The Refinishing Touch Blog

Illegal logging of rare and endangered species has always been a problem. The use of such wood to make hardwood floors and furniture, which are highly sought after by some unscrupulous – and some simply ill-informed consumers, has given a huge incentive for loggers to continue with their activities, even in the face of huge fines and possible prison sentences.

There are several challenges. Firstly, the trees felled are rare and endangered species and as a result of the logging soon to be extinct. Secondly, millions of people depend on these trees for their livelihood. Finally these activities result in a heavy financial loss for governments, who are missing out on tax revenue that loggers do not pay, as well as a loss of revenue to the tune of more than $10 billion according to World Bank estimates.

Even though laws currently exist to combat the illegal trade of timber, one of the biggest problems that faced environmentalists in the fight against illegal logging was the difficulty in determining the source of illegal timber. This, however, is set to change with the development of a new DNA-based technique that could accurately track down where a particular piece of timber comes from.

Double Helix Tracking Technologies (DHTT), based in Singapore [link], extracts DNA samples in the forest and builds databases. Later DNA tests allow them to identify which forest a piece of furniture comes from, says Shankar Iyerh, Head of research, development and operations for DHTT.

This provides environmentalists with a new tool in their fight against illegal loggers, but they can only do so much. The real source of change ultimately rests in the hands of the customer. As long as there is a demand for endangered wood based products, illegal logging will continue to be a problem. Customers need to be more aware of the sources of the products that they are buying. If customers actively decide to stick to certified sources, illegal logging will diminish.

We at TRT are committed to only utilizing sustainable sources. We applaud the advent of Double Helix Tracking Technologies DNA tracking system and hope it will provide invaluable help in the fight against illegal logging.