Do We Have A Fragrant Future?
This subject used to bother my conscience as I of course adore the aroma of wild material. I struggled with the ethics of burning wild agarwood or wearing wild oud thinking that I’m part of the problem. Cultivated stuff doesn’t quite scratch the itch for me and many others. I have however come to terms with the matter, I don’t actually think there’s a problem at all and although it may be challenging for us all in the short term, I don’t believe there’s any cause for concern in the distant future.
Yes, forests are getting ravaged, yes trees are being cut down almost indiscriminately in some areas and yes it is problematic for both local economies and consumers pockets but we aren’t witnessing the mass extinction of Aquilaria sinensis trees or the fungi that helps to create the Agarwood. I see countless YouTube vids and blogs with 1st hand statements and pictures showing sapling Aquilaria trees ready to hit the sky in what once was the shadow of its mother tree. Even if there were some areas with no trees left people could return with saplings to fuel a new generation of Oud hunters.
Allow me to let you into a story.
This story changed my whole view on the ‘sustainability’ situation.
Apparently after the Dutch colonised Indonesia in 1796 they soon discovered the riches of the jungles and ordered them to be pillaged. After this time many Indonesian jungles were almost completely void of old Aquilaria Sinensis trees. Agarwood could not be found anymore, the jungles were bare. Fast forward to last century, the jungles were abundant once again!
Market scarcity will pinch our pockets in the short term but I really don’t believe it’s an extinction event. One thing that is a slight concern to me is deforestation. It’s a big problem in Papua at the moment but for the rest of Asia I don’t believe it’s going at an alarming bf rate. Borneo is pretty much protected in many areas and as the years go by more and more governments will I hope come to the understanding that we should protect these beautiful forest areas…and still be able to take some wood out of them 😉I think that in our lifetime the cost of wild Agarwood and Oud will continue to rise, maybe quite considerably but really this amazing resource from Mother Nature will continue to be appreciated for many generations to come. So hopefully this blog has bestowed on to you a guilt free indulgence on your next swipe or burn.
Thanks for reading and getting to the end of my blog, feel free to browse our store. Oli