WA’s native sandalwood (Santalum spicatum) is a beautiful, slow growing, hemi-parasitic small tree or shrub that used to grow extensively across southern WA and into South Australia (not to be confused with ‘Indian sandalwood’).

For Traditional Owners, sandalwood provided a huge variety of benefits including ceremonial, medicinal and nutritional and had at least 15 Indigenous names across its extensive range.

Unfortunately, soon after European occupation, large-scale commercial exploitation of sandalwood took off, with historical photos showing mountains of sandalwood awaiting export from Fremantle to Asia and beyond.

Since the 1840s the unsustainable exploitation of WA sandalwood has been relentless and it continues today, although at much smaller volumes because the species has been wiped out across much of its original range. The species is now listed as ‘vulnerable’ on the IUCN Red List.

DBCA has now commenced a process to review the wild sandalwood quota and make a recommendation to the Minister for Environment on the next 10 years’ exploitation.

After almost 200 years of destruction it is time to prioritise conservation over exploitation.

Save Our Sandalwood Network is calling for

• A substantial reduction in the annual wild-take quota of WA sandalwood, reduced to an ecologically sustainable level.
• Traditional Owner enterprises to be licensed to take and use wild sandalwood and ensure regeneration on their lands - and that is best done directly between Traditional Owners and DBCA.
• The removal of the Forest Products Commission as the main recipient of DBCA-issued licences to take/supply sandalwood under the Biodiversity Conservation Act.

Content written by Peter Robertson.

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