Last week, Ibama, Brazil’s federal environmental agency, launched Sinaflor, a database to track timber from the Amazon rainforest throughout the supply chain. The system requires individual trees to be electronically tagged and tracked as the timber moves from source to sale and allows regulators to crosscheck the database with satellite mapping. Any timber not in the system will be deemed illegal. The new system was developed as a result of the 2012 forest code, and addresses problems of fraud and human error that were points of criticism for the older system. The system has already been piloted and all states in Brazil are expected to have it up and running by the end of the year. For the full story, see http://uk.reuters.com/article/us-brazil-environment-amazon-idUKKBN16E2O…;