New technology enabling scientists to identify origins of illegal timber

From Brazil and Madagascar to Europe’s Carpathian Mountains, trees move from forest to living room through serpentine routes, with twists and turns where illegal wood can be hidden. Gerald Koch at the Thünen Centre of Competence on the Origin of Timber in Hamburg, Germany, has helped to push wood anatomy to new heights, using it to expose a far-reaching scandal involving European charcoal supplies. Koch’s analysis provided enough information for Johannes Zahnen, a specialist in forest policy at WWF Germany, to deduce that 40% of the samples of barbecue charcoal he had submitted to Koch had come from tropical countries.

Source: www.nature.com