WE all know that our forests are imperiled. Development, climate change and poaching have reduced them to endangered levels enough to imperil our future (if not our present) sustainability.

While we all understand the reasons for illegal logging — obtaining hardwood for building like narra, molave, dungon, mangkono and other hardwood tree species that command high prices — few of us know of the most lucratively-priced tree among all — the agarwood tree. Known variously as lapnisan or lanete, the agarwood tree is from the Aquilaria species of the Thymelaeceae Family. There are many Aquilaria species (19) and the one endemic to the Philippines is Aquilaria malaccensis. Collectively and colloquially, these species are known as agarwood, or oud.