Long life<\/h2>\n
Despite its beauty and valuable wood, Colombian scientists fear the kiri could be an ecological time bomb. It grows at an impressive rate and produces thousands of seeds that are dispersed by the wind. Its branches can reproduce new trees and it sprouts easily after fire.<\/p>\n
These advantages make it a \u201csuper species\u201d that thrives in environments such as pastures and streams. Yet this is precisely what makes it a very difficult plant to control.<\/p>\n
As a result, the Colombian Government\u2019s National Committee of Invasive Alien Species concluded two months ago that it would be better to avoid its proliferation rather than regret it. The body is responsible for evaluating the risks of non-native species in Colombia, the second most biodiverse country in the world.<\/p>\n
The Ministry of Environment is now in the process of adopting the committee\u2019s recommendation. Three of its members \u2013 two government scientific institutes and the largest public university in the country \u2013 presented technical studies warning about this tree with hairy, heart-shaped leaves and oval capsules that shoot thousands of flying seeds.<\/p>\n
Unlike in Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay, where it was introduced in the 1950s, there are still no reports of large wild populations of kiri crops in Colombia. The Colombian government, however, opted for caution. Twelve states in the US, where the kiri was\u00a0introduced<\/a> in the mid-nineteenth century, now\u00a0consider it an invasive species<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is sad to detect the effects of invasive species when they have already occurred. The ideal is to think in a preventive way, to avoid them from happening,\u201d says ecologist Carolina Castellanos, one of the scientists at the Alexander von Humboldt Biological Resources Research Institute (IAVH) who\u00a0evaluated the risk of kiri<\/a>.<\/p>\n After studying scientific information from other countries, the IAVH\u00a0concluded<\/a>\u00a0that the tree, whose seeds are freely sold on the internet, represents a significant risk for the country.<\/p>\n Dairon C\u00e1rdenas, curator of the herbarium at the Amazon Institute for Scientific Research (SINCHI), said: \u201cIt is based on the precautionary principle. If the species has biological characteristics that make it an invasive one, such as the speed of its reproductive strategy, it is recommended to manage it more carefully.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/div>\n For a decade, Colombia has been working to try to control the invasive species that cause the most damage in the country\u2019s forests and seas. These include the lionfish, the rasberry crazy ant, the giant African snail, the bullfrog and the Asian jumbo shrimp.<\/p>\n \u201cOften it\u2019s thought that introducing an outside type is a good idea, but we have to assess beforehand what their potential negative effects are and what can happen if they thrive,\u201d says Maria Piedad Baptiste, a biologist at the IAVH and an expert on invasives.<\/p>\n \u201cWe must reflect on what our abilities are as a country to manage exotic species,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n Such species can be double-edged swords. For example, the thorny reed, a woody shrub of yellow flowers and almost impenetrable branches, was\u00a0brought to Colombia\u00a0<\/a>from the Mediterranean at the beginning of the 20th century to\u00a0reforest badly eroded areas<\/a>.<\/p>\n Yet a century later, the plant has colonised the high Andean forests and has even settled on the edges of the p\u00e1ramos, a unique Colombian ecoregion where almost all the rivers of the country begin, including those that feed the Amazon basin.<\/p>\n Invasive species are an engine of biodiversity loss, along with deforestation and pollution<\/p><\/blockquote>\n It\u2019s a similar story with eucalyptus. Widely\u00a0planted since 1915<\/a> to reforest the then bare mountains that surround capital Bogot\u00e1, its roots gorw quickly and in shallow soil, which doesn’t accommodate other species growing near it.<\/p>\n The kiri sis an example of the lasting environmental impacts of European colonialism. Before its introduction to the Americas, sailors from the Dutch East India Company, the commercial arm of the merchant fleet that colonised Indonesia and maintained trade routes throughout Asia, first\u00a0brought kiri seeds to Europe in 1830<\/a>\u00a0and popularised it as an ornamental tree. Somewhat cryptically, the scientific name refers to Russian princess Anna Pavlovna, granddaughter of Catherine the Great.<\/p>\n \u201cInvasive species are an engine of biodiversity loss, along with deforestation and pollution,\u201d said Castellanos, adding; \u201cthey eat other native species, they occupy the space of other species with aggressive population growth strategies, or they can transmit diseases.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n Initially, the empress tree gained fame as a decorative tree, but its rapid expansion today has more to do with its commercial value. Its striated wood and clear colour mean it\u2019s durable but easy to sculpt and therefore highly sought after by manufactures of fine furniture and musical instruments.<\/p>\n Above all, it can reach 15 to 18 metres tall in just five years, while other valuable timber, such as teak, take decades. \u201cIt looks like a stick the first year, an umbrella at three years and it is cut as timber at five years old,\u201d according to\u00a0Agropaucol<\/a>, one of the companies with a kiri agroforestry plantation in Colombia.<\/p>\n Though there are few crops, the decision of the Colombian government to limit trade could start a conflict between the environmental and agriculture sectors. The environment ministry fears the species will grow out of control, while rural entrepreneurs want to avoid losing money they have already invested.<\/p>\n \u201cIf there is someone who is suffering, it is us.\u201d\u00a0says Andr\u00e9s Ardila, Agropaucols founder. \u201cSales of seedlings and cuttings have fallen by 85% in the last three months. We had to return money that we already allocated,\u201d he adds. Ardila has\u00a020,000 trees<\/a>\u00a0on his farm in Jamund\u00ed in the south-western Valle del Cauca department.<\/p>\n Ardila fears that his US$200,000 investment may be at risk with the new declaration. He says the kiri can offer a fast-growing agroforestry business that absorbs carbon and replenishes degraded soils. He puts the number of trees in the county at about 500,000.<\/p>\n While biologists fear the kiri will dominate native flora\u2019s space, Ardila argues that the tree can live alongside commercial vegetables. \u201cIf it were a reality that it is invasive, it would have already spread throughout the farm. But the seed falls from the trees to the ground and nothing comes out because we handle a hybrid. The only way to multiply it is through the roots,\u201d he says, adding that he has interspersed the kiri with other agricultural products such as pepper, chili, thyme and oregano.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n \u201cI have acted in good faith. I bought certified seeds. I have been waiting for more than two years, with no luck, for a marketing license from the same entity that now wants to prohibit it,\u201d he says, indicating that a legal complaint made by a citizen against the municipal government of Nobsa in the Boyac\u00e1 department is responsible for delays.<\/p>\n Ardila sold the plaintiff a thousand cuttings to stop soil degradation caused by coal mining. He recently uploaded a video to\u00a0YouTube<\/a>\u00a0explaining the benefits of the paulownia tree.<\/p>\n Beyond Ardila\u2019s and other forest entrepreneurs\u2019 fears, there is inconsistency within the Colombian government regarding the management of the species.<\/p>\n Colombian agricultural institute ICA, the national authority on phytosanitary issues that Ardila accuses of delaying his commercial license, released a statement three weeks ago in which it emphatically\u00a0banned<\/a>\u00a0the import of the tree until scientific studies are carried out on their behaviour. However, the text later mysteriously disappeared from its website. Several regional websites had already\u00a0republished it<\/a>.<\/p>\n Regional environmental authorities\u2019 views also differ. These are ultimately responsible for controlling invasive species in their territories. Santander department\u00a0proudly announced<\/a>\u00a0a kiri planting pilot, in May labelling<\/a> it \u201cideal in reforestation processes\u201d. The national government had already asked scientific institutes to assess the risks.<\/p>\n![\"lilac](\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Chinese-empress-tree.jpg\")
The fight against invasive species<\/h2>\n
![\"row](\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Kiris-valle-del-cauca.jpg\")
Wood vs. Ecosystem<\/h2>\n
![\"green](\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/timber-cultivation.jpg\")