The changelog below will highlight what has changed between this new version and the previous version.
Release notes summary
This release contains two major updates:
The public deforestation maps were updated for all 40 currently supported countries, including the newest Global Forest Cover 2020 baseline map by JRC and the latest available public deforestation data.
The second major update is an enhancement to the LGL01 (farm plot overlaps with protected area) test: Meridia is moving towards sourcing all reference data from The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, Protected Area and Key Biodiversity Area data downloaded from the Integrated Biodiversity Assessment Tool (IBAT) (https://www.ibat-alliance.org). This impacts the scoring, as the risk outcome is no longer solely dependent on the overlap but also on the specific protected area and its legal context. For this release, a first batch of seven countries is supported by this improvement which align with the countries that are available for ICE CoT. In the future, all the other countries will be added.
Changelog
Test | Test- Version | Changes | Background |
DEF01 | v1.00 | For all 40 supported countries, deforestation reference layers have been updated. The layers now contain the most up to date information. | EUDR prohibits the import of relevant commodities that have been grown on areas that were deforested (i.e., converted from forest to agricultural land |
DEF04 | v1.00 | There are several new commercial deforestation maps. One new country has been added:
Additionally, four countries have received updated maps:
| The update for Brazil now includes coverage of the entire country. Existing coverage has not been changed. |
LGL01 | v2.00 | The new test version v2.00 is currently only applied for the following countries (all other countries still utilise v1.00 of this test):
In v2.00 the risk outcome is determined by the overlap, and the legal context of the specific protected area. Some areas return critical risks for any overlaps, namely areas that are strict nature reserves, wilderness areas, national parks, World Heritage Sites, areas with agriculture permissions, but with specific conditions such as sustainable production or a formal permitting process. All farm plots within 1km of such an area receive medium risk. Farm plots overlapping with areas that are protected, but with general agriculture permissions receive a medium risk as well. Additionally for Ghana and Ivory Coast, permitted farms and enclaves have been mapped and are considered in the scoring. Finally, the Outputs include additional details about the protected areas, such as the name, the source, and the legal context. | Verify is moving towards one central trusted source for the latest information about protected areas: The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, Protected Area and Key Biodiversity Area data downloaded from the Integrated Biodiversity Assessment Tool (IBAT) (https://www.ibat-alliance.org).
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