Timber CSI
ILLEGAL logging and trade in illegal wood is often hard to detect. Illicit loggers and traders will disguise or mislabel illegally cut wood, falsify documents, or work with corrupt law enforcement officers and smugglers in timber markets.
Fortunately, there are now cutting- edge technologies that can help crack down on illegal logging. These technologies can also assist companies in identifying and weeding out illegal wood from their supply chains. Four technologies are currently being used to combat illegal logging.
DNA, the hereditary material found in almost all organisms, can be analysed to determine the species and geographic origin of timber and wood- based products. Its use depends on the extraction of enough high- quality DNA and access to appropriate reference databases by the researcher.
One method for identifying species is DNA barcoding, in which scientists isolate a short, specific DNA sequence unique to a particular species and compare it to a reference database for accurate identification.
Other methods use genetic information to identify similarities between closely related individuals. The variability contained within the tree’s genome provides scientists with enough information to distinguish between distinct populations or even individual plants.
DNA analysis can be a powerful tool for testing samples of wood at the end of a supply chain ( for example in a retail store) to assess whether the product documentation – listing the species and origin – is accurate. Further, DNA analysis can assist retailers in vetting their supply chain for legality.
As trees grow, they absorb stable isotopes, a sort of atomic signature, from their surrounding environment. Because stable isotopes occur in varying distributions and patterns across the planet, scientists interpreting stable isotope analysis can often reveal the origin of a sample down to a unique geographic area, such as a river catchment or mountain range. Like DNA analysis, stable isotope analysis would likely be applied further up the supply chain ( such as where the wood is processed into furniture) in instances where law enforcement has reason to suspect falsification of documentation with regard to species or origin.
While DNA and stable isotope analysis can be used for solid wood products, they cannot be applied to forest products that have been heavily processed due to the damaging effects of heat and chemical processing. For pulp and paper products, scientists can use fibre analysis to identify the different tree fibres present in a sample.
Researchers treat samples of paper with chemicals to see how the fibres react, and use high- powered microscopes to find anatomical features unique to the type of wood. Analysts can determine whether the fibre comes from softwood or hardwood, the pulping process used ( mechanical or chemical), the genus, and in limited instances, the species.
Paper suppliers and consumers are now more aware that much of the inexpensive paper they buy is produced from illegal tropical hardwoods and some have started testing their paper to confirm that they are buying only paper made from legally sourced materials.
The above are examples of how technologies can be used to identify wood after it has already been logged and even processed. But technology can also be applied to take preemptive measures, better monitor forests and detect illegal logging. Perimeter defence technologies help prevent illegal logging by detecting suspicious activity and gathering information from a particular area of forest, which helps forest defenders develop an informed intervention plan.
These technologies are wide- ranging and include unmanned aerial vehicles, sensor and surveillance systems, satellite imagery analysis, smartphone applications that aggregate and analyse crowd- sourced data, and much more. These technologies can empower local communities, indigenous groups and government authorities to protect forests from illegal loggers. – World Resources Institute