Based on satellite images obtained between August 2020 and July 2021, about 40% of logging in the Amazon takes place in unauthorized areas, according to a study conducted by the Logging Monitoring System (Simex). 

In a year’s period, an area equivalent to the city of São Paulo was subject to irregular logging.

With increasing pressure from different sectors of society for a consumption behavior that is free of connections to illegal deforestation, initiatives that seek to trace the origins of commercialized wood are also growing, with the aim of discovering whether it results from illegal felling or not. 

This is why the Forest Fingerprints Project was born, aimed at cataloging chemical aspects of trees and cross-referencing collected data with the incidence of each species in certain locations in the Amazon. 

This process will foster the identification of exploited areas as forest reserves, conservation units or indigenous territories, for example.

Currently, information about the origin of the wood is commonly generated by the analysis of the production chain. Forest Fingerprints wants to bring more accuracy to the process of tracking wood (and free it from any type of fraud), focusing on the chemical and isotopic compositions of native trees. 

The overall intention is to develop a model of traceability based on the use of stable isotopes to map a kind of chemical fingerprint of trees in the Amazon rainforest. Just like humans, every tree has a fingerprint. 

The fingerprint is based on the stable isotope distribution of carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen found in trees. It cannot be altered, and is immune to tampering.

“In each locality, the isotopic composition of rainwater and, consequently, the underground water, have a peculiar composition of stable isotopes, which are types of atoms of the same element, but with slightly different atomic mass. During their lifetime, trees absorb water and other chemical elements, mainly from the soil, and end up presenting an isotopic composition similar to that of the place where they live. It's a sort of unique isotopic fingerprint. This time, science will tell where the wood comes from”, says Frineia Rezende, executive director of The Nature Conservancy Brasil, a non-governmental organization that leads the project in partnership with Google.

Once data is collected, the second step is to develop an open platform that allows the isotopic fingerprints to be crossed with commercialized wood samples. 

The technology can be used by different user profiles, such as inspection bodies and researchers. In this platform, one can also find data from the Forestry Origin Document (DOF), issued by the government and mandatory for the transport and storage of wood. 

The project will also establish a partnership Institute of Forestry and Agricultural Management and Certification (Imaflora) through the Timberflow platform, which allows the visualization of the flows of different wood products generated from species managed in the Amazon considering the Brazilian municipalities involved in wood production and the destinations of each product.

"And the third stage will be the creation of a transparency model for the market and consumers to distinguish who uses legal wood from who does not. We face the great challenge of overcoming the low transparency of public data in some areas. This challenge involves several actors, including extraction companies. We have many negative examples, but also many examples of people who act responsibly, complying with the law. This initiative will value those who sell only legal wood", points out Rezende.

Methodology is still undertested in tropical forests

So far, Forest Fingerprints has already started the analysis of 250 samples of native Amazonian trees of high commercial interest, collected in 20 different locations in the region. 

Luiz Antônio Martinelli from the University of São Paulo (USP) advocates the methodology is one of the most recommended ones for combating illegal logging, but it is still undertested in tropical conditions, where the number of species is enormous. 

Around 40 people were involved in collecting the first samples with the support of the Brazilian Forest Service (SFB) and of the National Institute for Research in the Amazon (Inpa).

The process isn't exactly straightforward, and Martinelli points out that it's also time-consuming. The tree trunks were converted into wooden discs that are under analysis at five different points and are expected to generate 1,250 samples. 

So far, a thousand of them have undergone analysis. The study also includes cellulose extraction and examination.

"Each isotope has a different function in the tree. Carbon is the 50% constituent, nitrogen is present in proteins and oxygen in the water molecule. They allow different properties to each tree in each location. What we are doing is a ‘library of wood’, a reference. When we find the isotopes, we will be able to compare them statistically and link them to the isotopic values of each exact location, with the longitude and latitude of the tree. We will have more results at the end of the year. Maybe the variability is so extreme that we will not be able to identify patterns isotopically. I'm pretty hopeful it works, but maybe 250 samples from 20 locations isn't enough material. It's science, of course, so we don't know how well this will work as we expect. But the balance so far is that I'm optimistic", says the professor, who coordinates the Center for Nuclear Energy in Agriculture at USP.

FINANCING

In order to ensure strength for Forest Fingerprints project, the company Google.org, a Google's philanthropic branch, donated more than BRL 5.4 million to The Nature Conservancy, in addition to providing 13 specialists in machine learning, geolocation, user experience and project management to work along with this NGO aiming at developing technologies and artificial intelligence models for the platform.

“Building an artificial intelligence model capable of estimating the origin of a tree from which a wood sample was taken, requires the manipulation and interpretation of extensive databases. Therefore, we also want to help by donating our talent and DNA to enhance the project. It will be a new green label for consumption”, says Alessandro Germano, director of global partnerships at Google Brazil.

The expectation of The Nature Conservancy is that this effort, along with other actions, can reduce Brazil's emissions by 178 million tons of greenhouse gases, which represents 13% of the Brazilian goal of reducing emissions by 2030.

"We want to bring qualified information to buyers and decision makers about the risks of illegality existing in the wood supply chains in the Amazon. We hope that this can encourage producers to access legal wood more easily in the markets. We also hope that this platform makes available contents that help to promote the socio-biodiversity of the Amazon”, says Marco Lentini, from Imaflora.

Project can help to overcome prejudices, says Aimex

The companies in this field, themselves, provide wood traceability data by means of their own processes. The data feed a system provided by Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama), known as DOF, which stands for Document of Forest Origin. 

If the extraction areas are under the competence of the state of Pará, the data go to the platform System for Commercialization and Transport of Forest Products (Sisflora). 

In the case of federal concessions, the destination of the data is the Federal Concessions Chain of Custody System.

The traceability chain begins with the extraction qualification and quantification process. Afterwards, an inventory is generated once the tree is cut down. 

Sequentially, the tree is taken to the storage yard so that the diameter and length of the logs are measured. 

Each log receives a non-repeating sequential number. 

In the opinion of Deryck Martins, technical director of the Association of Wood Exporters of the State of Pará (Aimex), Forest Fingerprints can help demystify preconceived opinions about the wood market.

"Currently, this is the point where companies have made the most progress. I believe that wood is the most controlled product of the rural economy, more than cattle, soy, iron or minerals. No other product has such accurate control. It is possible that misleading information, human errors or inaccurate numbers still occur, but we can make adjustments on that. When the environmental agency identifies deviations, they register a notice of infraction. This project is important to make society understand better how the production chain works. Wood is a natural resource and can be used sustainably. This type of detailed information has become more accessible and consumers can ask for it when they buy wooden items", he points out.

INSPECTION

For Luís Antônio Monteiro de Brito, president of the Environment Commission of the Brazilian Bar Association in Pará (OAB-PA), systems currently used are good, but there is still a profusion of scams with the objective of "laundering" wood.

"This is still a problem in the Amazon. Another issue is inspection. It is a really big challenge to implement inspection in the necessary volume concerning the immensity and diversity of the forest", he points out. He recalls that there are daily apprehensions, but that the volume of wood transactions and transit is enormous in the region. 

According to Monteiro, the ideal solution would be to improve inspection at the end of the production chain, with greater control over the industries, since inspecting the extractors is more difficult.

"Companies also implement origin control, but a lot of serious companies may be led into mistakes, buying irregular wood with false documentation. When detailed analyzes are carried out, it is easier to identify illegalities. But often the buyer has no control. We need to increase qualification of professionals at the end of the chain, so that they know how to use and consult governmental systems. And the system needs to report any discrepancies more quickly and automatically, right away at the beginning of the process. It would avoid injustices and losses for those ones who work responsibly", he highlights.