Using science to fight deforestation: Interview with World Forest ID’s Jade Saunders & Andrew Lowe

Imagine you purchased a swanky new chair. The paperwork claims the piece of furniture was made from legally sourced wood. But how can you be sure? After all, global supply chains are notoriously complicated and obscure. What if the chair was actually made from trees that were illegally chopped down? World Forest ID, a nonprofit and global consortium of research organizations, is making it easier to answer that question. The organization uses chemical and genetic profiling techniques to pinpoint where a particular piece of wood was grown and harvested. “We’re using science to make supply chains that track back to forests transparent,” Jade Saunders, executive director of World Forest ID, tells Mongabay in a video interview. “We’re doing that because we want them to be accountable.” World Forest ID has worked with nonprofits, governments and enforcement agencies to track deforestation, provide scientific evidence for court cases, and keep a check on sanctioned Russian timber in the European Union. The organization is now preparing to expand its work in preparation for the highly anticipated, although now delayed, European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). The regulation prevents the import into the EU of products linked to deforestation, such as timber, soy, cocoa, coffee, cattle, rubber and palm oil. Under the law, to take effect Dec. 30, 2025 — a year after its initial start date — companies will be mandated to ensure that their products aren’t sourced from deforested land. However, tracking products down to their location of origin isn’t an easy task,…This article was originally published on Mongabay