is immensely popular in perfumery and as an ingredient in upmarket body care products. In aromatherapy, sandalwood is used mainly for its calming effect on the nerves and for skin treatments.
Few sandalwood trees are left in the Indonesian archipelago due to over-exploitation, while relatively recently discovered supplies in Papua New Guinea and the South Pacific are in danger of being squandered by local villagers, who fell them before maturity. Of the traditional areas in Southeast Asia where sandalwood is found, only India has made a significant effort to create sandalwood plantations, all of which are government owned. However, this parasitic tree is notoriously difficult to cultivate because the seed will usually only germinate once it has passed through a bird. The self-seeded saplings are protected from browsing animals to form semi-wild plantations.
Despite the Indian government’s restrictions on the trade in sandalwood (which allows a limited amount of the essential oil to be traded on the world market), clandestine cutting and smuggling remains a serious threat to the species, causing law and order problems in areas bordering the state of Tamil Nadu.
Smugglers have bribed hundreds of villagers to take part in illicit cutting and carrying, paying them twice as much as they can earn performing forest chores for the government. Alas, the gangs will often stop at nothing to secure their bounty - even murders have been committed in the name of sandalwood! The poached wood is taken north to the distilleries and incense factories of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Much of the illegally distilled oil finds its way to Indonesia from where it is sold to traders throughout the world.
Another major threat to sandalwood in southern India is seasonal forest fire, usually started by graziers and others employing unsustainable methods of land usage through ignorance of the need to maintain biodiversity. The fierce heat renders the trees susceptible to spike disease. A sandalwood tree infected with this mycoplasma organism usually dies within three years.
Due to its high price and scarcity, sandalwood essential oil is especially vulnerable to adulteration. It's also fairly easy to replicate the aroma of sandalwood in the laboratory, the true nature of the product usually only being detectable by the expert nose. Analysis of various essential oils obtained from different aromatherapy suppliers and conducted by the British consumer magazine 'Health Which?' (February, 2001) revealed that, in one case, a synthetic sandalwood odourant was being peddled as authentic sandalwood essential oil to unwitting aromatherapists. The source of the 'oil' was traced to a wholesaler supplying the aromatherapy profession and other specialist buyers seeking the highest quality natural aromatics.
While the use of synthetic sandalwood odorants is one way to save trees, omitting to declare the true nature of the product, however, is an act of fraud.
Simlarly, most of the powdered or chipped sandalwood available to incense-makers in the USA and Asia (the product is unavailable in Britain and the rest of Europe due to India's trade restrictions in the raw material) is actually the spent sawdust or wood chips remaining after distillation of the oil. The material is then perfumed either with genuine sandalwood oil or a synthetic fragrance. However, the true nature of this highly priced material is rarely stated on the label.
There is no doubt that the ethical stance would be to reduce the world demand for sandalwood whatever its country of origin. The only way to ensure such an outcome is for us to stop buying it! The Asian trade in sandalwood and other endangered species will probably continue unabated, but this is no reason for other countries to be complacent.
Some have argued that there is nothing wrong in using sandalwood oil if it can be obtained from a legal, traceable and sustainable source. Indeed, moves are afoot to establish such guarantees through organic certification schemes - albeit, the trees will take at least half a century to reach the desirable size and maturity necessary for commercial exploitation.
The real issue, though, is that certification will give sandalwood an ethical image and increase its desirability to the eco-minded – the very people who would choose not to buy sandalwood products if presented with the whole picture!
Awarding organic status to a consignment of oil will do nothing to curb the illicit trade in sandalwood, which is playing a major role in the tree’s demise. For wherever the tree is found growing, there will always be someone lurking in the shadows awaiting the opportunity to hack it down.
For any decent human being, the most shocking element of the sandalwood saga is that many incense factories in India and other parts of Asia employ children (mainly girls) as cheap labour to roll incense sticks for over 12 hours a day in in the most appalling conditions. The powdered ex-distillation material (including Australian sandalwood) is a common base material for these products. Therefore, even if we choose not to buy incense sticks, to continue supporting the trade in sandalwood oil is tantamount to condoning child abuse.
Moreover, the vibration of ecological devastation, child servitude, human greed and murder can hardly be said to resonate with the terms 'spiritual' and 'holistic', words commonly used in the marketing material for sandalwood and other costly aromatics. The philosophy of holistic healing, as espoused by many aromatherapists and herbalists, encompasses a high regard for the wellbeing of the individual as well as the planet that sustains all life. If we were truly to open our hearts to the subtle voice of sandalwood, we would hear the cries of the forest and her children.
WHAT ABOUT AUSTRALIAN SANDALWOOD?
As an alternative to precarious Asian sources, there is growing interest in Australian sandalwood (Santalum spicatum). The Department of Conservation and Land Management (CALM) in western Australia is overseeing the supply and sustainability of sandalwood stands for extraction.
A huge amount of government money has been poured into the project, and so Mt Romance, the producers of the extract (as we shall see, ‘pure essential oil’ is a misnomer) are doing their utmost to sell it to aromatherapists (among others).
Although plantations are being established, the newly planted trees will take at least 30-50 years before the oil content (found mainly in the heartwood) is sufficient in quantity and quality to make commercial harvesting worthwhile. In the meantime, trees will continue to be felled mainly from wild stands in the arid interior. In such harsh conditions, it can take 100 years for a tree to grow sufficiently large enough to meet harvesting criteria. Quite a different picture from that painted by the producers who are claiming that trees as young as 10-15 years will produce sufficient oil to make commercial harvesting worthwhile. An assumption based on wishful thinking.
Producers are also estimating that even without a replanting programme, there are enough trees to continue exploiting for 100 years. What is forgotten is that the demand for the product is likely to escalate as Asian sources continue to diminish and pressure mounts to expand or maintain the harvest - even if it is not sustainable.
Ian Kealley, an expert in sandalwood cultivation and project co-ordinator for CALM, points out, ‘It will take a strong government and industry to resist the financial incentives not to over-exploit’. Therefore, such estimates amount to little in a rapidly expanding market. Furthermore, at this time no one can be certain that the new plantations will flourish or expand sufficiently to replace the harvest from natural stands.
More telling, Kealley goes on to say, 'inventories have shown that there is little regeneration [of trees in the wild] due to many interlinked reasons.' Moreover, 'What hasn’t been done is a calculation of the sustainable level of harvest'. An astonishing admission and one that contradicts the claims of producers and essential oil sellers who insist that wild-harvesting of Santalum album is sustainable!
Another important point to remember is that the new plantations of Santalum spicatum are sited at least 1,000 km (620 miles) distant from where the trees are being uprooted in the parched interior of Western Australia. Indeed, this region is NOT being replanted for the simple reason of economics. The state subsidised Australian sandalwood industry is not prepared to wait upwards of 100 years for a return on its considerable investment.
Therefore, until the wetter wheatbelt plantations 'come of age' in about 50 years time, ancient slow-growing trees will continue to be uprooted from the arid regions with no attempt to replant in the same locations. Moreover, no one has even considered the long-term consequences of tampering with this fragile desert ecosystem. And all for the frivolous purposes of perfumery, cosmetics and the opportunistic exploitation of aromatherapy.
What of the aromatic's therapeutic properties? Recent studies indicate that the properties of Santalum spicatum extract are anti-microbial, fungicidal and anti-inflammatory. Few people realise, however, that Mt Romance of Albany, were also directly involved in the commissioning of acute dermal and oral toxicity tests on animals carried out by the Danish laboratory Scantox in the year 2000 (currently unpublished research). With a greedy eye on the main chance, laboratory animals have been tortured and destroyed in the name of Santalum spicatum. And yet, the aromatic is an ingredient in certain ‘cruelty free’ cosmetics sold in the USA and Australia!
ROSEWOOD
Rosewood (Aniba spp) is severely threatened within the accessible regions of the Amazon rainforest. The species A. roseaodora from the Brazilian Amazon Basin is on the verge of extinction resulting from over-exploitation by the perfume industry in former decades.
The essential oil is found in greater abundance in the roots and heartwood of mature trees, which necessitates felling these ancient giants. It is estimated that 3000 rosewood trees (of several species) are still felled annually for the extraction of essential oil.
Contrary to one popular myth, rosewood plantations have not been around since the 1930s! All evidence shows that the tree has always been cut down from the wild, hence its severe decline. Research carried out by the Global Trees Campaign, for instance, confirms that there have been attempts in recent years to establish rosewood plantations, but they have not been greatly successful.
Nevertheless, the current AVIVE replanting project in the Silves area of Brazil is looking more promising because the tree seedlings are being nurtured in their favoured wild forest habitat. Fortunately for these plants it is not their destiny to be ripped from the Earth for commercial gain. It is hoped that essential oil can be extracted by distillation of clippings of leaves and branches (even of fairly young trees) to provide a non-destructive and truly sustainable source of oil.
To ensure that local workers are not exploited, the price received for the essential oil will be higher than the usual market price in accordance with guidelines set by the international Fairtraid Foundation. Due to the scarcity of rosewood trees in the region, however, the amount of oil produced will be limited and available from only a handful of essential oil suppliers.
Unfortunately, at this time the aromatherapy profession is less enthused about rosewood leaf oil because its aroma and therapeutic properties are regarded as inferior In aromatherapy, rosewood oil is used mainly in external applications (e.g. massage) to alleviate nervous tension and anxiety through its sweet, woody-rose fragrance. Therefore, it’s absurd to believe that rosewood leaf/branch oil, whose aroma is only marginally different (i.e. with an additional citrus-like top note) from that obtained from heartwood, could be noticeably less effective for addressing emotional disharmony. Any essential oil whose aroma is pleasing to the recipient has the potential to enhance mood and reduce stress when applied therapeutically.
A word of caution: once word spreads about a sustainable source of rosewood leaf/branch oil, chances are the aromatherapy market will become flooded with ‘ethically harvested’ rosewood oil. (Indeed, similar has occurred with sandalwood, with some suppliers seriously claiming to sell oil produced only from trees blown down in storms!) It’s advisable, therefore, to boycott rosewood oil, as many enlightened therapists and traders have been doing for over a decade. That is to say, unless indisputable documentary evidence of its provenance and sustainability can be acquired from the supplier - thus making it easier to take legal action against a trader making fraudulent claims.
IMPORTANT NOTE ADDED 7TH & 12TH NOVEMBER 2005
All the mature wild Rosewood trees which had formed part of the conservation arboretum supervised by Barbara Schmal of the AVIVE Project were recently felled by criminal loggers. A personal commentary on this issue can be found at the end of this article.
Please also see: 'Saving Rosewood, the Forest and Her Peoples', accesssed via the navigation bar on the left of the screen.
THE WAY FORWARD
Here are some of the simple ways you can help prevent the extinction of medicinal plants, protect fragile habitats and at the same time contribute to raising general ecological awareness within your own sphere of contacts.
Any medicinal plant that you are able to cultivate yourself is one less plant taken from the wild.
Any cultivated medicinal plant grown in your own country from a certified organic source is another one less plant taken from the wild. As well as contributing to your own wellbeing, the choice made supports the welfare of the organic grower and the integrity of the local environment.
Avoid any plant or essential oil that you know is from an endangered wild source (with the help of articles such as this).
Avoid use of over-packaged, over-processed and over-priced standardised herbal remedies whenever possible. If produced by one of the multinational pharmaceutical companies, its development will almost certainly have involved animal testing. Become intimate with the multifaceted effects of real herbs grown with integrity and respect for the environment and all life forms.
Ask awkward questions of suppliers. Encourage them to investigate the provenance of every herb (or related product) they sell. Should you discover that a company is lying about its products or actions, never buy anything of theirs again.
Join a local or international conservation/ environmental organisation of your choice. Such agencies will work on your behalf to lobby governments, multinational industries and authorities around the world. They will also advise on the many ways in which you can make a positive difference in your own locality.
As a final word, never under-estimate the power of the Green coin. By choosing what to buy and what not to buy, together we can change the ethics of business and industry. And when we venture to speak out about unethical practice, although our voices may not always be heard, sometimes they will be. With this knowledge we find peace in the wilderness, joy in reaping the benefits of Nature’s harvest, remaining ever thankful in our hearts.
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The yellow lady's slipper orchid (cypripedium calceolus var. pubescens). Photograph courtesy of Diana Horton, University of Iowa Herbarium.
SOURCES
Blake, F. 2002 (Standards and Technical Director, Soil Association), personal communication.
Burfield, T. 2002. (British consultant to the aromatics trade), personal communication.
Coppen, J.J.W. 1995. Flavours and Fragrances of Plant Origin. Non-Wood Forest Products. Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations.
Denham, A, 1994/1997. Using Herbs Responsibly. European Journal Herbal Medicine, Vol 1.
Dimbleby, J. (president of the Soil Association), personal communication.
Down to Earth (online journal), November 2001. Deforestation Blamed for Nias Tragedy.
Goodall J. and Berman, P. 1999. A Reason for Hope. Warner Books Inc. (USA).
Green, C.L., Oshashis et al, 1997. Brazilean Rosewood Oil: Sustainable Production and Quality Oil Management. Perf & Flav Vol 22 (Mar/April 1997) pp1-5.
Green Life Association of Amazonia (AVIVE), 2002. Community Project: Sustainable Production of Essential Oils and Related Products in the Silves Area, Amazonias.
Hamer, S. 2001. Herbal Medicine and Conservation., National Institute Medical Herbalists.
Hamilton, A., 1992. International Trade in Medicinal Plants: Conservation Issues and Potential Roles for Botanic Gardens. WWF International.
Health Which? February 2001. Shopping for Aromatherapy Oils?
Kealley, I., 2002, 2004 (Department of Conservation and Land Management, western Australia), personal communication.
Ranananthan, C., 1998. Declining Sandalwood Forests and Smuggling. TED Case Studies, Vol 8:1.
Schmitt, S. 2002, 2003(International Plants Conservation Officer, WWF-UK), personal communication.
Tree Conservation Service, 2002. Aniba rosaeodora
WWF-UK, August 2002. Fact Sheet 1: Towards Sustainable Herbal Medicine
WWF-UK, August 2002. Fact Sheet 2: Cultivation Versus Wild Harvesting of Medicinal Plants: Is Cultivation The Sole Solution ?
Vasquez, R. (Information Officer, WWF-Brazil), personal communication.
Click here, then select MAGAZINE from menu bar, then scroll down to CROPWATCH Issue 5
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The first version of 'Spotlight on the Trade in Wild Plants' was published in the autumn of 2002. It has been updated several times since then. The most recent update being the sad news of the illegal logging of mature wild rosewood trees which had formed part of the AVIVE Project's conservation arboretum.
News of the felled trees came earlier this year from a reliable personal source. When I first wrote this update in November 2005, no one formerly associated with the AVIVE Project could be contacted, for there was no longer a functioning website, email address, phone or fax number. So it was concluded that the project had folded. However, I've since discovered that the AVIVE website (at least the online shop) is now up and running again.
I must confess that it was only after the 'Spotlight' article had been published in several journals at home and abroad that I began to have mixed feelings about the rosewood aspect of the AVIVE Project.
The problem is that some of the soaps and toiletries produced by the AVIVE women's co-operative contain rosewood oil distilled from so-called sustainably felled rosewood trees certified by the Brazilian government's corrupt conservation department, IBAMA.
The AVIVE Project has decided to continue using IBAMA certified rosewood oil until such time the cultivated rosewood saplings have grown large enough to tolerate regular pruning of their leaves and twigs for oil production.
Of course, all this will take years to materialise - if indeed, there will ever be a market for rosewood leaf and branch oil. To understand the reasons why, please read my more recent article entitled, 'Saving Rosewood The Forest and Her Peoples', accessed via the navigation bar on the left of the screen.
At first it was not evident to me that the soaps and toiletries contained rosewood oil from felled wild trees. It was only after I met the AVIVE project leader in London in the summer of 2003 that the full picture emerged.
The women of AVIVE are relying on their soaps and toiletries as a source of income for their families. I feel torn between my deep concerns about destruction of the Amazonian rainforest and the need to sustain the livelihoods of local people - who, incidentally, are not pure bred Indians but descendants of the original Portuguese invaders of the region. Nonetheless, they are impoverished and their needs cannot be disregarded.
Others in the Amazon region are attempting more ambitious projects, as featured in the 'Saving Rosewood' article mentioned above. The tragedy of such projects is their need for the existing rosewood distilleries to remain open. Ludicrously, under present arrangements IBAMA certified wild rosewood trees will continue to be felled for essential oil production; while at the same time the leaves and twigs of sustainably cultivated rosewood will be processed in the very same distilleries!
It would appear that the AVIVE project intends to function in a similar manner. I had, of course, expressed my concerns about this to their former project leader. She agreed that IBAMA rosewood oil distilled from felled wild trees was certainly not sustainable. Indeed, the most recent satellite images of environmental destruction caused by selective logging of the Amazon is now indisputable.
The European organic inspection body Ecocert, aided and abetted by the Forest Stewardship Council, have made a huge error of judgement in taking it upon themselves to certify rosewood oil distilled from felled wild trees. In so doing, such bodies are perpetuating the myth of 'sustainable' selective logging of old-growth forests.
The time is well overdue for mainstream conservation bodies everywhere to accept the stark reality that tropical forests cannot be selectively logged on an industrial scale, not without creating ecological devastation. Every effort must be made to curb deforestation and slow-down global climate change before it's too late.
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As a postcript to the above, it is essential to remind ourselves that rosewood oil is not a traditional aromatic of the Amazonian forest peoples. Indeed, distillation technology is unknown to tribal peoples everywhere. The essential oil of rosewood is a 20th century discovery originally distilled solely for the perfumery and cosmetic markets.
Of course, it's good to learn that the women of AVIVE are still able to market their products to sustain their incomes. Nevertheless, the hitherto unsaid must be expressed.
To witness examples of authentically ethnic and arguably more ecologically sound co-operatives, we need only think of the all-women co-operatives of West Africa, producing unrefined shea butter from the fruit of Vitallaria paradoxa, and the Berber co-operatives in the Atlas Mountains region of Morocco, producing Argan oil from the fruit of Argania spinosa. Such products have been made for thousands of years with little impact on the natural environment.
Above all, as only the fruit is used for extraction of the above products, trees which might otherwise have been felled for timber are being conserved. In the case of Argan oil, experts are saying that the community traded oil pressed from wild harvested nuts is the tree's only hope of survival - the region being desperately short of timber due to deforestation and drought.
Even so, it's essential that new trees are encouraged to thrive, for the same trees cannot produce fruit indefinitely, as we already know from rapidly diminishing Brazil nut harvests (see the page entitled, "Is Sustainable Commercial Wild Harvesting a Myth?" accessed via the navigation bar on the left).
Returning to AVIVE, I only wish they would stop using rosewood oil in their products - that is to say, until such time a truly sustainable version extracted from the leaves of cultivated trees becomes a reality.
(C) Chrissie Wildwood 2002-2004. All rights reserved.
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