Peru in danger of losing its national cinchona tree

Species is used in the production of medicine for malaria

Pre-Columbian people used its bark as a medicine while South American liberator Simon Bolivar adopted it in Peru’s coat of arms, but the cinchona tree is facing a battle for survival as vast swathes of forest are chopped down to make way for plantations.

The wider cinchona species is used in the production of the anti-malaria medicine, quinine.

But experts say the cinchona tree is in danger of extinction due to government neglect, while many Peruvians can no longer tell it apart from fig trees or quinoa plants.

“Peru has 20 of the world’s 29 cinchona species but already many of them are hard to find due to deforestation, degradation of the soil and the growth of agriculture,” forest engineer Alejandro Gomez told AFP.