By AFP - Agence France Presse
Hong Kong scientists fight to save fragrant incense trees
Tai Po (AFP) - Geneticist Zhang Huarong walks through the forest near his research lab in Hong Kong, pointing to a rotting incense tree stump that is one of more than a dozen trees illegally felled to extract the valuable wood it contains.
Just a stone's throw from the city's urban center, some forests are home to trees that produce the fragrant - and valuable - agarwood, used in various high-quality products, from incense and perfume to traditional Chinese medicine.
Environmentalists say that illegal logging of incense trees is on the rise in Hong Kong, fueled by black market demand.
Scientists like Zhang are reacting by taking DNA samples from each plant and creating a database that can help the authorities crack down on the problem, as well as offering information on how the trees can be better conserved.
“In one night, more than 20 trees were cut down by poachers,” Zhang, a researcher at Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden, told AFP.
“We have to take action.”
Hong Kong has long been a center for sweet-smelling aromatic products. The city's name, which means “fragrant harbor”, is commonly associated with the region's history of producing and selling incense.
Agarwood is created when frankincense trees are cut down, which causes the plant to produce a dark resin to prevent infection.
The product then takes the form of resinous, fragrant wood.
'Black gold'
The Hong Kong authorities claim that the illegal felling of frankincense trees increased twelvefold in 2023 compared to the previous year.
Often described as “black gold”, the highest quality products can fetch up to US$10,000 per kilo.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has classified the Chinese Agarwood as “vulnerable”, blaming logging and logging for the population decline.
To reverse this situation, Zhang and other field researchers trekked for hours through Hong Kong's dense jungle to access remote populations of incense trees.
Rural communities interested in protecting the forests near their homes also helped develop the incense tree database, he told AFP.
Scientists are building a genetic database of agarwood trees in Hong Kong in the hope of preventing population decline.
“We communicate with these villages, and they share with us information about the remaining trees, and we also share our findings with them,” he said.
The database has a joint purpose: to help the authorities prevent the illegal felling of incense trees and to help researchers understand the species' evolutionary potential.
Zhang said this research has identified unique genetic groups located in different areas of Hong Kong, diversity that could be key to cultivating a resilient wild population of the vulnerable species.
Greater genetic diversity protects populations from environmental changes, Zhang explained.
In the case of Hong Kong's frankincense trees, this includes the effects of climate change and increased logging activity.
This information allows conservationists to know where to transplant certain frankincense trees from nurseries into the wild.
Authorities can then use this genetic data to cross-reference seized agarwood and check whether it was taken from protected incense trees.
Aaron Tang, who owns a store in Hong Kong, sells items that attest to the many uses of agarwood, from carved jewelry to oils and hand-rolled incense sticks.
To help protect the wild agarwood population, he said he checks with raw material suppliers that the product comes from cultivated trees.
And when he teaches a class on how to make joss sticks, he warns his students against buying wild stock or falling for illegally obtained products.
“Hong Kong is named after agarwood, so I want to maintain that culture,” he said.
'Completely disappeared.'
Unlike sustainable agarwood producers, the illegals make deep cuts in the tree in an attempt to make it produce agarwood more quickly.
Then, “they cut down the whole tree” for harvesting, scientist David Lau of the Chinese University of Hong Kong told AFP, pointing to an incense tree trunk preserved on campus.
A city spokesman said that patrols had been set up in “specific locations with important populations of frankincense trees”.
They also insisted that illegal felling has decreased since measures were implemented in 2018, including metal cages and surveillance around the most accessible trees.
Hong Kong's frankincense trees are affected by climate change and increased logging activity.
But horticulturist Paul Melsom attributes the drop to the fact that there are “fewer trees to steal”.
Illegal trade has continued to thrive despite government efforts.
Last year, Hong Kong's customs department said it seized a ton of agarwood in a single operation - its biggest seizure in two decades.
The authorities estimated the value of the goods at around US$2.3 million.
“The trees have been cut down and have completely disappeared in many Hong Kong forests,” said Melsom, adding that he has been planting incense trees in secret locations for more than a decade in response.
“I've seen many incense trees disappear,” he said.
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