Frankincense the untold story

What does frankincense mean to you? Do you burn it as incense to unwind? Or maybe you recognise it from the Christmas nativity?

Read the untold story of frankincense, and find out how Tree Aid supporters are standing with a community in Ethiopia to protect a frankincense forest on the brink of extinction.

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Frankincense is an aromatic resin- in other words, it’s a sticky substance from a tree that smells nice.

Frankincense is used in products like incense and essential oils. It is extracted from boswellia trees, commonly known as frankincense trees. Frankincense has a warm, earthy, and woody aroma with hints of citrus and spice. Its scent is often described as slightly sweet and depending on which region it comes from, it can carry other undertones like lemon, or pine.
For over 5,000 years, frankincense has been featuring in global spice trades. Its rich scent made it important in ancient rituals, medicine, and trade across Egypt, Mesopotamia, India, and Rome. It would have been considered a gift suitable for royalty in many cultures, as this precious resin symbolised wealth and spirituality.
In Ethiopia, in East Africa, Frankincense tapping happens in the dry season, from mid-October until early June the following year. First, tappers carefully cut the bark to allow the resin to ooze out, making sure they don’t damage the tree. Then over about two weeks the resin slowly solidifies in tear-like shapes as it's exposed to the sun and wind. Returning to the cut trees, resin is collected and then put out to dry in frankincense stores before it is ready to be sold at market.

^{Images: 1. Frankincense tapping; the bark of frankincense trees is cut to allow the resin to seep out. 2. Frankincense collection; after the resin has seeped out and solidified into tear-like shapes, it is harvested. 3. Frankincense sorting; once the frankincense resin has been collected, it is left out to dry and sorted in a warehouse before being sold.}

The Story a Frankincense Tapper

"Frankincense trees for me are simply my life. My life depends on the income I gain from frankincense trees."

Solomon, Metema, Ethiopia

Why are frankincense trees in danger?

A recent study showed that frankincense trees – particularly Boswelia papyrifera, the species found in Ethiopia’s Metema frankincense forest – are declining at an alarming rate. They estimate that frankincense production will half in the next 20 years. Deforestation and degradation of precious frankincense forests are making Metema’s local communities increasingly vulnerable to the effects of the climate crisis.

“The main problem that local communities face is variability in rainfall and temperature which has a huge implication on crop productivity.”

Zemenu Wolde, Project Coordinator at Tree Aid’s partner organisation SUNARMA

As crops fail to grow, communities are plunged further into poverty. Tree Aid’s Ethiopia Country Manager, Cheru Tessema, said:

"They cannot protect the environment, then they are pushed further into poverty because the environment is becoming degraded over time.”

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What is Tree Aid doing?

Due to deforestation and the effects of the climate crisis, the Metema frankincense forest in Ethiopia could be extinct in 20 years. Urgent action is needed to bring it back from the brink of extinction.

Tree Aid has been working with our local partner SUNARMA on the Future Forest project (supported by UK Aid Match) to make sure the forest is around for future generations, but time is against us and there is an ongoing need to scale up our efforts as the the effects of climate crisis intensify across the region.

Cheru Tessema, Tree Aid's Ethiopia Country Programme Manager, said that: “the project will help people increase their knowledge, skills and capacity to work with the existing environment and resources available in the forests. The project works both on people's livelihoods and the environment they are living in so that they can co-exist and support each other for a win-win situation.”

^{Image: Cheru Tessema, Tree Aid’s Ethiopia Country Programme Manager.}

Progress so far

As of February 2024:

3,083 people have been supported
116,000 indigenous tree seedlings that are suitable for the dry environment were grown
1,211 people took part in training including how to use organic fertilisers, how to retain water moisture, how to protect the seedlings that are being grown, how to use agroforestry to improve crop yields.
3 warehouses were constructed to enable people to store, sort and grade frankincense.

Part of a bigger movement

Frankincense trees are not the only type of tree threatened by rising temperatures, and deforestation and Solomon's community are not the only people who are losing their lifelines.

There is a huge, multi-headed disaster unfolding in the dryland regions of Africa, a region that crosses the entire continent south of the Sahara desert. Desertification is posing a threat to millions of rural family farmers, and Tree Aid's mission is to empower these communities with the tools, seeds and training to take back their future, and reawaken their natural environments.

By working with communities to protect the forest and its resources, the project will also contribute to the Great Green Wall initiative across Africa, growing trees and restoring land to tackle the climate crisis.

Cheru Tessema said: “My message for people who are willing to support this initiative is that their contribution means a lot. What we do now will go beyond the existing generation. Forests will be maintained and sustained for future use and the resources will be passed onto the next generation."

^{Image: Solomon Habte extracting frankincense from a frankincense tree in the Metema forest in Ethiopia.}