Treemetrics is working on an EU project to improve forestry management and tackle deforestation.
The Cork-based company has joined Sintetic, an EU project that aims to create a data management scheme for the EU forest supply chain. The goal is to be able to trace wooden products back to their original source, to improve production and increase the number of forested areas under management.
This project involves 21 partners from across the EU and has a budget of nearly €9m, funded by the Horizon Europe programme. Sintetic was created after the EU introduced regulation on deforestation-free products, which aims to increase transparency in the timber supply chain.
Treemetrics said it will be “centrally involved” in this project by developing a digital platform that can trace all wooden products. The company’s CEO Enda Keane said there is a need for full traceability of wood products in the EU “similar to what we already do with meat traceability”.
“The task ahead is enormous, but we have already have a roadmap as to how it will be achieved,” Keane said.“Radio frequency identification will allow standing trees and round wood to be tagged. A code will be punched onto the wood which will be scanned at the sawmill, with a bar or QR code carried through to the retail process.’’
The project has a timespan of four years and has a number of targets, including reducing the sector’s transportation costs and related emissions by 5pc, while increasing the yield of high-value sawn wood products by roughly 20pc.
Treemetrics has been involved in a number of EU projects in recent years thanks to its forest management technology. Last year, it was awarded a two-year European Space Agency (ESA) contract to utilise satellite imaging, data analytics and its own tech to provide more accurate forest carbon credit estimates.
In 2017, the company also signed a €1.2m deal with the ESA to roll out a tree growth analytics system, including a unique tree sensor device.
Last December, the tech company launched a platform to monitor and manage forests in real time. This platform uses advanced satellite imagery processing software to provide insights into forest health and productivity.
Leigh Mc Gowran
This article originally appeared on www.siliconrepublic.com and can be found at here
