TIMBERCHECK™

Most of the time, illegal timber enters supply chains undetected. But when it’s discovered, authorities often seize it. The volume can literally be boatloads.

So what happens to all this timber?

Sometimes the decision is made to destroy it. But why? And how can this be avoided?

What happens to seized timber?

What happens to confiscated timber varies from case to case, but common outcomes include:

• auctions;
• donations;
• use in public works projects (to build bridges, school furniture, etc);
• long-term storage (in which it often degrades beyond use);
• selling back to the alleged offenders (a la corruption), and last, but not least;
• destroying it.

Here’s what destroying timber looks like…

Seizing timber to save forests

Suppliers of illegal wood undercut the prices of legitimate businesses and steal their market share. This puts the “good guys” at a disadvantage and encourages deforestation.

Governments try to tip the scale in favor of legal wood suppliers by making illegal wood more costly, through penalties like fines, jail, and asset forfeiture (the confiscation of timber).

Taking timber off of the market can result in large financial losses for the owners.

For example, after detained in Vietnam’s Cat Lai Port in August of 2020, sixty containers of Rosewood went unclaimed for at least two months. The value of the shipment was estimated to be US$ 860,000. That means someone was owed quite a bit of money, or took a significant blow to their cash flow.

Confiscating illegal timber also reduces supply. This can increase demand for legal products in the short term. Both of these effects of timber confiscation can be good for legal suppliers and forests. But why destroy the seized timber?

Why destroy timber to save forests?

While seizing illegal wood provides a strong deterrent, destroying the wood just doesn’t seem right to most people. So why does it happen? Here are three reasons:

1. Lengthy legal process. The legal process to determine whether the wood is illegal or not, can take many years. For example, in Brazil, it was only decided in October of 2020 that a sawmill manager wood be prosecuted for allegedly storing 842 cubic meters of logs illegally in 2016.
2. Costly logistics. After confiscation, the cost of transporting and storing timber in a neutral location can be expensive, and even then, the wood may deteriorate beyond use.
3. Re-entrance to markets. If confiscated timber is left on-site, the timber can still get sold and re-enter markets. This apparently happened in Amapá, Brazil in August of 2020. Even after arrests were made, and a lumber company’s yard was closed by Federal Police and IBAMA, the company allegedly continued to operate and sell seized timber.

See also: 66 containers of Mozambique timber illegally exported to China recovered

Before timber is seized

Recent evidence suggests that, in certain regions with high levels of illegal wood flows, it’s not market demand that drives the illegal wood flows, but the supply of illegal timber.

Take for example, what happened in Brazil during the first half of 2020. Demand for Brazilian hardwoods from the Amazon decreased significantly.

But despite this, the seizure of illegal wood sky-rocketed.

If, and where large volumes of illegal timber are being harvested primarily for economic reasons other than timber sales – like the conversion of forestland to other land uses, destroying illegal timber already in supply chains is not going to decrease the supply of illegal timber in markets over the long run.

Ideally, the illegal harvest of timber is stopped on site, at the point of harvest – where supply originates.

Towards sustainable deterrence of illegal timber

If we want to stop destroying wood to save forests, the focus of law enforcement should be on the point of harvest, where the timber is first entering supply chains illegally.

In some places, this is already happening. Satellite imagery is becoming increasingly easier to access, and much more precise. Using daily satellite images, the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso can identify illegal deforestation as small as one hectare. It allows them to detect illegal timber harvests almost in real time. This method of forest monitoring will become common.

Buyer’s of wood products can also play a role. Data on illegal wood flows has traditionally been generic. The locations, methods, and other data on illegal wood flow risks are becoming increasingly easier to access. Methods for understanding the forest origins of wood products and their legality are advancing.

But the solutions will not only involve increased forest monitoring, and supply-chain transparency. In the longer term, land and forest policy reform will be important. The high cost of compliance with bureaucratic forest regulations incentivizes the commercialization of illegal timber. Policies that lower the cost of legal timber production are necessary.

Then, maybe, the practice of destroying seized timber to save forests will become a thing of the past.

Concerned about legal risks in timber supply chains? Join TimberCheck™ or check the Timber Risk Map. Want to know where your lumber originated? Start a WoodFlow™. Curious what the forest looks like after the harvest, request access to TimberSat™.

Header Photo Credit: CBMMA