From Samburu to China: Women as key custodians and perpetrators of illegal sandalwood trafficking

Originally published in Global Voices, by Linda Ngari with support from the Resillience Fund and Unganisha Cultures. Read the original here.

The sandalwood tree, known as Losesiai in Samburu language, is of immense traditional value to the people of Kenya’s Samburu County. According to Lillian Letiwa, one of the women leading conservation efforts in the county, sandalwood leaves have many uses, including as a way to ward off evil spirits in newborns. Lillian noted:

She added that they also use sandalwood leaves as medicine.

The women in Samburu swear that this same process can cure breast cancer. 

Although a senior researcher at the Kenya Forestry Research Institute (KEFRI), Peter Gachie, said there is no proof that sandalwood leaves can cure breast cancer, he does not dismiss the innumerable medical benefits of the tree. According to Gachie, parts of the sandalwood tree have medical value for antimalarial, antibacterial, and antifungal purposes and have proven useful in curing impotence, chest problems, joint pains, fatigue, diarrhea, and ringworms. He explained:

The sandalwood tree grows naturally in drylands like Samburu. In the Samburu communities, having a sandalwood tree in your home implies richness. The sweet scent it produces would be used while making sacrifices in shrines, and it was also given to bind couples who wanted to divorce so they’d get back together. Due to its array of domestic uses, the women of Samburu automatically assume the role of chief custodians of the sandalwood tree. Men are often away from home with the cattle as the people of Samburu are a pastoralist community. Lillian explained:

Lillian is the Project Coordinator for a community-based organisation called Ngari Green Project. The organization advocates against environmental crimes by creating awareness through radio programs and also trains communities on clean cooking and sustainable income-generating activities. Of the 50 members of the organization, 48 are women.

Demand for the East African sandalwood

The East African sandalwood is not necessarily sought after in the global market. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) calls it the “false” sandalwood. Asia and Australia are the biggest producers of sandalwood oil — theirs is the “true” sandalwood. According to CITES, Australian sandalwood- Santalum spicatum and Indian Sandalwood- Santalum alba belong to the same species and have “excellent blending properties and a large proportion of high-boiling constituents in the oil, making it valuable as a fixative for other fragrances.”

A liter of sandalwood oil is worth up to USD 3,000 in the global market. CITES states that Asia and Australia have traditionally been the source of sandalwood oil, but more recently, the East African sandalwood of the Osyris species was found to produce oil containing comparable similarities with the true Sandalwood oil, although of different quality. CITES noted:

In India and China, sandalwood is under state protection and is often referred to as a sacred tree, and harvesting from the wild is prohibited. This has shifted the trade to the East African sandalwood leading to over-exploitation of the species. Unlike the control system that has been put in place for the traditional source countries, such mechanisms are lacking for Osyris lanceolata. In addition to Kenya, CITES discovered unsustainable exploitation of sandalwood trees in Tanzania, Uganda, and South Sudan with Kenya reporting the highest level of trade.

As a result, Osyris lanceolata, the East African sandalwood, is listed in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora and the International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species. The government of Kenya also issued a ban on sandalwood harvesting in 2007.

Illegal sandalwood trafficking

Willis Okumu, a senior researcher at the Institute for Security studies, has been investigating sandalwood trafficking in Samburu since 2020 and traced its supply chain to China. His research in 2022 exposed the key actors and networks facilitating illegal sandalwood trafficking in Kenya.

“At the Kilindini Police station in Mombasa there were about six containers of sandalwood that were confiscated from the Port of Mombasa. Police documents showed that most of them were being transported to China. In China, there is a big industry called the ‘Traditional Chinese Medicine.’ Just the way the Samburu people believe that sandalwood is a cure to many ailments, the Chinese believe the same,” Okumu said in a phone interview with Global Voices.

According to Okumu, locals in Samburu sell one kilogram of sandalwood for about one dollar. In comparison, one kilogram of sandalwood can produce up to 20 milliliters of oil worth about USD 40. 

Being the breadwinners, the women of Samburu also dabble as the main actors in sandalwood harvesting. “It's the women that go into the community forests to uproot sandalwood trees for sale. They are the ones who cut the tree into pieces as per customers’ orders. Some even form associations to raise money that facilitate the trade. If you go to the police station in Samburu, the list of people arrested for sandalwood trafficking, including ownership of vehicles used, are mostly women,” said Okumu.

KEFRI’s solution against sandalwood extinction

Through artificial propagation, KEFRI has been testing the growth of the Indian Sandalwood in Kenya since 2019. The Indian sandalwood is among the “true” sandalwood species that grow faster, produce more oil and are more desirable in the international market. The institute hopes to later introduce it to communities for commercial use as they preserve the native sandalwood. 

“So far, [the Indian sandalwood] is doing even better than ours,” said Gachie, “Ours has the habits of a shrub by growing many different stems. But the Indian one has one stem, so it has the habits of a tree. So we anticipate that the Indian one will even produce stronger wood. Its oil also has a higher market value.”

According to Lillian, most of the work that women do is “unproductive.” Referring to the physically intense nature of work with little to no financial benefit. She hopes to introduce the women of Samburu to the Indian sandalwood sales once KEFRI rolls out the initiative.

Written by Linda Ngari in Global Voices.