Debarking Trees

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Debarking trees (tapping rubber)

The bark of shrubs and trees includes important tissues that are crucial for the life of the trees.  

The bark is a repository of many compounds that are not a part of the regular metabolism of trees.   These are the secondary constituents/metabolites also known as natural products.   They are important to medicine and industry.   Bark is one of the important and very frequent sources of raw drugs in the indigenous systems of medicine.   Gums, rubber, resins, etc., are also tapped from the bark.  

Most usually the bark is stripped, rather violently ripped off, in an unscientific way, without any concern for a sustainable use and the life of the trees.   This is often done deliberately, also to kill the trees and make an excuse to cut them, for whatever reason. 

Tapping rubber from the rubber trees (Hevea brasiliensis (H.B. & K.) Muell.-Arg., Euphorbiaceae) is done on a scientific basis (Debarking Trees1).   This method is very useful in tapping material from the bark, without causing serious damage to the life of the trees.  

It is necessary to make people to understand the importance of adopting a scientific method to collect bark from trees.   Stripping the bark from not more than a half around the trunk, in short segments, leaving the other half intact, maintains the vital continuity of the bark from the base of the trunk to the top of the tree.   There must be sufficient time between two events of stripping bark from a particular tree, so that there is time for the tree to recover from the damage.