For the past several years, a group of women in Brazil have struggled to promote and perform sustainable harvesting of endangered rosewood trees.¹ The group, called AVIVE for its acronym in Portuguese (meaning “Green Life Association of Amazonia” in English), was founded in 1999 and is composed of 43 women from the Silves district of the northern Amazonas state of Brazil. These women manufacture and sell soaps and products scented with rosewood oil and other natural aromas, while tending rosewood plantations for future sustainable use. Such practices aim to both reduce local poverty and improve the survival of a species sadly depleted over the years.

The Brazilian rosewood (Aniba rosaeodora Ducke, Lauraceae), called pau rosa in Brazil, which once grew in abundance throughout the Amazon region, was added to the World Conservation Union’s Red List of Threatened Species in 1997.² Manufacturers of perfumes and other aromatic products began demanding huge amounts of rosewood oil in the early 1900s, due to its appealing fragrance.¹ According to the New York Times, the oil was used most notably as a key ingredient of the popular perfume Chanel No. 5. For several decades, industry exploitation generated severe deforestation of rosewood trees, which were destroyed for the oil found in their heartwood and roots. International recognition of the scarcity of rosewoods, as well as the introduction of synthetic linalool (a chemical of rosewood oil that contributes to its scent), has greatly reduced the demand for natural rosewood oil over the past few decades.³ However, the exact concentration of linalool from rosewood oil has proven difficult to duplicate synthetically, leading some perfume companies to consider rosewood essential oil irreplaceable for their needs, whereas the manufacturers of other household products and lower quality perfumes have been satisfied with the synthetic linalool (E. Elisabetsky, e-mail, July 7, 2006).* A lingering black market trade of rosewood oil still contributes to the decimation of these endangered trees.¹

David Hircock, herbalist and environmental watchdog for the cosmetic company Aveda, said the history and current predicament of the rosewood tree is shared by many plants around the world (D. Hircock, personal communication, October 25, 2005). “You just have to look in our own backyard,” Hircock explained, pointing to the severe exploitation and present scarcity of wild American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius L., Araliaceae), which is valued for its medicinal qualities. “This problem is extremely common, which is very worrying.”

Some scientists, meanwhile, have noted that natural rosewood oil can be obtained through sustainable means. Stems and leaves of rosewood trees also produce an oil rich in linalool, meaning that distillation of these regenerative tree parts can derive the fragrant oil previously extracted only from the destruction of full rosewood trees.³ AVIVE plans to employ just such methods in the production of its own rosewood-scented products (B. Schmal, e-mail, March 13, 2006). For this purpose, the women of AVIVE have planted and are tending a plantation of 2,000 young rosewoods. They have further engaged in partnerships with Precious Woods Amazon, a supplier of sustainably sourced exotic wood, and with land owners in their district, which has resulted in cooperative management of forest areas and has enabled AVIVE’s sustainable use of those areas’ non-wood forest products.

“There are currently 43 women in the association, the majority of whom were without jobs until the project began,” said Barbara Schmal, a leader of the organization. “The success of the project has shown that economic activities can be environmentally sustainable in addition to strengthening perceptions of the role of women in a local context.” Schmal explained that AVIVE has not yet been able to produce rosewood oil from leaves and stems, as most of the trees in their plantation have not sufficiently matured. She said the group may be able to attempt such distillation in 2007. In the meantime, AVIVE has been using rosewood oil donated by the government’s environmental enforcement agency, the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA), in its rosewood-scented products. Such oil was confiscated by IBAMA from an illegal distillation unit.

The women of AVIVE manufacture aromatic soaps, candles, and products from the oils of many tree species, in addition to rosewoods (B. Schmal, e-mail, March 13, 2006). For instance, they employ oils from andiroba seeds (Carapa guianensis Aubl., Meliaceae) and cumaru seeds (aka tonka beans, Dipteryx odorata [Aubl.] Willd., Fabaceae), as well as copaiba resin/oil (Copaifera spp. L., Fabaceae), breu oil (Protium spp., Burseraceae), and puxuri oil (Licaria pucheri [Ruiz & Pavon] Kosterm., Lauraceae). All of these oils are aromatic, and several of them contain healing properties or work as insect repellants. Like the rosewood, many of the trees that produce the oils are threatened. According to Schmal, all of those oils are harvested in a sustainable manner for AVIVE’s use. The women use a vegetal glycerin base for the production of soaps and a paraffin base for candles, and they do not employ synthetic dyes or aromas. The products are sold in local shops to area residents and tourists, in the larger stores of some nearby cities, and to a small number of international customers in Germany, the United Kingdom, France, and the United States.

According to Aveda’s Hircock, consumers and companies need to protect groups like AVIVE, which combine indigenous knowledge with conservation efforts. Hircock has worked extensively with entrepreneurial conservation groups similar to AVIVE—particularly the Asia Network for Sustainable Agriculture and Bioresources, based in Nepal, and the Songman Circle of Wisdom, in Australia. Aveda is a partner of both organizations, providing the groups with long-term sustainable distribution of their products and technical assistance, while promoting local socio-economic developments and maintaining respect of the indigenous peoples’ cultural protocols. Finding such distribution can be one of the greatest challenges for groups like AVIVE, according to Hircock. “We will not have these plants around unless we look after the collectors, who in turn will look after the environment if they get a fair return,” he said.

However, not all responses to AVIVE’s efforts have been positive. Chrissie Wildwood, an author of several books on aromatherapy and natural medicine, argued that the organization’s use of IBAMA-donated rosewood oil from heartwood inadvertently promotes the decimation of the species (C. Wildwood, e-mail, January 15, 2006). “I’m relieved that the women have a market for their products as I know they need the income. I only wish they would drop the rosewood oil from their products until such time as the sustainable version of the oil becomes a reality,” she explained. Moreover, she pointed out that there is no true ethnobotanical history of rosewood oil distillation by indigenous peoples. According to Wildwood, rosewood oil was never used as a healing oil by indigenous forest peoples, and distillation technology was only introduced by modern industries.

Wildwood stressed that any exploitation or destruction of ancient rainforest trees, either legally or illegally, for commercial ends should be opposed. “The tree may not die out as a species. Indeed, stands of Aniba trees can still be found in inaccessible high places far from the Amazon river, which is necessary for floating the huge and heavy logs downstream to the distilleries. However, the genetic diversity of the species must have weakened considerably due to aggressive harvesting of trees from the Amazon Basin where the species is now regarded as critically endangered,” she said.

Selective logging in Brazil, in general, has been a subject of harsh scrutiny lately. Reports in October 2005 stated that human logging of the Brazilian rainforest had been severely underestimated, as determined by improved satellite imagery.⁴ This heavy logging was also blamed for severe wildfires and natural disasters in the region.

Meanwhile, AVIVE’s own rosewood plantation has been periodically threatened by illegal logging activities. In early 2006, trees located approximately 12 kilometers from the AVIVE plantation were illegally removed for harvesting. According to Schmal, the women of AVIVE are sometimes threatened by illegal loggers, who argue that it should be their right to cut down and sell trees. “They know the environmental laws and determinations, but they incriminate the state and federal governments for preventing them to work as forest people,” Schmal explained. “But real forest people do not damage the environment they need for their livelihood; they only use the trees they need for constructing their house or boat, not more than this. The rosewood cutters are not from Silves. They come from other Brazilian states in the south with the idea to become rich. This is normal for Amazonia.”

To help curb illegal logging and address sustainability issues of rosewoods, AVIVE has encouraged the development of certain local projects. According to Schmal, the group sent a proposal to the Brazilian government for the development of a small education and training program to teach local landowners and tree cutters about the importance of rosewood preservation. “These people need to learn that cutting trees can bring you some good money—for awhile—then you need a lot of creativity to survive,” said Schmal. She added that most of the money from illegal rosewood harvesting is gained by distillery owners, not the tree cutters. Schmal has said that a few meetings have recently been conducted between state government officials, academic experts, and rosewood oil producers to facilitate discussion of rosewood conservation issues. Members of AVIVE, however, have not been invited to participate, she lamented (B. Schmal, e-mail, July 2, 2006).

References

1. Rohter L. A quest to save a tree, and make the world smell sweet. New York Times. August 30, 2005;International section:A4.

2. Wildwood C. Saving rosewood, the forest, and her peoples. Chrissie Wildwood Web site. Available at: http://chrissie-wildwood.com/SAVING-ROSEWOOD-THE-FOREST-AND-HER-PEOPLES-2. Accessed November 11, 2005.

3. May P, Barata L. Rosewood exploitation in the Brazilian Amazon: options for sustainable production. Economic Botany. 2004;58(2):257-265.

4. Hutson S. Logging threat to Amazon much greater than thought. New Scientist Web site. Available at: http://www.newscientist.com/channel/life/endangered-species/dn8189-logging-threat-to-amazon-much-greater-than-thought.html. Accessed October 25, 2005.

* There have been numerous efforts to find alternative sources of linalool. Many have been found which are suitable for various consumer products; however, the linalool from rosewood is irreplaceable for perfumery, at least with respect to efforts to maintain the original formula for some market leaders like Chanel No. 5. This is due to the unique combination of percentages of (+) and (-) linalool. A major part of linalool used commercially for various purposes (home products, some lower-cost perfumes) is synthetic, and a racemic mixture of (+) and (-) isomers. What gives rosewood essential oil its unique smell is the unique combination of the percentages of the (+) and (–) isomers, which are difficult to obtain via commercial synthesis or from alternative plant sources. This means that in terms of conservation, major commercial users need to use the synthetic and alternative natural sources, while those that for whatever reason still must use the original essential oil must invest in sustainable management of existing rosewood trees as well as reforestation of new trees. (E. Elisabetsky, e-mail, July 7, 2006.)