FPRDI’s wood ID service aids anti-illegal logging campaign
March 26, 2013
In the Forest Products Research and Development Institute’s (FPRDI) wood identification (ID) service, the country’s anti-illegal logging task force has found an ally in its campaign against unlawful logging.
The service is used to determine if the species of lumbers confiscated by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) came from natural and residual forests. Executive Order No. 23 (EO 23) strictly prohibits the cutting and harvesting of all trees in natural and second-growth forests; only trees grown in industrial plantations may be harvested. Aside from the DENR and FPRDI, other members of the task force include the Armed Forces of the Philippines, National Bureau of Investigation-Department of Justice (NBI-DOJ), and Bureau of Customs.
“Upon request of DENR’s Forest Management Bureau, FPRDI experts conduct on-site ID of confiscated lumbers seized at the Manila North Harbor and lumberyards. After this, wood samples are brought to the Institute’s wood library for final identification,” explained Dr. Ramiro P. Escobin, Scientist 1 at FPRDI’s Anatomy and Forest Botany Section-Material Science Division.
Wood ID is the process of determining the correct identity of a wood sample based on its structure using a lens or a microscope. Accurate ID is made possible thru the Institute’s wood library, the only one of its kind in the country which hosts 16,348 specimens of Philippine and 5,274 foreign wood samples from about 150 countries.
“Our reports serve as evidence when DENR files charges against illegal loggers and ship owners that transport the lumber. In addition, the Institute’s wood anatomists are at times tapped as expert witnesses during court hearings,” added Escobin.
Now on its fifth decade, the FPRDI wood ID service is also useful to the construction, builders’ woodworks, furniture, handicraft, and maritime industries that need assurance about the identity of their raw materials. ### (Apple Jean C. Martin. 14 March 2013)
