By Faith Sudi and Kelvin Njai
Across both conventional and social media platforms, you will see promotions and advertisements of beauty products.
The products particularly target women and men who are keen to advance their looks.
There are facial, body, nail products.
The messaging and photography make them look like the fictitious Cinderella or a star male actor in a Soap Opera.
What many of the consumers of these beauty products don’t know is that they are contributing to environmental degradation.
One of the elements used in many of those products are from Sandalwood.
Of significance to note, oil is extracted from the whole tree and mostly from roots.
This means that there is no chance for the tree to sprout again since it got uprooted.
Sandalwood is an indigenous tree whose woods are heavy, yellow, and fine-grained and unlike many other aromatic woods, retain their fragrance for days.
Its extraction didn’t start yesterday as you may think.
According to history books and blogs, it was largely used and is still used by many societies for medicinal purposes.
Among the Indians, it is used to treat many ailments like scabies, Urinary Tract Infection (UTI), common cold among others.
United Nation Environmental Programme (UNEP) says that it has been used by humans for more than 5000 years.
In 2018, the sandalwood tree was put under threatened spices red list, by the Convention of International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES) of world flora and fauna across East Africa.
With social media and applying make up becoming an everyday affair, the demand for these products keeps skyrocketing.
Speaking recently during a meeting held virtually and whose main agenda was to assess the rate of trafficking of this indigenous tree that threatens its survival in East Africa, Ms. Joyce Kimani, Regional Coordinator of Global Investigation on Transorganized Crime (GITC) noted that during their investigation they found out that the sandalwood products were not just readily available but also expensive.
“Even without looking far there were retailers online who had the sandalwood oil which was highly priced. Like a 100ml was going for $7.5 or Ksh 750,” she said.
Likewise, just like any other crimes, she said that they attract atrocities like corruption and violence by organized gangs.
“We found out that sandalwood harvesting is made possible by corrupt Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) officers, and just like any other crime it comes with violence and gangs,” Ms Kimani added.
Despite its value addition on beauty products, the tree is now facing a threat of extinction due to the uncontrolled trafficking.
In Kenya, sandalwood harvesting was halted by a presidential ban in the year 2007.
This followed overexploitation of this species to meet the demand market in the Middle East.
According to Kenyan Constitution, Section 92 of the Wildlife Conservation and Management of 2013, it is a criminal offense to be in possession of prohibited animal or plant product without proper licensing.”
Unganisha Culture Organization Executive Director Ngugi Mwangi emphasized on the need to do community sensitization and awareness of sandalwood threats to extinction.
Unganisha Cultures is an Art‐Based Organization that focuses on Environmental Crime issues and the diverse Cultural aspects in East African Region. It was formed on October 2019 with the aim of sensitizing the community against environmental crimes through art. While advocating for environmental policies at country and regional levels.
His group brings together artists who fight social ills through art.
“Most of the community members where sandalwood is harvested don’t even know the importance of this tree. They do not understand the threat it is facing and that’s where we seek to inform and sensitize them as a group,” he stated.
Further, he added that as a group they have done a number of these sensitization initiatives and are hoping to do more to curb the illegal practice.
To combat this, it requires real effort from all stakeholders involved and a lot of sensitization to the local people where the precious wood is harvested.
Wycliffe Maunda from Kenya Forest and Research Institute (KEFRI) who is attached at Karura forest echoed that the smugglers ride on villagers’ lack of information about the tree.
“You will find that they are buying it at Ksh100 for a kilo which is exploitation,” he noted.
He raised concern on the challenges within the legal system in Kenya that fail to convict the criminals behind the illegal trade as the big fishes in the business are left to walk on loose.
“In many cases only the villagers are arrested, and the real people are not. When they do, they are well-connected frustrating the efforts,” said Maunda.
He pointed however on the need of proper and better policing to help people do the harvesting in the right way that can protect the species.
“If the policy and regulations are there, and they are guided on how to harvest and find market for the plant then they can handle the smugglers,” he said.
In an effort to save sandalwood from extinction due to rampant logging and uprooting for exportation, Kenya’s forestry agency has given out guidelines for growth of the tree.
In India, the government declared growing sandalwood tree illegal due to rise in its smuggling and exportation in recent years.
However, planting has since been allowed but plantation activities are undertaken by government departments.
The department controls the cutting of sandalwood.
