Transparency through Technology — EIA
The origin app on a smartphone screen notes that partial origin information is available for a maple dining set

Transparency through Technology

Transparency is a key sticking point in improving forest governance and enforcement around the world. Corporate and political reforms for transparency, as well as the implementation of traceability systems, can ensure that legal and sustainable commodities can be distinguished from those which have been produced in violation of local rights or forest and land use governance. At the same time, targeted investment in new timber and commodity identification technologies can have game-changing impacts on keeping traceability schemes honest and verifiable. EIA examines opportunities to expand transparency and traceability technologies and systems across forest countries and in consumer markets.

Featured Work

The origin app on a smartphone screen notes that partial origin information is available for a maple dining set

Origin Project

The Origin Project aims to achieve greater supply chain transparency, helping consumers find or demand origin information for wood products.

Learn More
None

Forest Inspector

In 2016, EIA engaged with a new Romanian government to develop and release the “Forest Inspector” system, which brings real-time timber transport data to the public and allows citizens all around the country to spot and report illegal transports.

Learn More

The spread of smartphones to nearly all corners of the world’s forests brings high-tech tools into the hands of loggers and forest defenders alike, and the development of complex digital traceability systems for timber supply chains are within reach though not yet integrated into any national governance systems. By showing what’s possible when data is made available through our investigations and reports, EIA aims to illustrate why such data needs to be transparently available for forest governance to function effectively.

To strengthen data collection a range of timber ID technologies have been developed over the past decade that intend to identify and trace timber species and origin across the supply chain.  EIA has been at the heart of these efforts, engaging with scientists and law enforcement, sending samples for testing, and identifying gaps. Through further engagement with funders, scientists, and other NGOs, we seek to develop universal sampling protocols and to ensure that samples collected by various groups can feed into a common database.

While individual data collection may allow for one-off verification, comprehensive systems – that cover entire supply chains or national timber sectors – can address the broader systemic risks that allow illegal logging and deforestation to continue. EIA is currently developing a forest sector supply chain traceability system in Gabon, while also working to replicate these systems to other countries. In addition to traceability in forest countries, supply chain transparency will be most effective at shifting global markets when consumers possess real information about the source of their products. EIA has developed the Origin App to provide species and country of harvest information straight to individuals, connecting a product’s traceability from point of origin through to the final consumer.

Related Resources

Report

Tracing Timber in Liberia

EIA’s transparent traceability system for chainsaw-milled lumber in Liberia shows how simple mobile app technology can bring effective transparency and traceability at a low cost even in remote and complicated environments.

A truck hauling a load of logs
Blog

Seeing the Forest for the Trees

Romania’s national timber traceability system is among the best in the world, but it still suffers from widespread fraud and noncompliance. The use of machine learning strategies offers an opportunity to more efficiently and effectively root out some of the common fraud techniques that enable evasion of Romania’s forest protections. 

A person leans on a huge cut log that's nearly shoulder height
Blog

Plus ça change

One of Romania’s largest sawmills has seen its ownership passed between three multinational timber companies in the last decade, but one thing that hasn’t changed is its questionable sourcing practices. 

Report

Opening the Rosewood Pandora’s Box

Recent trade data shows that the trade suspension of P. erinaceus has slowed, but not stopped, the export of this endangered rosewood species from its range in West Africa. Evidence from the ground also shows that illegal logging and international trafficking of the species are still taking place across the region.

The cover of
Report

Three Basins, Three Battlegrounds

Explore three cases that underline the current threats that extractive industries pose to these key ecosystems, highlight the ways that Indigenous Peoples and local communities are resisting, and offer recommendations for strengthening forest governance from the ground up.