World Forest ID

Before World Forest ID became the independent nonprofit it is today, it spent four years as an idea driven along by the energies of an informal collaboration of individuals and organizations who saw the need and opportunity for science-based traceability in forest-connected supply chains. So we know that when a group of organizations, each with their own unique expertise, aligns around a shared idea, big things can happen. That’s why we’re so excited about finally establishing a World Forest ID Consortium with a binding set of principles and aligned purpose in the world — this partnership of leading public research institutions working together to advance and scale the science needed to protect forests and ecosystems can move mountains. The Consortium is dedicated to ensuring scientific excellence in the development of novel forensic techniques and global verification standards, utilizing non-proprietary science and technology for global good, and each institute will be represented on a Scientific Stewardship Committee that meets annually to review World Forest ID's scientific strategy and ensure the credibility of our data and approach to supply chains. We consider the Consortium to be the centerpiece of our Annual Report, you can read more about it—and see the incredible partners we’re working with—below. University Of Dschang, Cameroon , IPB University, Centro de Energia Nuclear na Agricultura - CENA/USP, University of Adelaide, Wageningen University & Research, Meise Botanic Garden, IRAF/ CENAREST, CITEmadera - Centro de Innovación Productiva y Transferencia Tecnológica de la Madera y del Mueble, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew #Traceability #ForestProtection #ScienceForImpact #GlobalCollaboration #AnnualReport

Strategic sampling is key to strengthening our traceability tools. At a local level, it’s a data science challenge—identifying the ideal sampling locations to increase the accuracy and precision of our results. On a global scale, it means assessing risks and prioritizing action where it matters most. This section from our 2024 Annual Report highlights our work in the #AmazonBasin, home to nearly half of the world’s remaining tropical forests. The need for robust traceability here is critical and ongoing. Over the past year, we collaborated with local farmers and collectors, including Arthur La Rosa Sánchez Navarro, to sample high-risk timber like CITES-listed mahogany and forest-risk commodities such as soy and cocoa. The below breakdown by country and commodity is an ever-growing list, evolving as we continue our work in the region. Read our full annual report here: https://lnkd.in/daettvtw #Traceability #AnnualReport #CaseStudy #Impact

Building a reference database of cocoa samples to verify origins, covering countries that produce 66% of the world’s cocoa. Just one #CaseStudy from our annual report. Cocoa represents unique livelihoods for smallholder agroforestry producers, but it is linked to deforestation and child labor challenges. Transparent supply chains are a prerequisite for protecting farmers and landscapes and upholding human rights. Our work helps companies and consumers buy with confidence, supporting responsible producers and sustainable practices. Thank you to Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew for partnering with us, the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) for funding, and on-the-ground organizations like ECOCOA for collections support. Find our full annual report here: https://lnkd.in/daettvtw #AnnualReport #Cocoa #SupplyChains #Traceability #Sustainability

Compiling our first annual report gave us a valuable chance to pause and reflect on the achievements of 2024, the year World Forest ID fully hit its stride, as Exec Director Jade Saunders put it. A taster below capturing overarching impacts, key milestones, and a snapshot of our sample and traceability insights. Look out for future snippets - we’ll be sharing some of our favorite case studies. If you can’t wait, full report here: https://lnkd.in/daettvtw #AnnualReport #Impact #Reflection

In case you missed it… our Director of Science, Dr. Victor Deklerck was interviewed by BBC Radio 4 on Friday about our role in the Grain Verification Scheme. This UK Government-funded, G7-backed initiative was designed to help customs officials in identifying stolen Ukrainian grain in international trade. The scheme was officially handed over to Ukraine last week. Listen to the full interview here: https://lnkd.in/eg_Xu7pA

The UK Government, in collaboration with World Forest ID, has this week launched the Grain Verification Scheme (GVS) as part of its 100 Year Partnership with Ukraine. The GVS is designed to help customs officials identify stolen Ukrainian grain in international trade—a well-documented issue since Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion. Supported by the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, we’ve spent the past two years developing a reference collection of wheat, barley, maize, and sunflower from Ukraine and Eastern Europe. Using our peer-reviewed methodology, developed with partners including Stratum Reservoir, University of Washington, Fera Science Ltd., and Source Certain, the stable isotope and trace element data derived from the samples will allow G7 Government laboratories to chemically trace traded grain to its harvest origin. This critical resource is now being handed over to Ukraine, empowering prosecutors to protect its farmers, landscapes and agricultural exports. Find out more here https://lnkd.in/eTNutYgT and here https://lnkd.in/eDaz9gim #Ukraine #Traceability #ScientificInnovation #Verification

How do we trace traded forest products back to their location of harvest? A chair, like the example in this video, or a bed, or table… If you want to understand more, watch this to get an overview of the work that goes into each stage of our process, from timber collections in the Amazon Basin under Arthur La Rosa Sánchez Navarro, to sample analysis with partner institution, Fera Science Ltd., to the spatial modeling of chemical data with World Forest ID data team Dr Victor Deklerck, Dr Jakub Truszkowski, Dr Thomas Mortier and Dr Charlotte C. Smith. This is the approach we’re currently using with leading timber retailers and traders as part of the Alliance for Wood ID Testing, co-hosted with WWF, analyzing and verifying origin claims in major supply chains. A huge thank you to Arthur La Rosa Sánchez Navarro and Joe Humphreys from Fera Science Ltd. for providing the footage and to the Mongabay video team for the feature. 🔗 Watch here: https://lnkd.in/eKFtBMUr #Traceability #Transparency #Timbertrade #Environment

As our project with the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation enters an exciting new phase, we are happy to share an article, published by the Foundation, which highlights how we’re applying scientific traceability to determine the origins of traded shrimp. Now moving into the analysis stage, we'll be using geolocated reference samples collected throughout 2024 from South-East Asia, South, and Central America to investigate the granularity that chemical techniques—Stable Isotope Ratio Analysis (SIRA) and Trace Element Analysis (TEA)—can achieve for shrimp traceability and explore whether shrimp chemical signatures can reveal connections to recent mangrove forest destruction at their source locations. Thank you to Maureen Geesey, Caitlin Cobb and the Foundation's wider Conservation and Markets Initiative team for your support and for producing this great insight piece, and additional thanks to Marco Osorto for providing the photos featured! #Traceability #SupplyChains #FoodIndustry #Mangroves

We’re delighted to announce that World Forest ID has received a grant from the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) to support the ongoing work of the #AllianceforWoodIDTesting in partnership with WWF, which is helping leading timber traders and retailers strengthen sustainable sourcing practices and meet Due Care obligations under the U.S. Lacey Act and similar global regulations. Thank you to participating companies, including Lowe's Companies, Inc., JELD-WEN, Inc., DHH Panel Products, Kingfisher plc, Next, Williams-Sonoma, Inc., John Lewis & Partners and IKEA for joining us in this important initiative. We’re delighted that the first phase of the birch pilot is now nearing completion, before analysis and publication of anonymized results in the new year. Read more about the impact of this new grant here: https://lnkd.in/gKuyxzZn #Traceability #Supplychain #DueCare

A wintery scene in the Caucasus, where collectors have been taking timber reference samples over the past month. This work builds on our 2023 collections campaign across Eastern Europe, supported by the U.K. Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and the U.S. Department of State, which formed the foundation of the birch origin model published earlier this year in Nature Portfolio, featured in The Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times. This latest collection aims to enhance our origin model by increasing the number and spatial range of reference samples used to train it, further improving its ability to verify the provenance of traded wood. Our thanks to Bogdan Buliga of Sustainability Today for supporting the collections campaign, braving -6°C temperatures and the occasional bear encounter (bonus points if you can spot the footprint!) #Collections #Fieldwork #Traceability #Timbertrade