Project: WoodOutDoor (WOD): Wood durability and recommendations for use in tropical overseas territories

PEPR FORESTT MOBILITY
Dates: October 2025 – December 2026

Financial support: PEPR FORESTT MOBILITY [Agence Nationale de la Recherche under the France 2030 program – ANR-24-PEFO-011] Dates: October – December 2025

Leader: Kevin CANDELIER (BioWooEB, Cirad, Montpellier, France)
Main partner: Julie BOSSU (EcoFoG, CNRS, Kourou, French Guiana);
Secondary Partner: Christian BRISCHKE (Thünen Institute of Wood Research, Germany)

January 2026 Newsletter

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The WoodOutDoor (WOD) project focuses on improving knowledge of the durability properties of massive wood and/or engineered wood products (EWPs) in order to develop recommendations for their use in ultra-marine tropical areas. The development of relevant methods makes it possible to assess and understand the durability of these materials. This work is based on the analysis of the real biological risks involved, using new laboratory tests and field tests at sites with varying climates, local conditions (pressures and types of microorganisms) and use categories (above ground, close to ground level and in soil contact), in French Guiana. WOD seeks to better understand and apprehend the associated degradation mechanisms in order to ensure better allocation of woods for future uses. It thus supports the development and commercialisation of a wider range of wood and wood-based materials by optimising valorisation pathways.

The first session of the mobility programme carried out from October to December 2025 enabled the various test devices to be designed and installed on the field site of the Wood Sciences Laboratory of the EcoFoG joint research unit in Kourou, French Guiana. The first tests were also launched to assess the durability of several tropical wood species, in collaboration with the Thünen-Institut, in outdoor environments - (i) close to the ground, (ii) in contact with the ground - and in the laboratory - (iii) against attack by drywood termites (Cryptotermes dudleyi).

This project, which is part of the PEPR FORESTT's ‘Bio-economy’ challenge, aims to promote the diversity of wood properties and performance through the sustainable use of lesser-known timber species or unexploited resources. Following this mobility programme, the prospects for collaboration between the two partner laboratories are moving towards the creation of a shared ‘analysis platform’ for assessing the durability of wood and wood-based materials for use in temperate and/or tropical overseas environments. This platform will be a tool for partnership and training, open to international academic and research institutes and manufacturers, including, obviously, IRGWP members, and will facilitate the integration of French researchers (in metropolitan France and its overseas territories) into the international community.