NEW DELHI: All it is the culmination of last year’s blockbuster movie ‘Pushpa’ if you will. The movie portrays the violent smuggling of the banned Red Sanders (Red Sandalwood) from forests in India. Last week, the country received the international green light to make the trading in plantations of Red Sanders by farmers legitimate after almost two decades.
The approval would hopefully end its smuggling to Japan, China, and other European countries and open a legal trade route.
The unique tree is endemic only to India in the Seshachalam, Veligonda, Lankamalla, and Palkonda hill ranges in the southern Eastern Ghats of Andhra Pradesh. It is popularly known as ‘Lalchandan’ or Rakta Chandan in Ayurveda and Sandal Surkh in Unani medicine systems. It has a little local market.
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), an international environmental conservation collective regulating wild trade, removed India from the list of ‘Review of Significant Trade in specimens (RST)’ for Red Sanders (Pterocarpus santalinus) at its 77th standing committee meeting in Geneva, Switzerland. India has been part of CITES since 1976. From now on, India can promote the private plantation of Red Sanders and export it while conserving the naturally growing species.
The species has been subjected to threats of illegal harvesting and smuggling due to its high market value, leading to its depletion from natural forests. In 1994, CITES put the Red Sanders in Appendix II, which lists species detrimental to survival due to over-exploitation. While it was lifted out of the endangered category in 1997, the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) put it back on its red list under the highly endangered category in 2022. The government said the decision of CITES will boost farming of Red Sanders, especially in states like Gujarat, where it has already been successfully grown in plantations. They can increase their income through their cultivation and export.
The total area of cultivation of Red Sanders in the country at present is estimated to be around 3.98 lakh hectares (LHa). It is naturally found in eight forest divisions of five Andhra Pradesh districts. The region provides unique geological and ecological conditions for the tree to flourish. The largest areas of its natural growth are in Kadapa (1,04,550 ha), Rajampet (84,794 ha), Proddatur (77,522 ha) and Tirupati Wildlife Management (WLM) (63,424 ha) (see table). Out of a total 3.98 LHa, about 1.68 LHa of Red Sanders-bearing forests occur in protected areas, which include wildlife sanctuaries and national parks. Forest officials underlined major threats to the wood from within India.
They listed forest fires, illegal felling and smuggling, and grazing by domestic cattle as imminent threats. “Landless and poor communities reside within the forests, which are being exploited by smugglers, who chop the trees and transport them out of the forest by head-load,” says Dr Shidhanand Kukreti, a retired senior forest officer engaged in the conservation of Red Sanders. The wood is not only a high-quality timber, it is also an ingredient for dyes, incense, and soap. Besides, the extracted colorants are used in wine and the manufacturing of medicines in European countries and the US.
What is RST
The Review of Significant Trade in Specimens is a progress tracker of species listed under Appendix II of CITES. It helps identify problems and evolve solutions for the effective implementation and conservation of wild flora and fauna. There were complaints from environmentalists that Indian timber traders were illegally exporting natural Red Sanders due to weak regulatory mechanisms. Besides, India also failed to meet CITES’s compliance and reporting protocols, which was why Red Sanders has been under the RST process since 2004. The RST process led to the suspension of trade of Red Sanders with India and enhanced scrutiny on the export of the species.
Falling in line
However, since the last two decades, India has been consistently complying with the administrative and regulatory systems of CITES, including regular reporting. For instance, India submitted a sample document of Gujarat Red Sanders plantation a few months ago where it mentioned details of growers, number of trees, age of trees, and how the country tracks its timber movement, licensing process, and allocated quota for exports.
This was the Second Non-Detrimental Finding (NDF) report it had submitted on its cultivation. The first NDF report was filed in 2011. India’s rigor in documentation prodded CITES to lift it from the RST list. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) added that the removal of India was unconditional.
“Happy to share that the recently concluded CITES Standing Committee meeting proved to be a major boost for India’s wildlife and ecosystem conservation efforts,” said Bhupendra Yadav, Union MoEFCC minister. The ministry said, “Consequent to the amendment of the Wildlife Act, placement of the CITES legislation of India in Category 1 of the National Legislation Project of CITES has been confirmed. Based on our compliance and reporting, India has been removed from the Review of Significant Trade for Red Sanders. The development is a major boost for the farmers who grow Red Sanders.”