21/28 December 2019 | New Scientist | 59talking about difficult physical geographies
and areas where there are security issues.”
Frankincense is one of the few
internationally tradable commodities these
areas have, so it is small wonder people want
to exploit a booming market. Frankincense
has become “the king” of the multibillion-
dollar essential-oil industry, says DeCarlo.
She first visited Somalia in 2011, then again
in 2016, and couldn’t believe the difference.
“There were new, more powerful buyers and
suppliers harvesting frankincense resin more
intensively and in different species than
before,” she says. “There are people in this
business who are not thinking long-term,
they’re thinking about their profits.”
Her team is aiming to counter this by
training tappers in Somalia in sustainable
techniques. Importing best practice from
neighbouring Ethiopia might also help. There,
government guidelines recommend reducing
the number of tapping spots, preventing deep
cuts and giving the trees one or two years of
rest after three to five years of tapping.
Abeje Eshete at the Ethiopian Environment
and Forest Research Institute in Addis Ababa
says the guidelines have given local producers
more awareness of sustainable tapping
practices. Rest periods have been implemented
in some areas, and the institute is also
encouraging tappers to form cooperatives,
granting them rights of ownership and
shared profits with government-controlled
companies, which are entering a market
previously dominated by private companies.
“These cooperatives are often better compared
to private companies at managing resources
at a local level because they hire local people
who care more about the land,” says Eshete.
The government’s input is still
important to bring international expertise
about sustainable production, he says. “We
don’t have the resources to provide this. But
with the right support, both financial and
technical, we can improve the situation.”
It is a similar picture in Somalia, says
DeCarlo. “We need scientific expertise from
every country where the trees grow to make
a coordinated effort. But it can be done, it just
needs the right amount of oversight and the
right form of incentivising.” For Bongers,
that means paying frankincense tappers for
good-quality resin from healthy trees, rather
than for a given amount.
DeCarlo stresses the need to raise consumer
awareness of where frankincense comes from
and its true cost, as well as to encourage
companies to be open about their supply
chains. “I’m not going to let these trees go
without a fight, but the science is not enough,”she says. “There’s pressure that needs to be put
on these companies to be transparent, show
where their frankincense comes from and do
due diligence.”
Lush, for one, says it is doing just that.
“We are aware of the concerns regarding the
future of frankincense and the importance
of sustainably harvesting the resins,” says
Gabbi Loedolff, the firm’s global buying
coordinator. She says the company doesn’t use
third parties, instead buying its frankincense
from one trusted supplier that sources the
resin in the Sanaag region of Somaliland. The
supplier commits a portion of its revenues
towards improving access to water, food
security and access to healthcare in harvesting
communities, says Lush, and it contributes
towards conservation efforts, including
funding for a nursery to propagate another
species, Boswellia carteri.
Such efforts and more will be needed
to allow frankincense to turn the corner.
In November 2018, Bongers organised the
first international conference on frankincense
sustainability, in Muscat, Oman. The location
was a deliberate choice. In the mid-1990s,
Oman drastically reduced exports of
frankincense to help protect its indigenous
Boswellia sacra trees, and established large-
scale frankincense plantations. It is a far cry
from the millennia-old traditions of small-
scale tapping – but to save this iconic species,
perhaps it is the best option we have. ❚Lilian Anekwe is
New Scientist’s social
media editor. She is,
to be frank, incensedLeft: The Mutrah
Souq in Muscat,
Oman, is a centre
of frankincense
tradingRight:
Frankincense,
the dried resin of
Boswellia trees,
releases a sweet
aroma on burningDA
VIDGOODWI
N/ALAMYSTOCK^ PHOTOJAMES
JO
HNSON^ /
EYEE
M/
GE
TTY