Why tracing a product’s origin <em>is so difficult</em> Why tracing a product’s origin <em>is so difficult</em>

Why tracing a product’s origin is so difficult

Timber and agricultural products travel through large, complex supply chains before they reach our homes. Most of this trade is completely unverified and even the methods that are sometimes used to trace products are inefficient, paper-based and open to fraud. With so many points of potential failure it is impossible to effectively police the system and prevent produce from land that should not have been deforested from entering our supply chains.

World Forest ID’s science-based approach to traceability allows companies and enforcement agencies to shine a light on whole supply chains and provide irrefutable proof of species and origin.

The scale of the problem

As well as being used to create paper, packaging and timber products such as furniture and flooring, a huge amount of deforestation is caused by land being cleared for agriculture. Often this is for products such as palm oil, soy and rubber, which are used in many everyday consumer products. Forests are also being cleared to grow the animal feeds used in meat and dairy production. The sheer volume and diversity of consumer products involved mean that all of us, every day, are likely to be using produce linked to deforested land.

The scale of the <em>problem</em>