Liberia Fights Illegal Logging With Barcoded Trees


Liberia, which is home to 45 percent of all of West Africa's rainforests, has signed a deal with European Union ensuring that all of the timber it exports comes from a legal source.

By using a system known as tree barcoding — which involves electronically tagging trees that can legally be cut down — buyers from Europe will be able to ensure that the timber they're getting wasn't harvested illegally. Currently around 20 percent of the world's timber comes from illegal sources.

"This decision will contribute to sustainable development and poverty alleviation in Liberia on the one hand, and will benefit the European consumers because they can be sure that Liberian wood is from a legal origin," EU development commissioner Andris Piebalgs told the BBC.

Around half of all the wood produced in Liberia ends up in Europe.

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