Enabling Timber Traceability for Sustainable Forest Management Under USAID Forest-PLUS 2.0

Overview

Healthy forests across the world absorb carbon while providing natural resources, employment opportunities, access to clean water, and resilience to climatic shocks. In India, one in four people directly relies on forests for sustenance. However, with more than 40% of forests in the country facing degradation and depletion, the flow of forest products and services for equitable economic growth is heavily impacted.

To combat this challenge, the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change of the Government of India and the USAID have partnered for a five-year initiative – the Forest PLUS 2.0 Programme – that focuses on developing the best tools and techniques for bolstering sustainable forest landscape management. Forest PLUS 2.0 is currently active in Bihar, Kerala, and Telangana, and is the second set of pilot projects after Forest PLUS completed its five years in 2017.

The following project is one of the multiple innovative tools that were developed as part of the Forest PLUS 2.0 for forest management in India. It aims at digitizing and automating the system of monitoring forest assets.

Vision: To develop and implement a tool to track timber movement and activity, aimed at preventing illegal timber logging and encouraging sustainable forestry practices.

Objectives

y To prevent and discourage illegal timber logging while making it easier and simpler for legal timber farming to be continued as per compliant procedures. y To develop and implement an IT-based tool to simplify the process of application, verification, and issue of permits by the Forest Department under notified & non-notified areas for tree cutting and transportation, and bleeding with appropriate technology for the movement of timber. y To provide information through an interactive dashboard to all the stakeholders viz. Forest Department, Timber Owners, Sawmills, and other Buyers in the supply chain.

Stakeholders Involved

The Kerala Forest and Wildlife Department, Government of Kerala, State IT Dept, Government of Kerala, USAID (Forest PLUS 2.0 program), Timber Owners, Sawmills, and other Buyers in the supply chain. Solution and Implementation Plan

A geospatial tool called “TiGRAM” was developed to geotag the timber (assets). This allowed authorities to track timber movements while in transit and trace and monitor them through the logging process. The tool also provides online approval at different administrative levels and a Dashboard for viewing by stakeholders.

Through multiple interactions with users and stakeholders at various levels, an attempt was made to understand the existing processes of issuing transit passes. Based on such requirements, various technologies were evaluated to develop an appropriate GIS-enabled system. Post development of the tool, officials of the Department of Forest were trained to use the tool effectively for the concerned objectives.

Use of Geospatial Technologies

The timber (assets) was geotagged at the origin points and QR codes were generated for unique identification and easy tracking. The assets were then smoothly traced at various checkpoints to ensure compliance and lawful transit of timber from source to immediate destination.

Key Outputs

The key output of the project was in the form of a multi-purpose GIS tool that can be used to issue permissions, trace asset movement, control, monitor, comply and audit for sustainable forestry management. The tool is further expected to be adopted for developing model forest management plans, automating monitoring processes, generating, and verifying forest asset transit permits for both notified and non-notified areas.

Outcomes Achieved

Sustainable Forestry Management

The programme was beneficial for issuing licences, tracking asset movement, controlling, monitoring, complying with, and auditing for sustainable forestry management. All timber supply chain stakeholders, starting from decision-making authorities to distributors and buyers were able to deter and discourage illegal timber logging. At the same time, legal timber farming in accordance with compliant regulations was ensured.

Tackling Climate Change

The project’s role in improving forest management in India is making forests healthier with a focus on responsible, measured resource usage without depleting forests for commercial gains.