During the first week of December 2019 Barbara attended the final meeting of the large scale project on timber verification, organized and hosted by Thünen Institute of Forest Genetics in Ahrensburg. Researchers, authorities and member of the timber industry from twelve countries in Europe, Africa, South America and Oceania were present.
They presented the current situation in the timber sector and advances on genetic timber tracing from their countries. The results obtained for the tracing of 14 tropical species are promising, although the spatial resolution of the tracing varies between different species and countries. To further boost the use of genetic tracing techniques, users of tracing services must be made aware of its potential and a stronger network / collaboration / bond between research and the final tracing tools is necessary. So let’s build this bridge and TIMberTRACE it!