CITESWOODID – A CAPABLE APP BASED IDENTIFICATION TOOL FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS AROUND THE GLOBE (CITES LISTED TIMBERS)
Carsten Weerth · Customs Scientific Journal · 2024
Introduction.Many (tropical) woods are traded across borders and are subject to various protective regulations.The most important and successful international species protection convention is the Washington Convention on the Protection of Species (CITES) (Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) and its implementation in the European Union by help of the Species Protection Regulation (EC) No. 338/97 (with the implementing regulations) as well as its practical enforcement and punishment with the help of national legislation.While commercial woods were initially only listed to a small extent in CITES appendices (Swietenia mahagoni [CITES II -first listing in 1992], Dalbergia nigra [CITES I -first listing in 1992]), they are gradually being listed in CITES because of the loss of habitat and targeted deforestation.After the 19th CITES Conference of the Parties as of 2022, 53 wood species or higher taxa are currently listed in CITES.The author of this background paper had the opportunity to take part in the two-day "International Work-shop on Identification on CITES-protected timbers" of Germany's Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN), which took place from September 14th to 15th, 2023 at the federally owned German Thünen Institute for Wood Research in Hamburg (Johann Heinrich von Thünen