Timber Trade Research Articles

Correction of the moisture variation in wood NIR spectra for species identification using EPO and soft PLS2-DA

The NIRS technology, together with multivariate methods, has already proved to be capable of discriminating wood from different forest species that are visually similar and determining the provenance within the same species. However, models developed with dry wood under controlled conditions of humidity and temperature present prediction errors or high outlier exclusion rates when applied to the analysis of samples under different moisture conditions. This work proposes applying external parameter orthogonalization (EPO) to minimize the effect of moisture in the spectra of wood from native Brazilian species under different moisture conditions and enable its analysis by PLS-DA discrimination models. After correction, the models showed high-efficiency rates and a significant reduction in the number of outliers. For the model trained with oven-dried samples and validated with spectra measured on samples under environment conditions, it was observed that the rate of samples with inconclusive results (RIR) was reduced from 87.8% to 18.4% by using EPO. Under these conditions, efficiency rates of 93.5% were obtained for the identification of Carapa guianensis Aubl. (Andiroba), 98.6% for Swietenia macrophylla King (Mogno) and 100.0% for Cedrela odorata L. (Cedro), Erisma uncinatum Warm. (Cedrinho) and Micropholis melinoniana Pierre (Curupixá). For the second validation set, with samples in more extreme moisture conditions, the same model without EPO correction had a RIR of 100.0%. In comparison the model with EPO had a RIR of 43.8%, demonstrating the feasibility of EPO in the correction of moisture interference in samples under moisture conditions different from those used in the model development. Applying more flexible criteria in the identification of samples by PLS-DA also favored the reduction of errors. Thus, EPO and soft-PLS-DA proved to be an effective strategy to enable the application of NIR technology in field conditions, such as in the inspection of illegal timber trade.

Perceptions of wood-processing industries on FLEGT implementation: Insights from Vietnam

This paper analyses timber and wood processing companies' views on opportunities and challenges for FLEGT implementation in Vietnam based on a literature review, online surveys with 56 timber and wood processing companies, in-depth interviews with 26 stakeholders from different institutions, and a consultation workshop involving 94 participants. Our paper shows that FLEGT has received increasing attention and political support from the Government of Vietnam, which has issued new policies on sustainable forest management, forest certification and financial incentives to enable timber and wood processing companies to participate in FLEGT. The active presence of civil society organizations has helped improve forest governance, which is a key aspect of FLEGT. Perceiving FLEGT as a global market trend able to generate higher profits, timber and wood processing companies see opportunities to benefit from this timber trading initiative, and are therefore more willing to comply with FLEGT requirements. However, these companies also highlight challenges to implementing FLEGT on the ground, including unclear and inconsistent policies, weak monitoring and evaluation, high transaction costs, companies' limited access to information, unclear tenure and erratic land-use planning, and the weak capacity of household and small-scale enterprises. Effective implementation of FLEGT requires regulatory changes, improved law enforcement and translation of policies on the ground, enhanced information exchange between stakeholders, and addressing underlying problems relating to land tenure and forest governance.

Facebook blind spot assists illegal timber trade

Facebook blind spot assists illegal timber trade

Price Volatility Transmission in China’s Hardwood Lumber Imports

Hardwood lumber is the principal part of the global hardwood timber trade. China has become the largest importer of hardwood lumber in the world. However, China’s hardwood lumber imports are affected by price volatility. Thus, we investigated the price volatility transmission of China’s hardwood lumber imports. We aimed to detect the source, path, and intensity of the volatility transmission in China’s hardwood lumber imports, and reveal the intrinsic interactions between price volatilities. To date, there is little research on the price fluctuations of forest products. This paper provides an empirical analysis on the volatility transmission in China’s forest product imports. We selected four types of major hardwood lumber imports to China; that is, teak (Tectona grandis L.F.), merbau (Merbau), sapele (Entandrophragma), and casla (Terminalia spp.) (The Latin names of tree species are given in parentheses), and used their daily prices from 4 August 2010 to 15 April 2020. The Baba–Engle–Kraft–Kroner (BEKK) multivariate models and dynamic conditional correlation (DCC) models were employed. The empirical results indicate that there is an intrinsic relationship between the price fluctuations in China’s hardwood lumber imports. The volatility transmission chain originates from casla; it is transmitted along the casla→sapele→merbau→teak pathway. The direction of transmission is from lower prices to higher prices. The dynamic conditional correlation of each link in the chain does not exhibit any particular time trend. This suggests that volatility transmission is a crucial price mechanism in China’s hardwood lumber imports. Our findings have important policy implications for hedging timber price risks and designing timber trade policies.

FSC sustainability certification as green-lane for legality verification under the EUTR? Changes and policy learning at the interplay of private governance and public policy

How do policy-oriented learning and shifting coalitions among private and public actors affect the evolution of the regulatory governance of legal and sustainable global timber commodity production and trade? To answer this question, we study the interplay between the transnational private regulation of sustainable forestry certification under the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) scheme and the public policy requesting due diligence to prove the legality of global timber trade under the EU Timber Regulation (EUTR). We show that strategic policy-oriented learning and shifting coalitions among NGOs, business companies and state regulators were key shapers in the evolution and interplay of private and public regulations in the forest sector. In particular, environmental NGOs (ENGOs) and some forest-based industries first developed the non-state, market-driven FSC forest certification through a strategic alliance triggered by strategic policy learning about the failures and limitations of global state-based regulatory instruments. Following policy controversies about the eroding legitimacy and the ineffectiveness of FSC certification ENGOs, state regulators and other forest industries responded to these concerns and built a new strategic alliance to design and enforce regulatory bans and due diligence rules under the EUTR. Due to these controversies, shifting coalitions and strategic learning, private certification was not recognized as a green-lane to prove legality assurance under the EUTR. Nevertheless, FSC certification has been included, developed and practiced as part of the due diligence systems under the EUTR. In terms of theory development, our results show that strategic policy learning and processes of making and breaking strategic alliances were based on changes in core empirical beliefs based on evidence and information. However, these changes did not involve changes in core normative beliefs, which acted as main cognitive filters for breaking old strategic alliances and making new ones. These essentially cognitive mechanisms explain much of the evolution in regulatory governance interactions in the forest sector, shifting from public to private, then from private to public, and finally ending up in public-private controversies and adaptations.

Care for the Environment and Environmental Crime Based on Theravada Buddhist Philosophy

From past to present, global compressions on human and environmental systems are more likely to increase than ever before in human history. With the science and technology advancement, we are living in the age of the global village that enables more convenient and brings us closer together. However, this also means that human being is suffering from global environmental crisis including the threat of war, economic crises, racial conflicts, environmental degradation, and environmental crime. This paper represents library-based work to date in Buddhist contemporary and useful perspectives and strategies on environmental protection and prevention in the backdrop of growing consumerism and capitalism influenced by western cultural in post-globalization era. Comparing to other countries, Thailand faces various environmental problems and some of them could become to environmental crime such as illegal wildlife trade; smuggling ozone-depleting substances; illicit trade in hazardous waste and pollution; illegal mining; illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing; illegal logging and associated trade in stolen timber. Since Thailand is one of largely Buddhist practical countries, measures to conserve the environment can draw on the principles and precepts of Lord Buddha’s teachings, known as Tripitaka. In Lord Buddha’s lifetime, environmental problems were not salient, but surprisingly, Lord Buddha recognised such problems because they are related to natural law. Accordingly, he established disciplinary rules for monks to live as models of not destroying the environment. The five precepts of Buddhism are the examples of the main principals in Buddhism which is regulations regarding the relation with environmental crime protection and humanity.

Patterns and Drivers of Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Myanmar

Myanmar is one of the most forested countries of mainland Southeast Asia and is a globally important biodiversity hotspot. However, forest cover has declined from 58% in 1990 to 44% in 2015. The aim of this paper was to understand the patterns and drivers of deforestation and forest degradation in Myanmar since 2005, and to identify possible policy interventions for improving Myanmar’s forest management. Remote sensing derived land cover maps of 2005, 2010 and 2015 were accessed from the Forest Department, Myanmar. Post-classification change detection analysis and cross tabulation were completed using spatial analyst and map algebra tools in ArcGIS (10.6) software. The results showed the overall annual rate of forest cover loss was 2.58% between 2005 and 2010, but declined to 0.97% between 2010 and 2015. The change detection analysis showed that deforestation in Myanmar occurred mainly through the degradation of forest canopy associated with logging rather than forest clearing. We propose that strengthening the protected area system in Myanmar, and community participation in forest conservation and management. There needs to be a reduction in centralisation of forestry management by sharing responsibilities with local governments and the movement away from corruption in the timber trading industry through the formation of local-based small and medium enterprises. We also recommend the development of a forest monitoring program using advanced remote sensing and GIS technologies.

The Shiners’ War: Social Violence in the Ottawa Valley in the 1830s

By late May of 1835, unrest in Bytown had reached unprecedented proportions. All winter, the people of the town, the entrepôt of the Ottawa timber trade, had been bracing themselves, awaiting the annual visitation, the annual affliction, of the raftsmen who came each spring from high up the Valley to roister and riot in the streets of Bytown. Like the freshets in the streams, the raftsmen and social disorder arrived each April and May. But never before had their coming brought such organized violence as it did in 1835. For the Irish timberers, now had a leader, and a purpose. Peter Aylen, run-away sailor, timber king, ambitious schemer, had set himself at the head of the Irish masses, had moulded them into a powerful weapon. He had given them a purpose: to drive the French Canadians off the river and thus guarantee jobs and high wages in the timber camps to the Irish.

Common Forest, Private Timber: Managing the Commons in the Italian Alps

Abstract The two key stakeholders in the commercial exploitation of the common woodlands in the eastern Italian Alps from the fifteenth to the eighteenth century were the mountain communities, which had ownership or right of use of the woodlands, and the timber merchants, who had the capital and skills to transform those woodlands into valuable commodities. A long-term perspective on the business of cutting, transporting, and marketing timber reveals the networks, strategic relationships, and complex socioeconomic conditions that emerged from the collaboration of local populations and outside interests in the timber trade for their mutual benefit.

Genome skimming reveals novel plastid markers for the molecular identification of illegally logged African timber species.

Tropical forests represent vast carbon stocks and continue to be key carbon sinks and buffer climate changes. The international policy constructed several mechanisms aiming at conservation and sustainable use of these forests. Illegal logging is an important threat of forests, especially in the tropics. Several laws and regulations have been set up to combat illegal timber trade. Despite significant enforcement efforts of these regulations, illegal logging continues to be a serious problem and impacts for the functioning of the forest ecosystem and global biodiversity in the tropics. Microscopic analysis of wood samples and the use of conventional plant DNA barcodes often do not allow to distinguish closely-related species. The use of novel molecular technologies could make an important contribution for the identification of tree species. In this study, we used high-throughput sequencing technologies and bioinformatics tools to obtain the complete de-novo chloroplast genome of 62 commercial African timber species using the genome skimming method. Then, we performed a comparative genomic analysis that revealed new candidate genetic regions for the discrimination of closely-related species. We concluded that genome skimming is a promising method for the development of plant genetic markers to combat illegal logging activities supporting CITES, FLEGT and the EU Timber Regulation.

Field-Deployable Computer Vision Wood Identification of Peruvian Timbers.

Illegal logging is a major threat to forests in Peru, in the Amazon more broadly, and in the tropics globally. In Peru alone, more than two thirds of logging concessions showed unauthorized tree harvesting in natural protected areas and indigenous territories, and in 2016 more than half of exported lumber was of illegal origin. To help combat illegal logging and support legal timber trade in Peru we trained a convolutional neural network using transfer learning on images obtained from specimens in six xylaria using the open source, field-deployable XyloTron platform, for the classification of 228 Peruvian species into 24 anatomically informed and contextually relevant classes. The trained models achieved accuracies of 97% for five-fold cross validation, and 86.5 and 92.4% for top-1 and top-2 classification, respectively, on unique independent specimens from a xylarium that did not contribute training data. These results are the first multi-site, multi-user, multi-system-instantiation study for a national scale, computer vision wood identification system evaluated on independent scientific wood specimens. We demonstrate system readiness for evaluation in real-world field screening scenarios using this accurate, affordable, and scalable technology for monitoring, incentivizing, and monetizing legal and sustainable wood value chains.

Pterocarpus wood identification by independent and complementary analysis of DART-TOFMS, microscopic anatomy, and fluorescence spectrometry

Abstract Attention to illegal logging practices and demanding policies in transnational timber trade have driven the need for species-level identification of timber. Historically wood has been identified to genus level using microscopy and anatomical characteristics, however, new chemometric and imaging methods have been developed to increase the speed and precision of timber identification. This study approaches species identification using a combination of complementary methods: Direct Analysis in Real Time–Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry (DART-TOFMS), wood anatomy, and fluorescence spectroscopy. Seven commercially and environmentally significant species in Pterocarpus, including P. erinaceus (CITES Appendix II), P. santalinus (CITES Appendix II), P. tinctorius (CITES Appendix II), P. indicus, P. macrocarpus, P. dalbergioides, and P. soyauxii were studied. It was found that DART-TOFMS paired with discriminant analysis of principal components (PCA) could classify species with an accuracy of 95–100%, while anatomy in combination with PCA applied to fluorescence spectra could be used to classify CITES Appendix II species. In the absence of access to DART-TOFMS, a combination of wood anatomy and fluorescence spectrometry can permit more accurate identification than anatomy alone.

Quo vadis global forest governance? A transdisciplinary delphi study

Deforestation and forest degradation remain huge global environmental challenges. Over the last decades, various forest governance initiatives and institutions have evolved in global response to interlinked topics such as climate change mitigation, biodiversity conservation, indigenous rights, and trade impacts – accompanied by various levels of academic attention. Using a Delphi methodology that draws on both policy and academic insights, we assess the currently perceived state of play in global forest governance and identify possible future directions. Results indicate that state actors are seen to be key in providing supportive regulatory frameworks, yet interviewees do not believe these will be established at the global scale. Rather, respondents point to issue-specific, regional and inter-regional coalitions of the willing, involving the private sector, to innovate global forest governance. Linking forest issues with high politics may hold promise, as demonstrated by initiatives regarding illegal logging and timber trade. Confident rule-setting in support of the public good as well as responsible investments are seen as further avenues. New forest governance “hypes”, if used strategically, can provide leverage points and resources to ensure sustainability effects on the ground. At the same time, informal markets are often crucial for governance outcomes and need consideration. As such, clarifying tenure in sovereignty-sensitive ways is important, as are innovative ways for inclusive “glocal” decision-making. Lastly, new technologies, big data and citizens’ capacities are identified as potent innovation opportunities, for making global dependencies between consumption, production and deforestation visible and holding players accountable across the value chains.

Sustainable Development Model of Performance of Woodworking Enterprises in the Czech Republic

The current requirements put on the Member States of the European Union (“EU”) in the area of sustainability and climate-neutral economy through strategic visions such as “Agenda 2030” or “A Clean planet for all” demonstrate the increasing need for quick identification of the changes required in the use of renewable and nonrenewable natural resources. Forests are a particular specific area of such changes. They represent a part of the ecosystem that is important for society from the economic, social, and environmental perspectives. Current climate changes have had a negative effect on the state of forestry in the Czech Republic and have raised many questions of how to ensure its sustainability. Besides the changes in forestry, the situation has also affected the sector primarily depending on the production function of forests and whose coexistence is conditioned. Taking specific sectors as examples, the article presents some prospects that could result in more efficient use of resources and defines potential synergic effects. Analyses of primary and secondary information sources were used to create preferential models (the term “preferential” in the context of the article represents opportunities through which it is possible to achieve an improvement in competitiveness and market advantage over the current model of wood processing and timber trade in the Czech Republic. The model works with potential perspectives and respects the challenges in the field of sustainable development) of timber and wood raw material production and processing and preferential and of economic efficiency (the term “efficiency” in the article represents the technical efficiency of the use of resources to achieve maximum economic benefit and added value. The aim is to increase the economic potential of individual sectors of primary and secondary processing in relation to timber sources) of woodworking businesses. The production model indicates that the energy use of wood, the expansion of the production mix in construction, the use of biomass and digestate in agroforestry, and the logging waste recovery are the most prospective sectors. The model presenting preferential areas in the woodworking industry development with respect to sustainability identified the need to increase associated production and material efficiency in construction and energy sectors, as well as insufficient activity of the sectors associated with technological innovations, FSC and PEFC certification prospects, bioeconomy and circular economy, a considerable need for wage growth in the sector and increased use of the existing production capacities by both domestic and foreign sales.

Timber Trading and Pricing of Plantation Grown Teak (Tectona grandis Linn.F) in Laos

Timber Trading and Pricing of Plantation Grown Teak (Tectona grandis Linn.F) in Laos

The (post)politicisation of timber trade: (Un)invited participation in the EU-Vietnam Voluntary Partnership Agreement

This article analyses the Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) between the European Union (EU) and Vietnam as a form of postpoliticisation. In addition to their primary objective the governing of bilateral timber trade value chains, VPAs also entail an element of democratisation, as they are conditional upon stakeholder and civil society participation. Building on poststructuralist discourse-theory (PDT) and Erik Swyngedouw's notion of ‘the postpolitical condition’, this article asks how (un)invited non-state actor participation in the EU-Vietnam VPA discursively (re-)articulates and (de)politicises problems and solutions. The article finds that invited participation in Vietnam was characterised by consensual and technocratic governance practices and a discursive foreclosure of problems and solutions. The VPA's consensual space was ruptured by uninvited participation by several Cambodia NGOs, who questioned the VPA's rationalistic logics of legality verification and certification for imported timber products. These concerns were dismissed as nonsensical by the EU, demonstrating the postpolitical discursive foreclosure for non-state actor engagement. The research is based on 33 interviews with respondents in Vietnam and Europe as well as a document analysis of the VPA text and annexes, EU communications, NGO advocacy materials and media appearances by Cambodian NGOs.

A Popular Modernism? Timber Architecture in Britain 1936–39

Between 1936 and 1940, attention in British architectural media turned towards timber as a material for building in modern and traditional styles, stimulated by the Timber Trade Federation and its arm’s-length organisation, the Timber Development Association, and also by the desire of modern architects to try materials other than concrete. This paper describes the major events in this episode, the response of the press and the leading examples of timber buildings by leading modernists, including competition entries. It situates timber as a socially progressive material adopted by a younger generation with varied motives. This aspect of modernism was brought to an abrupt end by the shortages resulting from the Second World War, and never again achieved such prominence.

Direct analysis in real-time (DART) time-of-flight mass spectrometry (TOFMS) of wood reveals distinct chemical signatures of two species of Afzelia

Distinct chemical fingerprints of the wood of Afzelia pachyloba and A. bipindensis demonstrated an effective method for identifying these two commercially important species. Direct analysis in real-time (DART) time-of-flight mass spectrometry (TOFMS) allowed high-throughput examination of chemotypes with vast potential in taxonomic, ecological, and forensic research of wood. Afzelia is a genus of valuable tropical timber trees. Accurate identification of wood is required for the prevention of illicit timber trade as well as for certification purposes in the forest and wood products industry. For many years, particular interest has been focused on attempts to distinguish the wood of A. bipindensis Harms from A. pachyloba Harms due to substantial differences in the commercial values of these two species. We investigated if wood chemical signatures and microscopy could identify the wood of A. bipindensis and A. pachyloba. We used two approaches, namely metabolome profiling by direct analysis in real-time (DART) time-of-flight mass spectrometry (TOFMS) and wood microstructure by light microscopy and SEM. In all, we analyzed samples from 89 trees of A. bipindensis, and A. pachyloba. The two species could not be separated by the IAWA standard microscopic wood features. SEM analysis showed considerable variation in the morphology of vestured pits; however, this variation was not species-specific. In contrast, DART-TOFMS followed by unsupervised statistics (Discriminant Analysis of Principal Components) showed distinct metabolome signatures of the two species. DART-TOFMS provides a rapid method for wood identification that can be easily applied to small heartwood samples. Time- and cost-effective classification of wood chemotypes by DART-TOFMS can have potential applications in various research questions in forestry, wood science, tree-ecophysiology, and forensics.

LOCATION OF PLANTED FOREST INFLUENCING THE WOOD COMMERCIALIZATION IN THE STATE OF GOIAS, BRAZIL

Planted forests have grown substantially in Brazil, especially in states such as Goias. While they may compete with native forest areas, planted forests also present themselves as economically viable solutions for the recovery of degraded areas. This study presents the market of wood in the Brazilian state of Goias analyzing the interaction between supply and demand curves of the product in a partial equilibrium analysis. In this sense, it is essential to understand the spatial issue to offer production by planning the transaction costs related to transportation. Therefore, the distribution of companies is linked to the production chain, mapped by means of labor market bases (Ministry of Labor), wood production (IBGE) and other industry data. The spatial analysis of the planted forest area (silviculture) in Goias between 2000 and 2016 was based on data from the time series, from mapping provided by the MapBiomas Project. In Goias, considering all sectors of the forest production chain, in 2015 alone, revenues exceeded US$ 1.24 billion and public collections US$ 24 million, employing more than 36 thousand people in 7 thousand firms. Thus, it is fundamental to understand this process, identifying the main determinants of planted forests, through statistical and spatial analysis. From a spatial point of view, planted forests and companies involved in wood production are relatively spread throughout the state, except for the state capital of Goiania, which has a large number of timber trade and manufacturing firms.

Wood profiling by non-targeted high-resolution mass spectrometry: Part 1, Metabolite profiling in Cedrela wood for the determination of the geographical origin

The determination of the geographical origin of wood can be highly relevant for several reasons: On the one hand, it can help to prevent illegal logging and timber trade, on the other hand, it is of special interest for archaeological artefacts made of wood, as well as for a variety of biological questions. For this reason, different extraction methods were first tested for the analysis of polar and non-polar metabolites using liquid chromatography coupled electrospray ionization quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UHPLC-ESI-QTOF-MS). A two-phase extraction with chloroform, methanol and water proved to be particularly successful. Subsequently, cedrela (Cedrela odorata) samples from South America were measured to distinguish geographic origin. Using multivariate data analysis, numerous origin-dependent differences could be extracted. The identification of the marker substances indicated that several metabolic pathways were affected by the geographical influences, some of them probably indicating pest infections.