NATURAL INCENSE FROM ETHIOPIA


Our mission





The Boswellia Project is a unique initiative that combines respect for our ecology and quality products for liturgy. No other existing businesses or monasteries in the world propose environment-friendly, natural incenses, produced from sustainable sources.


Since 2012, the Boswellia Project is intended to strengthen the ecological nature of the Boswellia tree and its positive economical outcomes for the Christian communities in the arid region of Tigray in Northern Ethiopia.


Recent research in the area (Groenendijk et al, « Limitations to sustainable frankincense production (...) », Journal of Applied Ecology, 2011) show that the sustainable maintenance of the forest resources is seriously threatened by an intensive and destructive model of natural resin collection and trade by foreign private companies.



Our Vision





Just as there was the Spice trade route, there was the Incense route, flourishing from South Arabia to the Mediterranean, between roughly the 7th century B.C. to the 2nd century A.D. Since then, the incense, a very natural aromatic resin produced by the Boswellia tree, has been used in cathedrals, churches and monasteries for centuries throughout the world.


It is now crucial to propose a new way of collecting and distributing the incense for churches. To do so, with an innovative model of sustainable production and marketing to churches around the world, the Boswellia Project provides:


– a substantial economic return for the Christian families of producers,

– a sustainable preservation of forest resources,

– an optimum price/performance ratio for the churches.



About The Boswellia Project





The whole economic organization of the Boswellia Project was developed in an inclusive manner in the Tigray region in Ethiopia – except the distributing entity in Europe, based in France, legally dedicated to the Boswellia Project. The Boswellia tree preservation phase of the project is provided by the collaboration of researchers in Ethnobotany and Pharmacology from universities in Ethiopia and France.


The information shared on this website fully conceptualizes the core principles of the economic and environmental cooperation established by the Boswellia Project with Christian families involved in Tigray.


You can contact our team by mail: julien@projetboswellia.com or by phone: +251 (0) 931 68 53 39.



40,000 trees



40,000 trees on the protected forest area covering 1,000 acres.



1,000 grams



1,000 grams of natural incense resin annually collected on a tree.



150 producers



Up to 150 producers will soon compose the production cooperative.



+ 20% final purchase price



20% increase of the final purchase price of production in comparison with the local market price.



OUR COMMITMENTS





01



Innovative



An innovative method of local production and processing of natural incense, to secure the producers' incomes and the perpetuation of know-how in Christian rural families.​



02



Collaborative



A collaboration between Ethiopian and French researchers, with the participation of local natural resin collectors in the Tigray region.



03



Sustainable



A sustainable agroforestry model on a protected area of a thousand acres, through a methodology of production and resource conservation following the recommendations of the latest scientific research: - protection of the young trees, - reduction of animal and human interference, - improve pollination by installing beehives.