đĄ Explanation · For users who want to understand what a deforestation check tells them, how far they can rely on it, and who decides whether a product is deforestation-free.
A deforestation check returns Negligible or Non-negligible for every plot of an origin. This article explains what that result means, how the Prewave check compares with other methods, and why the conclusion that a product is deforestation-free stays with you.
What a deforestation check is
The EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) allows a product on the EU market only if it is deforestation-free: produced on land that has not been subject to deforestation after 31 December 2020 (Articles 2 and 3). Article 9 therefore requires the geolocation of every plot where the commodity was produced.
A deforestation check compares these plots, as you or your suppliers provide them, with satellite evidence. Was there forest on the plot at the cut-off date, and has it been lost since? The answer is an initial risk assessment for each plot. It feeds the risk assessment you carry out under Article 10; it does not replace it.
How deforestation can be detected
The regulation prescribes no specific satellite tool and no minimum image resolution (Commission FAQ 5.18). The approaches in use differ in what they can tell you about a single plot.
Approach | What it tells you | Main limitation |
One forest map, such as the EU Observatory's Global Forest Cover 2020 map | Whether the plot was forest at the cut-off date | Nothing on forest loss after 2020. Errors most likely in agroforestry and in dry, open landscapes |
Open tree cover loss and alert data, such as Global Forest Watch | Whether tree cover was lost after 2020 | Tree cover loss is not deforestation as the EUDR defines it: plantation harvests count as tree cover loss too |
Tools that cross a plot with many maps, such as "What is in that plot?" (WHISP) of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) | Where the sources agree or disagree | Inherits the errors of the maps it combines |
Hybrid analysis by a specialist provider | Forest at the cut-off date and loss since, from a harmonised baseline and the provider's own change detection | Relies on the provider's models and validation |
Very high-resolution imagery, field visits, certification | Direct evidence of the situation on the ground | Slow and costly. Certification does not replace your own due diligence |
The Commission notes that every spatial data set contains errors, and that no global or national map can serve as a reference map for due diligence, because its accuracy at local scale is unknown (FAQ 9.10.2). Combining complementary sources, such as different forest maps, can provide useful information on the risk (FAQ 9.10.4). Using such maps does not on its own ensure compliance, and you still carry out due diligence (FAQ 9.10).
Where the Prewave check fits
The Prewave deforestation check is a hybrid analysis, powered by the Satelligence service. This section describes the current version; results from earlier versions follow the method described for their version in EUDR: Deforestation check methodology versions.
The check is built on combining complementary sources:
A harmonised baseline. More than 50 open and national datasets, among them the EU Observatory map, the Joint Research Centre (JRC) Tropical Moist Forest layers and national forest maps, merged with Satelligence's own forest classification. The classification follows the forest definitions of the FAO and of the producing countries.
Crops removed from the forest layer. Commodity maps take plantations of cocoa, oil palm, soy, rubber, coffee and other crops out of the forest layer, so harvests are not read as forest loss.
Optical and radar detection. One algorithm works on Landsat and Sentinel-2 imagery and adapts to seasonal dry forests such as the Cerrado and the Chaco. A second works on Sentinel-1 radar, which sees through clouds. In areas with a lower risk of deforestation, open alert data counts only where it overlaps forest in the baseline.
A time window tied to your production. Only forest loss from January 2021 up to the month your production ended counts.
One pass, every plot. Each origin is checked once, and every plot gets its own result.
This places the Prewave check at the refined end of the methods in use today. It joins the breadth of open data with the local detail of national maps, controls for false alarms from crops, and returns a result for every plot in one pass. It remains a remote assessment: it can be wrong for an individual plot, and it is only as accurate as the geolocation it receives.
What a result does and does not tell you
Negligible means that no forest loss was detected on the plot within the time window. It does not confirm that the geolocation is complete and correct, and it says nothing about whether the commodity was produced legally, which the legality assessment covers.
Non-negligible means that forest loss was detected on the plot within the time window. It is a signal to investigate, not a finding of non-compliance. Possible causes include deforestation that took place, plot boundaries that reach into neighbouring forest, and forest loss that is not deforestation under the regulation. The regulation defines deforestation as the conversion of forest to agricultural use (Article 2).
Prewave assists, you decide
Prewave, with Satelligence, provides an initial risk assessment for each plot you supply. Neither decides whether a product is deforestation-free. The check assists your due diligence; it is not an authority on compliance.
This follows from the regulation. You can conclude that the risk is negligible only as the result of your own due diligence (Commission FAQ 5.10). By submitting a Due Diligence Statement (DDS), you confirm that you found no or only negligible risk, and you take responsibility for the compliance of the product (Article 4). Where the risk is not negligible, Article 11 requires risk mitigation, such as additional information from suppliers or independent surveys and audits.
Document the evidence behind every conclusion, above all when it departs from the initial signal of the check: for example, when you conclude that a plot with a Non-negligible result is deforestation-free. Record what your conclusion rests on:
corrected or verified plot geolocation
supplier documents on the land use history of the plot
higher-resolution imagery or an independent expert review
reports from field visits, audits or certification schemes
the reasoning that links this evidence to your conclusion
Keep this documentation with your due diligence records for at least five years, as the regulation requires. Competent authorities can ask how you reached your conclusion.
For how each version of the check produces its result, see this article: EUDR: Deforestation check methodology versions. For the datasets behind the baseline, see EUDR: Deforestation check data sources reference.
To request a deforestation check, see this article: EUDR: How to request a Deforestation (DF) Check.