Spain launches app to fight trafficking of protected timber

MADRID (AP) - Spain's Ministry for Ecological Transition has launched a mobile app to fight the trafficking of tropical species of timber, one of the world's greatest environmental crimes.

The kit includes a guide of protected timber species, tools to obtain wood samples and an app that, together with magnifying lenses for mobile phones, can help custom officials identify the species on the spot.

The launch happened at the U.N.-sponsored COP25 summit on climate change on Thursday, the day dedicated to the role of forests in absorbing the carbon dioxide largely responsible for rising temperatures.

Spain is a 'œhotspot'ť in the timber smuggling, the ministry said, adding that traffickers conceal illegal wood in legal shipments.

It added that tropical timber trafficking globally amounts to 80% of smuggled wild species of plants and animals.