FairWild-certified Frankincense makes its debut

The Frankincense Intense(TM) product, launched today by Neal’s Yard Remedies, contains a blend of Frankincense oils from three tree species. Two of them, Commiphora confusa and Boswellia neglecta, are from organic and FairWild-certified sources in Kenya, where they are wild-harvested from semi-desert arid lands characterised by Commiphora, Boswelia and Acacia species.

The company producing the resin was FairWild-certified after demonstrating how it met the initial requirements for implementing the FairWild Standard for sustainable collection and fair trade in wild plant ingredients developed by TRAFFIC, WWF and other FairWild Foundation partners.

“Buyers of FairWild-certified products can be confident they are helping support a sustainable trade in wild plant products that pays a fair price to the harvesters,” said Bryony Morgan, FairWild Foundation Secretariat.

“First health and food and now beauty products—the growing availability of FairWild-certified ingredients in the UK market is an excellent opportunity to raise consumer awareness about the importance of sustainable harvesting and equitable trade in wild plants—critical both for survival of the plant species involved and in protecting local livelihoods,” said Anastasiya Timoshyna, TRAFFIC's Medicinal Plants Programme Leader.

Over a five year period, the FairWild scheme in Merille will help to implement a comprehensive management and monitoring system for sustainable collection of tree resins, ensure fair payment to collectors and help establish a Premium fund for community development projects.

“Supporting FairWild certification of these species is in line with Neal’s Yard Remedies’ decision to shift towards using ingredients of known and certified provenance as far as possible, and is a demonstration of our commitment to putting the FairWild Standard into practice,” said Susan Curtis of Neal’s Yard Remedies.

The in-store launch of the cosmetics product will take place this September.