Establishing a basis for evaluating geographic origin claims of timber from the Solomon Islands using stable isotope ratio analysis Authors: C.J Watkinson1, G.O. Rees1, M.M. Boner2, S. Hofem2, C. Erven2 1 Agroisolab UK Ltd, Greets House Road, Welburn, YO60 7EP 2 Agroisolab GmbH, Prof.-Rehm-Str. 6, D-52428 Jülich Correspondence: [email protected] ii Executive summary Context Relevance to legislation and policy Traceability of timber has come under the spotlight Since the beginning of the 21st Century, many during recent decades with consumers becoming governments have implemented statutory instruments increasingly aware of the damage caused by as means to control the origin and species of imported deforestation and illegal logging to forest ecosystems. timber. The US Lacey Act was amended in 2008 to Tropical rainforests possess some of the greatest include timber, making it the world’s first ban on trade biodiversity on earth, being home to many critically in illegally sourced wood products. In the EU, regulations endangered species ranging from insects to mammals. took the form of the European union Timber Regulation They also act as significant CO2 sinks and their loss is (EUTR) with the UK set to adopt a parallel version (UKTR) considered a significant contributor to climate change. in the year 2021. Many organisations including the As well as ecological impacts, the economic International Tropical Timber Organisation (ITTO), development of many poor nations is at stake. Illegally Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), Global harvested timber leads to a loss of revenue for many Witness, US Department of Justice (DOJ), Worldwide developing economies, as well as creating hardship for Fund for Nature (WWF), International Union for many indigenous forest communities who depend on Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and World Resource the natural resource for their livelihoods and wellbeing. Institute (WRI) work to expose illegal practices with Misdeclarations, with respect to origin and species of respect to harvesting of timber and encourage timber also pose a risk to importing nations due to the governments and corporations to take actions against variety of plant health pathogens and insects that are illegal logging. Several certification schemes including able proliferate outside of their natural range. Ash Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC) and Programme for dieback (Hymenoscyphus fraxineus) and the Asian Long the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PFEC) provide Horn beetle (Anoplophora glabripennisis) are just a few the timber industry with a means of carrying out due examples where ecological damage has been diligence checks within supply chains, providing paper- accelerated due to imports of mislabelled timber. based evidence linked to forest and supplier audits. Timber export markets compound these problems by However, certification bodies are only able to audit a trading timber and wood products without ensuring fraction of the world’s forests at a fraction of the time, responsible sourcing, or by failing to carry out enough and their membership is entirely voluntary. due diligence in their supply chains. Research suggests that between 20% and 40% of all globally traded timber may be mislabelled with respect to origin and species declarations, equating to a volume of 650 million cubic meters of timber. The Worldwide fund for Nature (WWF) states that €3bn of illegally harvested timber is placed on European markets each year with most being sourced from the tropical forests in the Far East and Congo Basin in West Africa. During the last decade, scientific methods have increasingly played a part in role in verifying the origin and species of traded timber. Recent advancements in scientific techniques including wood anatomy, genetics (DNA), stable isotope ratio analysis (SIRA) and ambient mass spectrometry (DART) now enable regulatory bodies in both importing and exporting nations to provide scientific evidence with respect to the origin and species of traded timber. Moreover, through the dissemination of science-based techniques and implementation of capacity building in timber exporting nations, efforts to combat deforestation using scientific techniques can be implemented at both ends of the supply chain. Collecting a sample of Falcataria falcata, Image credit Wilson Tiubule i Inside Agroisolab GmbH, Julich, Germany where scientists are carrying out stable isotope ratio mass spectrometry of samples. Method statement • In collaboration with the Royal Botanic Stable isotope analysis is widely accepted analytical Gardens, Kew, provide the wider scientific technique that has become well established around the community with a go-to resource of authentic world as a means of verifying the origin of biological georeferenced timber samples covering over samples. To verify if the origin claim for a piece of 100 commonly traded taxa. timber (test sample) is correct, the method of analysis • Disseminate research findings, including all typically involves comparison of the stable isotopes data outputs, to the wider scientific (C,H,N,S,O) measured in the test sample against a community. reference dataset of stable isotopes for the same origin and species. Despite the growing number of research Summary of project objectives studies utilising authentication analyses to verify origin • Collaborate with Kew Royal Botanic Gardens of timber, many have involved insufficient numbers of (KRBG) and FSC to obtain authentic samples and have focused on single tree species. To georeferenced samples of timber from the address these shortfalls, World Forest ID (WFID) was Solomon Islands. conceived by the collaborative efforts of several key • Perform stable isotope analysis of samples of organisations including DEFRA, Royal Botanic Gardens authentic georeferenced timber. at Kew, FSC, Agroisolab and the US Forestry Service, • Use statistical methods to assess what with the aim of co-ordinating the collection and differences are available in the stable isotope analysis of timber reference samples from some of the ratios of trees from different provinces within most endangered forests around the world. the Solomon Islands and outside of the Summary of project aims Solomon Islands. • Utilise these methods to check the declared World Forest ID aims to: origin of the Solomon Island timber is • Facilitate the co-ordination and development consistent with data from the Solomon of timber tracking technologies. Islands. • Provide governments with a scientific resource to carry out enforcement activities which are based on evidence established through laboratory analysis of seized timber. • Carry out large-scale collections of timber reference samples from around the world, including ‘at risk’ categories of tree species. ii Results Conclusions Though the overall quantities of each sampled taxa • The results demonstrate that there is now an were relatively low, they were enough to establish ability to confirm whether a sample of FSC ranges of values that can be used for the future timber from the Solomon Islands (which, by evaluation of samples declared to have originated from virtue, must originate from Kolombangara the Solomon Islands. What is particularly promising is if Island) is from Kolombangara Island or not. the trend in the data continues, island-level • Significant differences between islands in the differentiation may be possible if more islands are Solomon Islands were found in numerous sampled in the Solomon Islands archipelago. On one parameters of stable isotope data of multiple hand this is disadvantageous because it highlights the taxa (Calophyllum spp., Pterocarpus spp., necessity to sample as many different taxa as possible Tectona grandis and Vitex spp.). to defend any given origin and therefore will increase • Differences in the ranges of stable isotope the cost of projects aimed at protecting the origin of ratios were evident in different taxa from the taxa. On the other hand, comparison of the stable same sampling location. isotope ratios of C, H, O, N, S between species, and • One of the three investigated taxa (Eucalyptus within a single site, revealed a high degree of spp.) showed spatially predictable trends in correlation, suggesting that large-scale species-specific variance within Kolombangara Island reference sampling may not always be necessary. suggesting further local differentiation may be achieved with a greater collection of Future work Eucalyptus samples. • Four taxa (Calophyllum spp., Pometia spp., • Sampling 10 different taxa in the same site and Pterocarpus spp. and Tectona grandis) show across 30 global locations would allow for comparable trends and relationships in their further investigation into the correlation of 18O/16O and D/H isotope ratios supporting the stable isotope ratios between different idea of using ‘Master taxa’ to reduce the timbers. A practical use of this information burden of sampling to protect the World’s may be to establish a ‘Master’ taxon for forests. sampling that other taxa can be compared to a model on a global scale. This would help alleviate the heavy burden of sampling all possible species at all possible locations. • Investigate if the application of an additional laboratory purification step involving analysis of non-exchangeable hydrogen via nitration can improve the discrimination between origin and species, and if any correlation between noon-exchangeable hydrogen stable isotope ratios in cellulose and localised precipitation water can be established/improved A core sample