BIOTROP Warns of the Risk of Extinction of Gaharu and Cendana for the Indonesian Economy

JAKARTA - The Southeast Asian Tropical Biology Research Institute, SEAMEO BIOTROP, warns of a serious threat of the collapse of Indonesia's biological economic value due to the extinction crisis of rare trees.

Two high-value commodities, gaharu (Aquilaria malaccensis) and sandalwood (Santalum album), are now on the verge of criticality in their natural habitat.

The manager of HCID SEAMEO BIOTROP, Dewi Suryani, stated that overexploitation, land conversion, and climate change are the main triggers for the decline in the populations of the two species. Based on IUCN Red List data, both species are now in the vulnerable to critical category.

"Agarwood, which produces high-value aromatic resin in the global market, has long been under exploitation pressure. While sandalwood faces natural regeneration difficulties due to its biological characteristics as a hemiparasitic plant," Dewi said in a written statement.

In order to anticipate total extinction, SEAMEO BIOTROP encourages biotechnology intervention through ex situ conservation with tissue culture techniques. This step has been scientifically proven to be able to accelerate the multiplication of plants that are difficult to grow naturally. The latest research data shows significant results in modifying the culture medium, where the combination of growth regulators in sandalwood can produce up to 19 buds from one explant, a sharp increase compared to the usual method which only produces 4 buds. Meanwhile, in agarwood, the optimal combination can produce an average of 7.47 buds per explant, higher than the standard treatment at 5.6 to 6.8 buds.

The scarcity of seedlings has made the production of sandalwood essential oil and the supply of agarwood for the global perfume, pharmaceutical, and cosmetics industries unstable. Exploitation without recovery is directly threatened the sustainability of the forestry-based industry. Dewi emphasized that the success of this tissue culture technology opens up opportunities for the production of superior seedlings on a massive scale so that pressure on the wild population in the forest can be suppressed, as well as becoming the foundation for the development of green economy involving the community.

"Conservation is no longer a burden on development, but the foundation of sustainable economics," said Dewi.

Although scientific solutions are available, SEAMEO BIOTROP emphasizes that this biodiversity crisis cannot be solved partially. There needs to be a rapid integration between research results, government conservation policies, and the economic development sector. This rescue step is also directly related to the achievement of Indonesia's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially related to terrestrial ecosystems, climate action, sustainable consumption and production, and quality education.

Dewi explained that saving gaharu and sandalwood is an effort to maintain the sustainability of the economy based on biological resources. "If rare trees are lost, not only nature loses, the economic value of the nation disappears," he said.