In response to the persistent challenge of illegal logging in the Peruvian Amazon, two Peruvian government agencies have launched a training program aimed at strengthening national timber testing capabilities and improving timber legality verification, an initiative made possible by an inter-institutional cooperation agreement between the two parties. The first, the Technological Institute of Production (ITP), through CITEmadera and Furniture, is a member of the World Forest ID Consortium and the national agency responsible for building technological and innovation capacity in the timber industry. The second, OSINFOR, is the agency responsible for auditing Peru’s forest management operations.
These same challenges have made the region a long-standing priority for World Forest ID (WFID)’s timber reference sample collections. Since 2024, WFID has been working closely with both agencies in the practical implementation of this effort. As part of this collaboration, the Lead Collector for the region, Arthur La Rosa Sanchez, has shared the protocols that underpin WFID’s secure chain of custody collections with both agencies. Most recently, he led a field expedition to a forestry concession in the Madre de Dios region, where timber samples were collected for chemical analysis.
The samples collected through this partnership will now undergo laboratory analysis, generating chemical data which is influenced by the environmental conditions where the tree grew, such as soil type, rainfall, temperature, as well as elevation. These chemical signals act like a natural fingerprint, making it possible to link the timber to its geographic origin and supporting robust verification of timber harvest origin.
William Arellano, head of OSINFOR, expressed strong support for integrating scientific innovation into regulatory practice: “The application of new scientific methods strengthens the agency’s oversight capabilities in the Peruvian Amazon and provides valuable knowledge for informed decision-making."
His view is shared by Sandra Koc, Head of the Laboratory and Standardization at CITEmadera and Furniture, who emphasized the practical value of this approach: "This process is vital for promoting legal and fair trade in wood, a starting point for ensuring proper utilization.”
Looking ahead, two additional collection expeditions are scheduled for later this year, along with a technical webinar focused on the scientific principles underpinning timber chemical fingerprinting.
