Accountability Framework Initiative and Compliance with GFW Pro | Blue Raster

Accountability Framework Initiative and Compliance with GFW Pro

Posted on August 14, 2024 by Katya Little

The Global Forest Watch (GFW) Pro application allows users to track and receive alerts of deforestation within their supply chains in real time, offering an accessible and comprehensive way for organizations to view their own progress in this key area of natural resource conservation. Blue Raster is proud to announce two updates to GFW Pro that allow for more efficient analysis of supply chains in light of new international regulations: new analyses specific to Argentina, and implementation of an E.U. deforestation regulation module tracking deforestation of natural lands since 2020.

Accountability Framework Initiative and the EUDR

The Accountability Framework, introduced in 2019 by an international collaboration of private producers and NGOs that form the Accountability Framework Initiative (AFi), provides companies a roadmap to more sustainable production methods by outlining best practices and measures of impact. By applying the Accountability Framework, producers can better ensure that their supply chains adhere to international standards of sustainability and report to stakeholders and consumers the steps they are taking to secure a better future for people and the planet. A particular standard of sustainability for producers will soon be implemented in the EU–the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), which obligates organizations that trade within the EU to ensure that their products are:

Deforestation-free, meaning they come from a plot of land that was not deforested after 31 December 2020
Produced in line with the relevant legislation in the country of production
Covered by a due diligence statement.

GFW Pro now allows organizations to explore their production within the framework of EUDR and uses a new layer showing natural lands in 2020 as a baseline for deforestation analyses, confirming that products regulated by the EU are free from deforestation and degradation.

Argentina OTBN Data

Additionally, GFW Pro now includes province-by-province data on Argentina’s Territorial Planning of Native Forests (OTBN). The 2007 regulation categorizes Argentina’s forests into three levels of conservation value and corresponding regulation, ranging from Category I (forest lands of high conservation value that cannot be transformed) to Category III (forest lands of low conservation value that can be transformed within existing regulation). The new data lets organizations monitor the overlap of the OTBN category of lands utilized in production and deforestation of those lands, enabling producers to more efficiently track whether or not tree cover loss remains within limits set by the OTBN regulation.

Blue Raster is a proud partner of the World Resources Institute and GFW Pro. Learn more about our work here.

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