2024 World Wildlife Day Showcase

Wild Crime: This New AI Forensic Tool is Fighting Illegal Logging

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At about $150 billion per year, the illegal logging trade is the most profitable environmental crime in the world. A majority of which is often controlled by international organized criminal networks. To slow down this illegal enterprise, an interdisciplinary team at the Forest Products Laboratory have developed a machine learning system that can identify whether timber shipments are of illegal origin. Today, this emerging technology is being field tested across the globe.