ITTO-supported log-scaling app highlighted in UN’s flagship forests report

The CUBIFOR app produces estimates of log volumes based on a smartphone image. Photo: A. Tabata/Forestry Agency of Japan

Rome, Italy, 24 July 2024: A smartphone app developed with ITTO support to estimate log volumes from a photo and improve the efficiency of timber tracking has featured in a high-profile United Nations report on innovations fostering sustainability in the forest sector.

Developed by an ITTO project in Guatemala, the app is described in one of 18 case studies in The State of the World’s Forests 2024: Forest-sector innovations towards a more sustainable future, a flagship forests report of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

The latest edition of the biennial report was launched on 22 July, the first day of the 27th Session of the Committee on Forestry, which is taking place at FAO Headquarters in Rome, Italy.

“The app is an example of how digital technology can make timber tracking systems more efficient and thus expand the reach of sustainable supply chains,” said Ms Siria Millan, Head of International Cooperation at the headquarters of Guatemala’s National Forest Institute (INAB). “This helps both governments and businesses to conserve tropical forests and support economic development and environmental protection over the long term.”

As the case study explains, accurately estimating the volume of logs in transport is important for sustainable forest management and trade. Yet conventional measurement methods are time-consuming, inefficient and involve high operational costs. For example, measuring log volume typically requires the face of every visible log in the transported stack to be measured to calculate the stacking factor (i.e. the ratio between the total volume of stacked wood versus the volume of solid wood).

INAB has been working to support legal and sustainable forest value chains and advance sustainable forest management, through improved policy frameworks, statistics and timber tracking systems. As part of this work, faster and more accurate methods for assessing the volume of logs and other wood products in transit was identified as a priority need.

The ITTO project subsequently developed and implemented several mechanisms to improve traceability in the forest production chain in Guatemala, including the development of a log scaling manual to ensure trees are cut to their optimal grade and the app to calculate log volumes requiring only photographs and a few simple measurements.

The app, called Cubicación de Productos Forestales (CUBIFOR[1]) (“Scaling of Forest Products”) is simple to use because it requires only a photograph of the block of logs (or other wood products), either on the truck or in a stack in the mill yard or other location, plus an estimate of the average width and length of the stack. The app recognizes each log face and calculates the average diameter and stacking factor. It generates a report with the resultant scaled volumes, which can be downloaded in Excel and PDF formats. This app also enables the scaling of logs for products such as sawnwood, rectangular boards, round billets, sawdust, chips, fuelwood, wood pieces and charcoal.

The app is advancing forest management, strengthening the capacity of forest companies to control their inventories, and improving the efficiency of all activities requiring the quantification of timber volumes. This has the benefit of boosting legal and sustainable forest supply chains and enhances competitiveness by reducing the time and cost of obtaining authorizations from government authorities. Officials at forest check points have an efficient and cost-effective way to confirm details on bills of lading and other shipping documents accompanying wood in transit, helping to ensure legality and other administrative requirements.

Mills that have been using CUBIFOR are reporting that it is helping them in controlling, tracking and measuring wood shipments. INAB is still rolling out the app for field use, which has clear potential to assist it and other authorities in monitoring and controlling forest operations and thereby combating illegal logging and illegal timber trade.

CUBIFOR as well as timber tracking systems developed in Guatemala can be replicated in other countries in the tropics.

[1] CUBIFOR is a free Android app, which can be downloaded from Play Store (available in Spanish only).