The origin of the timber is classified into the following categories: (i) timber extracted from state lands, (ii) timber extracted from private lands, (iii) timber received as confiscated material from forest offences, and (iv) timber from other sources (e.g. development areas).
It's a way the loggers have found to hide the origin of their timber so they can claim it comes from one of the few areas where logging is permitted.
It is already now possible to reliably detect false declarations concerning the origin of illegally harvested timber using molecular genetic tools, albeit only for a small fraction of relevant species and problems.
Since many dipterocarp species are endemic, the identification of these species restricts the potential places of origin of timber to their small natural distribution area.
It is disingenuous for Brazilian government inspectors to insist that they have no way to determine the origin of a shipment of mahogany timber when it reaches the port of Belém for shipment to the United States.
These recent developments offer numerous potential applications in forensics; the most important field of application is the identification of timber species and the origin of wood and wood products based on DNA markers.
Table 1 Published studies assessing the natural durability of Sequoia sempervirens timber Test type (number and name of species in brackets, if known) Classification Origin of timber (type of wood in brackets) Reference Field test Non-durable unknown Hedley and Foster [1972] Laboratory test (ASTM [2005]) (5 brown-rot fungi (Gloeophyllum trabeum, Coniophora olivacea (Fr).
This scheme, known as heating the wood, is so common that, off the record, loggers admit it would be impossible to find a single logger who did not disguise the origin of at least part of his timber in this way.
Most forest tree species exhibit high levels of genetic diversity that can be used to trace the origin of living plants or their products such as timber and processed wood.
