Geneticist Zhang Huarong walks via the forest close to his Hong Kong analysis lab, gesturing in the direction of a rotting incense tree stump that’s considered one of over a dozen illegally felled for the precious wooden inside. A stone’s throw from town’s city centre are forests dwelling to timber that produce aromatic — and beneficial — agarwood, utilized in a variety of high-end merchandise from incense and fragrance to conventional Chinese language medication.
Environmentalists say unlawful incense tree felling is on the rise in Hong Kong, fueled by black market demand. Scientists like Zhang are preventing again by taking DNA samples from every plant and making a database that may assist authorities crack down — in addition to supply insights into how the timber will be higher conserved.
“In a single evening, over 20 timber had been lower down by poachers,” Zhang, a researcher at Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Backyard, instructed AFP.
“Aromatic Harbour”
Hong Kong has lengthy been a hub for sweet-smelling fragrant merchandise. The town’s title — translating to “aromatic harbour” — is usually linked to the world’s historical past of incense manufacturing and sale.
Agarwood is created when incense timber are lower, which causes the plant to supply a darkish resin to forestall an infection. The product then takes the type of aromatic resinous wooden.
Hong Kong authorities say that unlawful incense tree felling soared twelvefold in 2023 in comparison with the earlier 12 months. Usually described as “black gold”, the highest-grade merchandise can fetch as much as $10,000 per kilo.
Worldwide Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has labelled Chinese language Agarwood as “weak” — blaming logging and wooden harvesting for the inhabitants decline.
Aiming to reverse that, Zhang and different area researchers hiked for hours via swathes of Hong Kong’s dense jungle to entry distant populations of incense timber. Rural communities eager to guard the forests close to their houses additionally assisted in creating the incense tree database, he instructed AFP.
“Now we have communications with these villages, and so they share info with us concerning the remaining timber, and we additionally share our findings with them,” he mentioned. The database serves a joint goal: aiding authorities in stopping unlawful incense tree felling and serving to researchers perceive the species’ evolutionary potential.
Zhang mentioned this analysis has recognized distinctive genetic teams situated in numerous areas of Hong Kong — range that could possibly be key to cultivating a resilient wild inhabitants of the weak species. Bigger genetic range protects populations from environmental modifications, Zhang defined. For Hong Kong’s incense timber, that features the consequences of local weather change and surges in logging exercise.
This info lets conservationists know the place to transplant sure incense timber from nurseries into the wild. Authorities can then use this genetic knowledge to cross-reference seized agarwood and examine if it was taken from protected incense timber.
Hong Kong store proprietor Aaron Tang sells wares that attest to the numerous makes use of of agarwood, from carved jewelry to oils and hand-rolled joss sticks. To assist defend the wild agarwood inhabitants, he mentioned he verifies with uncooked materials suppliers that their product comes from cultivated timber.
And when he teaches a category on making joss sticks, he warns his college students towards shopping for wild inventory, or falling for illegally gotten merchandise. “The title of Hong Kong is due to agarwood so I wish to preserve this tradition,” he mentioned.
“Gone fully”
Not like sustainable agarwood producers, the unlawful ones create deep cuts on the tree in a bid to make it produce agarwood extra shortly. Then “they chop down the entire tree” for harvesting, Chinese language College of Hong Kong scientist David Lau instructed AFP, pointing to a preserved incense tree trunk on campus.
A spokesperson for town mentioned they’ve arrange patrols at “particular places with vital incense tree populations”. In addition they insisted that unlawful felling has decreased since measures carried out in 2018, together with metallic cages and surveillance round probably the most accessible timber.
However horticulturist Paul Melsom attributes the autumn to there being “much less timber to poach”.
And the unlawful commerce has continued to thrive regardless of authorities efforts. Final 12 months, Hong Kong’s customs division mentioned it seized a tonne of agarwood in a single operation — its largest haul in twenty years. Authorities estimated it was price about $2.3 million.
“The timber have been lower down and gone fully in lots of forests in Hong Kong,” Melsom mentioned, including he’s been planting incense timber in secret places for over a decade in response. “I’ve seen many incense timber disappear,” he mentioned.
