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Tree sleuths are using DNA tests and machine vision to crack timber crimes

Scientists are optimistic that innovative techniques can pinpoint the true origin of timber.
By
  1. Aisling Irwin

    1. Aisling Irwin is a freelance journalist based in Oxfordshire, UK.

Red sap spurts into the air as a Malagasi worker cuts deep into a precious rosewood tree in a national park in Madagascar.

In 2016, the CITES treaty banned trade in many types of rosewood — including species from Madagascar. Credit: Toby Smith/EIA

When 420 tonnes of deep crimson logs arrived at a Sri Lankan port in April 2014, customs officers cast a suspicious eye over them. The wood was en route from Zanzibar in Tanzania to Hong Kong, where it would probably be crafted into expensive furniture for the Chinese market. However, a tip-off from international police organization Interpol alerted Sri Lankan officials to the fact that the 3,669 rosewood logs were from Madagascar, which had banned such exports in 2010.

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Nature 568, 19-21 (2019)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-01035-7

Updates & Corrections

  • Correction 08 April 2019: An earlier version of this story gave the wrong location for the Environmental Investigation Agency.

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