Global Timber Tracking Network:

A Sarawak’s Experience Through

Sarawak Timber Legality Verification System

(STLVS) and

Wood Identification

Annya Ambrose, Jack Liam, Julaihi Abdullah, Yang Min Chin and Bibian Diway

Forest

Department

Sarawak

SARAWAK FORESTRY

Corporation

Presentation Outline

Overview of Forestry in Malaysia

Overview of Forestry in the State of Sarawak

Sarawak Timber Legality Verification System

Wood Identification Tools based on Sarawak’s experience

Traditional Wood Anatomy (Timber Technology Centre, Sarawak)

DNA Identification

2

Overview of Forestry In Malaysia

Year 2014

Permanent

Reserved Forest /

Permanent Forest

Estate

State Land Forest Totally Protected

Areas

Total Forested

Area

11.68 mil ha 3.85 mil ha 2.76 mil ha 18.28 mil ha

Malaysia total land area: 33 million hectares

Total Forested Area: 18.28 million hectares

PENINSULAR

SARAWAK

SABAH

Source: Ministry of Water, Land and Natural Resources Malaysia

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Federal Constitution of Malaysia –

on Land and Forests

The State of Sarawak

has the full authority to

manage it’s land and

forests resources.

4

Laws and Regulations PENINSULAR SABAH SARAWAK

National Forestry Act 1984 Forest Enactment 1968 Forests Ordinance 2015

Forest Rules of the respective States Forest Rules 1969 Forest Rules 1962

Environmental Quality Act 1974 RIL Operation Guide Book-Code of Practice

For Harvesting in Sabah

Wild Life Protection Ordinance 1998

Wood Based Industries Enactment of the

respective States

Environment Protection Enactment 2002 Sarawak Timber Industry Development

Corporation Ordinance 1973

Wood Based Industries Rules of the

respective States

Wildlife Protection Enactment 1997

•Sarawak Timber Industry (Registration)

Regulations, 2008

Customs Act 1967 Industrial Co-ordination Act 1975 •Industrial Co-ordination Act 1975

Industrial Co-ordination Act 1975

Licensing Guidelines for the Wood-Based

Industry in Sabah

•Customs Act 1967

Malaysian Timber Industry Board

(Incorporation) Act 1973

Customs Act 1967 •National Parks and Nature Reserves

Ordinance, 1988

International Trade in Endangered Species

Act 2008

Forest (Timber) Enactment 2015 •Natural Resource and Environment

(Prescribed Activities) Order, 1994

Forest (Timber) (Registration) Regulation

2017

International Trade in Endangered Species

Act 2008

5

Authorities

Function Sarawak Peninsular Sabah

Forest

Management Forest

Department

Sarawak

Forest

Department

Peninsular

Malaysia

State Forestry

Departments

Sabah Forestry

Department

Export and

Import Licensing Sarawak Timber

Industry

Development

Corporation

Malaysian Timber

Industry Board Sabah Forestry

Department

6

Forest Management Certification and Legality

Forest Management Certification

Legality

:

Region Legality System

Peninsular Timber Legality Assurance Scheme (MyTLAS)

Sarawak Sarawak Timber Legality Verification System (STLVS)

Sabah Sabah Timber Legality Assurance Scheme (Sabah

TLAS)

Malaysian Timber Certification Scheme endorsed by Programme

for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC)

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Overview of forestry in the State of Sarawak

Sarawak forests covers approximately 65% of

the total 12.4 million ha land area

Forestry

7 million ha

Permanent Forest

Estate (PFE)

6 million ha

Totally Protected

Area (TPA)

1 million ha

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Log Production

9

Logs production from Natural Forests & Planted Forests

in Sarawak from 2015 to June 2018

Volume (m3)

2015 2016 2017 2018

Jan-Jun

Natural Forests 8,200,719 7,413,526 5,490,084 2,173,370

Planted Forests 911,192 1,304,234 1,634,841 870,742

Total 9,111,911 8,717,760 7,124,925 3,044,112

Definition of Legality in Sarawak

“Logs harvested by licensed persons from approved

areas and verified by the relevant authorities in

accordance with the laws, regulations and

procedures pertaining to forestry and trade in

Sarawak”

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Sarawak Timber Legality Verification

System (STLVS)

Is the timber legality assurance system with procedures

that has been in place for Sarawak which covers licensing,

harvesting, transporting, manufacturing and trading of

logs and timber products in accordance to the existing

State’s laws and regulations;

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Regulatory Agencies of STLVS

Ministry of Urban Development and Natural Resources (MUDeNR) SARAWAK

Agency Roles & Functions

Forest Department Sarawak To regulate the forest management

Sarawak Forestry

Corporation

To manage the forest operations

Sarawak Timber Industry

Development Corporation

To regulate the timber industry

Harwood Timber Sdn. Bhd. To carry out physical inspection

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STLVS encompasses of 6 principles :

Principle 1. Right to Harvest

Principle 2. Forest Operations

Principle 3. Statutory Charges

Principle 4. Other User Rights

Principle 5. Mill Operations

Principle 6. Trade and Customs

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STLVS Regulating Framework for legal Compliance (Natural Forest)

Forest

Department

Sarawak

Sarawak

Forestry

Corporation

Harwood

Timber

Sdn Bhd

Sarawak Timber

Industry Corporation

Development

Royal Malaysian Customs

Department

AGENCY

ACTIVITIES

Licensing Felling Site / Place of Royaly Marking Mill Export Point

Export

Process and Issue Forest Timber Licence

Process and approve General Harvesting

Plan (GP)esting Plan

Process and approve Detailed Harvesting

Plan/ Road Plan

Process and issue Permit to Enter

Coupe (PEC 1 – 5)

Inspects and monitor Harvesting and Log Production Identity (LPI) tagging

Verify Property Mark

Verify Scaling and Grading

Royalty Assessment

Physical Inspection and Issue Endorsement Clearance Certificate (ECC)

Physical Tallying and Issue Shipping / Transportation Pass (SP / TP)

Issue Removal Pass (Transit)

Inspect and Verify Miling

Logs

Physical Inspection and Issue Export Clearance Certificate

(ExCC)

Check and verify export

logs

Issue removal pass

(Transit/export)

Issue export

permit

Clearance for Export

Mill Operation

The flow chart show the regulating framework

for legal compliance and all activities involved

to ensure the logs produced are legal based on

definition of legality.

Local processing

Export

Challenges in the Implementation of STLVS

Chain of Custody (CoC) involves too many Agencies resulting in complicated and lengthy process.

Upside : Check and balance

FUTURE OUTLOOK

To be made mandatory

3rd Party auditing

Wood Identification Tools based

on Sarawak’s experience

I. Wood Anatomy

II. DNA identification

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The need of Wood Identification for Sarawak

Forests Ordinance 2015

Forest Rules 1962

Wild Life Protection Ordinance 1998

Section 61(1) Power to declare

protected tree or species of tree

Rule 4: Prohibition on the

felling trees specified in

the Second Schedule on the

Stateland

Second Schedule (Section 2(1))

Part I

Totally Protected Plants

Part II

Protected Plants

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The need of Wood Identification for Sarawak

INTERNATIONAL LEVEL

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and

Flora (CITES)

Wood Anatomy

Identification of wood in TTC are basically through these

steps:-

Physical Features

Macrostructure

Microstructure

Computer Vision Wood Recognition

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Wood Anatomy Unit in Timber Research Center, Sarawak

Reference Wood Collection

• 16,000 wood samples covering 88 families

• 360 genera

• 1500 species (Sarawak)

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Physical features

Menggris Tapang

Protected timber species

in Sarawak Second

Schedule (Part II)

Macrostructure

• Prepared clean cut surface

• Examine the wood structure

• Compare with samples in the

Reference Collection

Ramin Aquilaria

Protected under CITES II

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Microstructure

• Prepared thin section (transverse, tangential & radial) of wood

about 15 to 20 µm.

• Examine the wood slide using microscope.

• Then compared with Reference Wood Slide.

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Computer Vision Wood Recognition

(Under progress)

• Preparation of wood block using microtome in laboratory.

• Capturing images using Nikon DS-Fi1 digital camera system mounted on

Nikon SMZ 10 Stereo microscope.

• Images were taken at 10X & 20 magnification.

• Digitized about 500 timber species in our collection

• Engage more technical staff to prepare wood block for image taking.

• To acquire field-deployable tool to assist in collecting data in field

work.

• To acquire state of the art software to carry out MLP (Machine

Learning Process).

Way Forward

DNA Identification of Ramin

CITES Appendixes II in 2004

Ramin (Gonystlus bancanus) endemic to Sarawak’s peat

swamp (27 out of 30 known species).

Identification through wood anatomy for Ramin goes down

only to the genus level

Thus, Sarawak partake in the Malaysia regional project in

developing tracing and tracking of G. bancanus timber using

DNA identification in support of forensics application and

conservation effort.

(Diway et al., ITTO-CITES 2014)

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3.1 DNA Identification of Ramin

Three stages of the project done in Sarawak itself were:-

Development of DNA Markers for G. bancanus

(SFC/SFD + ALTERA, The Netherland) (under the join working group Malaysia-The Netherlands: Sustainable Management of Peat

Swamp forests of Sarawak with special reference to Ramin)

Development of DNA Database of Ramin for DNA-Based Species Identification.

(SFC + FRIM + SFD+ CITES “Support to ITTO:CITES Implementation for Tree Species

and Trade/Market Transparency (TMT))

Assessing the geographic pattern of genotypic variation of Ramin populations to trace

the origin of Ramin.

(FC + FRIM + SFD+ CITES “Support to ITTO:CITES Implementation for Tree Species

and Trade/Market Transparency (TMT))

(Diway et al., ITTO-CITES 2014)

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3.1 DNA Identification of Ramin

17 Ramin species, including G. bancanus were genetically distinguishable and thus DNA

database for Ramin species was established for Sarawak.

The establish databases can be used as a reference for tracking/tracing the origin of G.

bancanus timber or timber products in Sarawak/

Species

SARAWAK

(Diway et al., ITTO-CITES 2014)

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Populations

1. Development of DNA Database of Aquilaria (Agarwood) for Sarawak.

3 species of Aquilaria in Sarawak : A. microcarpa, A. malaccensis & A.

beccariana.

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What need to be done next?

A. microcarpa A. beccariana

Constraints

Expertise

Cost of infrastructure

Readiness and willingness of the local government and

stakeholders per say to adopt and apply the timber

tracking system

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FUTURE OUTLOOK

Sarawak government and local stakeholders will continue to support

global interest in timber legality

This could be achieved through encouraging more R&D collaborations

internationally especially through adopting new technologies to

enhance the timber tracking system.

Acknowledgements

SARAWAK FORESTRY

FOREST DEPARTMENT SARAWAK

Professor Yafang Yin and his team

Research Institute of Wood Industry (CRIWI), Chinese

Academy of Forestry (CAF)

IAWA-IUFRO

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Thank You

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