Text by Barbara Rocha Venancio Meyer-Sand
Illegal logging damages forest ecosystems, undermines sustainable management, reduces revenues, and fuels global crime. Between 8% and 29% of the world’s timber trade is estimated to be illegal, making it the third largest transnational crime. Tackling this challenge requires reliable tools to trace timber origins: this is what our recent study brings – https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-025-02698-z!
In 2019, I joined the Timtrace project as a PhD candidate to develop forensic tracing techniques. These tools improve timber traceability and help make global trade more transparent. What I didn’t expect was how much the project would also teach me about collaboration and resilience.
Fieldwork and Collaboration
Field missions across Cameroon marked the beginning. Collecting samples in difficult conditions was demanding, but the real challenge came from working in a multicultural team. Different languages and expectations sometimes led to tensions. An open conversation about goals changed everything: we saw that our differences were strengths. Just as combining genetics and chemistry makes tracing more accurate, combining perspectives made our science stronger.
Image 1: First field campaigns in Cameroon in 2019. Bottom right photo, from the left: Steve Tassiamba, Barbara Rocha Venancio Meyer-Sand, Laura Emily Boeschoten, and Pascaline Temateu Zemtsa (photos by Pierre Kepseu).
When COVID-19 Hit
Six months into the project, the pandemic shut down borders, labs, and fieldwork. For a project built on international campaigns, it felt devastating. But the crisis pushed us to rethink. The teams we had trained initially in Cameroon took stepped up, training the teams and supporting data collection in Gabon and Congo. What started as decentralization turned into empowerment.
We also created tutorials and training videos to support local work. Against the odds, we built genetic and chemical reference databases for two major timber species across three countries – an achievement that once seemed impossible.
Image 2: Collaboration makes the force: field campaign in Congo, with Timtrace members also from Cameroon and Gabon. From the left: Herman T. Zanguim, Cameroon; Cynel G. Moundounga, Gabon; Dieu-merci M.F. Mbika, Congo; Rita M. D. Ndangani, Congo; Mesly Guieshon-Engongoro, Congo; Ulrich Gaël Bouka Dipelet, Congo.
A Human Journey
This project showed me the meaning of Ubuntu: “I am because we are.” Science is not only about methods, but about people listening, sharing, and valuing each other’s knowledge. Beyond the data, I discovered how much I enjoy building partnerships that last beyond single projects.
Lessons Learned
- Differences are strengths. Diversity makes science more innovative.
- Empowerment matters. Sharing responsibilities and benefits made the project resilient.
- Science is human. Behind every dataset lies collaboration.
Looking Forward
Illegal logging remains a global problem, but this study shows the way forward: robust science built on collaboration across disciplines, countries, and perspectives. Just as in our paper, it is the combination of different strengths that makes science impactful.
Image 3: Workshop on Genetic and Chemical methods applied to timber tracing and data hand-over in Dschang, Cameroon.
Image 4: Workshop on Genetic and Chemical methods applied to timber tracing and data hand-over in Brazzaville, Congo.