How Has Oud Extraction Changed Across the Generations?

Oud extraction has not remained the same across the generations. From a time when wild oud was closer and more plentiful, to a reality in which demand became higher and the wild trees fewer, to the rise of managed cultivation as an essential alternative. In this article we trace the transformation of the craft across the generations: from reliance on the wild to a reality of scarcity and cultivation, and how its people adapted to each stage.

The age of abundance: when wild oud was closer

In earlier generations, wild oud was more within reach and more plentiful than it is today. The forests were denser and the resin-bearing trees more widespread, and global demand was less than it later became. In that time, the craft rested almost entirely on searching in the wild, and inherited knowledge was enough to secure a reasonable harvest.

But this relative abundance was not a fixed fate. For with the widening of demand and the increase of extraction, the wild trees began to recede gradually in many regions, and the old balance began to falter. And here begins the second stage of the story.

Scarcity and rising demand

With the passing of the decades, global demand for oud rose greatly, while the wild trees receded at the same time. This crossing — a demand rising and a wild source shrinking — raised the worth of wild oud and increased the pressure on the forests. And reliance on the wild alone became neither sufficient nor sustainable.

The rise of managed cultivation

The most important response to this scarcity was the rise of managed cultivation: planting the Aquilaria trees and inducing them to produce oud by managed methods, instead of relying on the wild alone. And we addressed this transformation in detail in the shift from wild to cultivated oud, and in the guide to cultivating oud trees.

And this transformation was accompanied by an international regulation of trade, for the species of Aquilaria and Gyrinops were listed within Appendix II of the CITES convention, as we detailed in the history of CITES and oud. So the craft today combines a cautious wild search, a managed cultivation, and a regulatory framework that did not exist in earlier generations.

A generation balancing wild and cultivated

The current generation of harvesters lives a mixed reality: the wild is no longer the sole source of livelihood, and cultivation has not abolished the need for knowledge of the forest. Many of them combine the two: a search in the wild when circumstances allow, and work with oud farms in other seasons. And this balance is not an ideal choice so much as it is an adaptation to a changing reality.

And the gathering thread remains that the transformation of the craft across the generations leads us to a final question that concludes this guide: how do we source from the harvesters with fairness and respect for sustainability and communities? For the history of the transformation clarifies why the ethics of sourcing have become today more important than ever.