Here’s a prime example of why scientific verification is necessary if we’re going to clean up the timber supply chain:

“Illegal Amazon timber passed off as eco-certified in massive wood laundering scheme“

Log laundering may sound like the cumbersome, sweaty and downright heavy relative of money laundering, but the objective is exactly the same. Take illegal stuff and disguise it so that it seems legal (in this case through document fraud), then sell it on to unsuspecting customers.

Both money and log laudering are related to organised crime, and both make huge amounts of money for a small number of people, whilst cheating the majority. Except now, we’re also being cheated of our investment in the future. (How can a forest-based carbon credit mechanism like REDD work if there is so much un-tracked ‘leakage’ from illegal logging?). Either way, we all have reason to treat forest crime much more seriously than we do now.

Timber Trades Journal – 20^th July 2009

AsiaPaperMarkets.com – 27^th July 2009

Lesprom – 27^th July 2009

Back in October 2008, we were approached by an an artist Lucy Davis, who’s an associate professor at Nanyang Technological University here in Singapore.

She had collected bits and pieces of wood from nooks and corners of  Little India in Singapore. Her question to us was rather simple – “Where did these pieces of wood originally come from?” She was hoping our DNA services could, like in the TV show CSI, tell her where each peice came from.

Unfortunatelty the DNA database isn’t there yet and although we’re gathering momentum it will take a good deal more hard work before we are ready to be presented with a random piece of wood and give you anything close to a grid reference.

However we were able to come up with an alternative solution – microscopic analysis. The profile of the cell structure is compared with a database of cell structures that has already been studied and a match is made to the species (see the middle picture above). Using this method we were able to asertain the timber species and therefore the origin.

The purpose of the art piece was to raise awareness of the origins of timber and money raised went to help orangutans and we were thrilled to be able to contribute this project. We’re just hoping to help out Lucy on her next one. You can find out more by reading this article by Reuters.

A Mechanical Engineer by training, I never imagined that I’d end up working at Double Helix Tracking Technologies. I have always had the desire to contribute towards an eco-friendly society but first, to gain foreign exposure (I’m from India), I pursed my International Business degree in Singapore.

Soon my new career was launched when friends at the Cricket Club introduced me to this company.  It is indeed a great experience to work with a company doing new, exciting and worthwhile things.

Since I joined, the company bagged the Spring Singapore TECS grant which enables in the further enhancement of its DNA technology. This triggered my curiosity in knowing more about the firm and its contribution to society. Thus I have become a member of a family which works for a sustainable future. My dream is slowly turning to reality!

I’ve often been asked when and why I came to the conclusion that an industry-wide and accepted timber tracking system needed to be cheap and easily administered.

Well, basically the timber Industry is built around extracting the most amount of profit for largely similar looking items that are sourced and further manufactured via a complex supply chain. This means there are many opportunities to “pull the wool” over the customers eyes in order to extract those profits.

Common ways to achieve this in an under handed way could include:

• Re-naming or substituting one similar looking specie for a cheaper alternative.
• Supplying timber products from dubious “cheap” open market sources that are in all likelihood from illegal sources.
• Under-sizing components.
• Offering inconsistent or switching timber grades.
• Selling essentially the same product as everyone else, however marketing it as a complicated innovative sounding brand which then extracts a premium.
• Offering products from “so called” sustainable sources without any real evidence to back it up.

Even when suppliers are “bona fide” and offer a relatively transparent product, there are so many stakeholders in the sourcing and manufacturing processes it’s a difficult challenge keeping tabs on the entire supply chain, and the threat of cheap dubious alternatives can put a strain on the more scrupulous players to survive.

Certification has become a way not only to meet the rising ecological expectations of the final consumer, but also a way for the customer to be a little more sure they are in fact getting what they pay for.

Generally certification schemes have had that effect, however at a relatively high cost (between 3 and 15% of the purchase price) , the more well known certification schemes have thus become “brands” in their own right, even to the extent when a relatively poor quality underlying “base” material can fetch more dollars than its premium quality non certified counterpart.

In an industry that has survived by extracting extra profit in some pretty innovative ways, this has also led to the misuse of the underlying ecological spirit of certification. Today, we see quite a few competing schemes and in turn the regular abuse of them by elements in industry, that has sought to extract premiums for certification which simply cannot be backed up.

I believe this is why certification has in relative terms become expensive. Its complicated for it to be effective when considering both the vast geographic and commercial diversity. This is exasperated by little incentive for Industry to pay a premium for the same product if the customer in turn will not cough that up, and in addition not desiring to restricting itself to less timber sources and hence less opportunity to be creative about profit making.

Hence, the big schemes spend huge amounts on cumbersome measures to counter industry fraud, and the marketing required to promote the brand and ensure those premiums are forthcoming, leaving the schemes that offer credible alternatives “out in the woods”, thus certification schemes have created in many instances, a financial burden to both the customer and the industry as a whole.

You can argue this is true of many industries, however the main difference is the timber industry is relatively unregulated and very complex in terms of its stakeholders and hence even harder to regulate.

After being in the Industry many years it was clear another approach was required, if only we could make this process so inexpensive there would be no excuse not to adopt it, and secondly make it scientifically bullet proof and available in the long term to all the Industry stakeholders thus lowering operating costs and putting other schemes on a more even underlying platform. This approach could still enable “premium brands” to thrive, for example offering “more sustainable” alternatives or the kind of “organic” equivalents seen in food branding, and delivering it much cheaper.

My vision for timber tracking to prove bona fide origin would be similar to how we currently fumigate containers to prevent the spread of biological contaminants; not only should it be compulsory but it should be cheap enough and simple enough to administer that here is no reason why it’s not universally adopted, such as seen in the fumigation industry where costs could be as low as a fraction of a percent per container shipped.

DNA tracking techniques, combined with advances in extraction and data-basing are today making this a reality and if as is expected, the current round of research and proof testing is successful we can realise this objective in the very near future.

Abstract (107 words)

Nearly 40 years after illegal-logging first drew global attention, the world’s first law specifically to combat illegal-logging was introduced in December last year (The new legislation is commonly known as The Lacey Act Amendments. See http://www.aphis.usda.gov/newsroom/hot_issues/lacey_act/index.shtml for a summary). Although difficult to enforce, this law is encouraging the development of exciting new environmental business ideas to protect our world.

In Singapore, Double Helix Tracking Technologies is building the world’s first bio-geographic tree database with support from the Singapore Government. It will soon be possible to extract DNA from a wooden table and identify its true geographic origin. Introducing such transparency to the timber supply chain will enable the industry to improve its sourcing practices and secure a sustainable future for the world’s forests.

Full Story (504 words)

The World Bank estimates the value of the global illegal timber trade at over $10 billion per year (World Bank (2006)). The out-dated, low-tech nature of the timber supply-chain conceals wide-spread practices of illegal-logging, log smuggling and log laundering. Timber harvested from remote forests in Asia, Russia, South America and Africa is dragged, floated, trucked and shipped huge distances – it’s only claim to origin being a paper-trial of harvesting and transport documentation that is largely subject to fraud.

Illegal-logging is of such profitability that the criminal organisations in control of this multi-billion dollar black market can be compared to the drug cartels of South America. Just one tree is worth up to US$2,000 on the black market; the equivalent of 20 grams of cocaine in the United States (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2009: Cocaine USA average street price in US$, 2004-2008. 20 grams would convert to approximately 400 doses). Unlike the drug trade however, there’s hardly any risk for those controlling illegal-logging operations. Between 2006 and 2008, out of nearly 600 illegal-logging cases brought to court in Indonesia, only 2 people were given significant jail terms (Indonesian Ministry of Forestry), and even those were relatively low level operators.

Governments are only now starting to introduce laws to tackle the problem. In December 2008, the United States took the unprecedented step of making the trade in illegal timber actually illegal. (“The Lacey Act (16 U.S.C 3371 et seq.) as amended makes it unlawful to import, export, transport, sell, receive, acquire, or purchase in interstate or foreign commerce any plant, with some limited exceptions, taken or traded in violation of the laws of the United States, a U.S. State, or a foreign country.” http://www.aphis.usda.gov/publications/plant_health/content/printable_version/fs_laceyact.pdf). The European Union is due to debate similar legislation later this year.

In practice, the U.S. law requires importers to declare of the country of origin of imported wood products. However, without a reliable industry-accepted solution to verify these declarations, it is unlikely that the new law will have any real teeth. The fact is that there is very little anyone can do to accurately verify the origin of wood and provide irrefutable evidence of wrong-doing.

This immediate concern aside, legislation does provide the conditions for new solutions and business ideas to be developed. In a move widely supported by major timber firms, Greenpeace and the WWF, a Singapore-based company called Double Helix Tracking Technologies (www.doublehelixtracking.net) is establishing the world’s first practical bio-geographic database for a vulnerable species of timber found in S.E. Asia called Merbau (For more information on Merbau, see http://www.greenpeace.org/international/press/reports/merbau-report-2).

The company has brought together an international team of genetic scientists to build the database and perfect methods to extract DNA from wood products. “The tree DNA strand or ‘genome’ is 60-100 times longer than a human one” says Kevin Hill, CEO of DHTT. “Within this genome we can identify genetic differences between individual trees, even of the same species, and map out these changes according to their geographic location in a database. It will be possible to match even the degraded DNA found in processed wood products against the database to determine its true origin.

“We will make it easy and affordable for the industry to verify the origin of their timber supplies and for law enforcement agencies to conduct spot-checks of timber imports. That’s why I’m confident that DNA timber verification will quickly become an industry standard.”

It is hoped that the combination of legislation and the availability of a practical solution to enforce it will encourage the timber industry to self-regulate. It only remains to be seen if governments in timber producing and consuming nations will continue to encourage its development and adoption. If they do, there is still hope that the world’s remaining forest resources can be managed sustainably.

About Double Helix Tracking Technologies

Double Helix Tracking Technologies develops affordable, DNA-based solutions to determine the origin of timber and wood products. We envisage inexpensive and reliable methods to identify wood origin without the need for marking, tagging or complicated documentation. Our services help customers exclude illegally harvested timber from their supply chains and detect document fraud. By clearly identifying illegal timber we support efforts to eradicate the illegal trade and promote legitimate, sustainable forest management. More information is available at www.doublehelixtracking.net.

Contact

Double Helix Tracking Technologies
Darren Thomas
+65 6227 9706
darren@doublehelixtracking.net

Related information

For more information about the United States Lacey Act Amendments, contact:

Anne Middleton, Environmental Investigation Agency
annemiddleton@eia-international.org
or visit www.eia-global.org/lacey

For more information about illegal-logging in Indonesia, contact:

Pak Hapsoro, Telapak
hapsoro@telepak.org

We are a quarter way through a two day workshop in Bogor, Indonesia: “Asian Workshop of the ITTO-CITES Project on Ensuring International Trade in CITES listed Timber Species is Consistent with their Sustainable Management and Conservation: Gonystylus spp (Ramin)”.

It is very well attended with senior representatives from the Ministry of Forestry, the ITTO-CITES Programme for Implementing CITES Listings of Tropical Timber Species and the Malaysian Ministry of Natural Resources.

The conference attendees. I’m 4th from left at the back, looking happy as usual.

It is still early into the workshop but much interest has already been expressed about DHTT’s DNA technology and particularly about the newly funded project to build a DNA database of Merbau trees in Papua.

No-one here has direct involvement of DNA testing of trees but what has struck me more than any other conference or workshop I have attended is the growing awareness and recognition of the value and use of DNA in combating illegal logging and improving forest law enforcement and governance.

Many I have met are working with colleagues who are working on DNA as a tool in the conservation of bio-diversity. For example Dr Khali Aziz Hamzah from the Forest Research Institute Malaysia has a colleague developing a DNA database of Ramin in an area of Malaysia.

The importance and growing acceptance of DNA technology as a tool in effective forest management is reflected by the fact that the project is one of only five chosen to receive funds from the ITTO-CITES programme.