Understanding the EU Deforestation Regulation & the role of geospatial data | Geo for Good 2023

Alicia Sullivan introduces a panel discussing the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) and its relevance to businesses selling into the EU. Starting in 2024, these companies must demonstrate their products weren't grown on deforested land post-December 2020. The session is divided into expert talks, a panel discussion, and audience questions.

Remi D'Annunzio outlines the compliance process for the EUDR, focusing on the responsibilities of operators to ensure products are deforestation-free and track geolocation data of farms. Discussions also cover regulation texts and FAQs published by the EU Commission to facilitate understanding.

Remi continues by detailing the benchmark system for assessing countries' risk levels: standard, low, or high. This determines the percentage of compliance information to be monitored by EU importing countries—higher percentages for high-risk countries. He also describes ongoing efforts for creating a digital public infrastructure with partners like USAID, WRI, and Google.

Tasso Azevedo emphasizes understanding the scope of application to ensure compliance with EUDR, especially for regions like Brazil's Cerrado where deforestation occurs on non-forest land as defined by the EUDR. He suggests adopting a regional, crop-specific risk classification approach and highlights land use change assessments and traceability challenges.

Tasso continues to explain methods for deforestation assessment and traceability using probabilistic tools. He presents ideas for mass balance control and property-wide assessments to simplify compliance, noting that precise tracking could be impractical.

Pierrick Rambaud of Louis Dreyfus Company describes the immense challenges in mapping supply chains and obtaining precise land geometries needed for EUDR compliance. He underscores the importance of standardization, accurate data gathering, and the high costs associated with using high-resolution imagery for deforestation risk assessment.

Bobby Pinter from NGIS discusses the role of geospatial tools like Tracemark in managing the complexities surrounding EUDR compliance, particularly the aggregation of commodity sources and ensuring deforestation-free certifications amid operational challenges among supply chains such as coffee.

Evan Tachovsky from WRI discusses the importance of digital public infrastructure, tailored applications, and community building to support the EUDR. He stresses the need for open infrastructures for global compliance and preventing unintended negative consequences while maintaining transparency in solutions.

During the panel discussion, experts highlight gaps in compliance, ambiguities in regulations, and the necessity for transparency in methodologies used by commercial providers. They also emphasize the need for property-level assessments and simpler compliance and monitoring strategies to avert deforestation.

Questions from the audience reveal concerns about the feasibility of current compliance strategies and transparency requirements. Panel experts discuss potential simplifications, such as focusing on property rather than plot-based assessments to realistically manage deforestation risks under the EUDR.