Frankincense
Incense road. Exploited harvest. Harvester-owned trade.
Resin of the Boswellia tree from Arabia and the Horn of Africa, the wealth of the ancient Incense Route.
Today indebted harvesters in Somaliland tap declining trees for poverty wages while exporters and Western fragrance brands capture the value, repeating an old pattern of extraction.
Lineage of Extraction
Tappers are paid a fraction of the resin's worth and locked into debt, while exporters and fragrance houses hold the margin and the brand.
Over-tapping to meet booming wellness demand exhausts the Boswellia trees, threatening both the species and the livelihoods built around it.
Pathways to Reclamation
Why This Matters
Frankincense links an ancient trade to a living injustice. Reclamation means harvesters owning the trade, through price-setting, resting the trees, and keeping the wealth where the resin is born.