Based on the Space Intelligence ICE CoT EUDR Deforestation Maps overview (see Source at the end). For how the maps are produced, see Space Intelligence - How we make maps.
A commodity fails EUDR if the land it grows on was still forest on or after 31 December 2020 and was then converted. Pure timber plantations count as forest when cleared for other crops. Timber agroforestry systems that existed before the cut-off date are allowed.
Key definitions
Cut-off date: 31 December 2020.
Forest: land spanning more than 0.5 hectares with trees higher than 5 metres and a canopy cover of more than 10%, or trees able to reach those thresholds in situ, excluding land that is predominantly under agricultural or urban use.
Deforestation: the conversion of forest to agricultural use, whether human-induced or not, after the cut-off date.
Source: Space Intelligence, ICE CoT EUDR Deforestation Maps overview, page 1.
Not every area with trees is "forest"
Coffee and cocoa are often grown under shade trees or are trees themselves, so they can look like forest from satellites. An area of trees does not meet the EUDR forest definition when:
it has less than 10% canopy cover;
the area of trees is smaller than 0.5 hectares;
the trees cannot reach 5 m in height in that location;
the land is used for agriculture, with crops grown under the trees or tree crops such as cocoa or fruit trees;
the trees are planted for timber as part of a long-term agroforestry rotation with crops.
Source: Space Intelligence, ICE CoT EUDR Deforestation Maps overview, page 1.
Timber plantations
Timber from a plantation can only be imported into the EU if the trees were grown on land that was cleared of natural forest before the cut-off date.
Timber plantations, whether planted before or after the cut-off date, are treated like forest when cleared to grow other commodities. A timber plantation cleared after the cut-off date and replaced with coffee, cocoa or any other EUDR crop makes that crop non-compliant, no matter when the plantation was planted or when the natural forest was originally cleared.
Source: Space Intelligence, ICE CoT EUDR Deforestation Maps overview, page 5.
The agroforestry exception
The exception is a timber agroforestry system: a system that mixes timber with crops such as coffee or cocoa. This can be:
Mixed in space: timber and the crop grown at the same time on the same land.
Mixed in time: the land cycles between timber and another crop.
Both are compliant provided the land was not forest at the cut-off date, meaning the conversion to the agroforestry system happened before 31 December 2020.
Source: Space Intelligence, ICE CoT EUDR Deforestation Maps overview, page 5.
Is the coffee okay for sale in the EU?
Each case below shows the land-use history of a plot, read from past to present, compared with the cut-off date.
Source: Space Intelligence, ICE CoT EUDR Deforestation Maps overview, page 5 ("Coffee okay for sale in EU?").
Case | Land-use history | Okay for EU? | Why |
1 | Forest → Coffee, converted before the cut-off date | ✅ Yes | The forest was cleared before 31 Dec 2020, so it is not deforestation under EUDR. |
2 | Forest → Coffee, converted after the cut-off date | ❌ No | Forest was converted to agriculture after the cut-off date. |
3 | Forest → Timber plantation (before cut-off) → Coffee (after cut-off) | ❌ No | The timber plantation counts as forest when cleared for coffee after the cut-off date. |
4 | Forest (still forest at cut-off) → Timber plantation → Coffee | ❌ No | The land was forest at the cut-off date, so any later conversion is deforestation. |
5 | Forest → Timber & coffee mixed in time/space, established before the cut-off date | ✅ Yes | Agroforestry exception: the land was not forest at the cut-off date, even if it looks similar to case 3. |
6 | Forest (still forest at cut-off) → Timber & coffee mixed in time/space | ❌ No | The land was forest after the cut-off date, so it can never produce EUDR-compliant produce. |
Case 3 vs case 5
In case 3, a pure timber plantation is replaced by coffee after the cut-off date. In case 5, timber and coffee are one agroforestry system that was already in place before the cut-off date. Only case 5 is compliant.
How the maps handle timber and agroforestry
Timber agroforestry systems (timber separated from crops in time or space) are mapped as non-forest, so cocoa or coffee from these farms can obtain an ICE CoT badge. They are identified using multi-date imagery, field knowledge of local farming practices, and the size of timber plantation patches.
Industrial timber plantations are mapped as a separate class from forest. Like forest, overlap with or clearance of a timber plantation fails in ICE CoT.
Because timber plantations show as their own class, you can submit a Challenge specifically about the timber plantation, with evidence that the plot is an agroforestry system and should pass.
Source: Space Intelligence, ICE CoT EUDR Deforestation Maps overview, page 5.
What is different about Brazil?
Brazilian law requires farmers to set aside protected forest within their farm boundaries. These forest areas are often included in farm polygons and would cause many compliant farms to fail.
For Brazil, an additional tree crops map identifies coffee, cocoa and other tree crops. The deforestation check is run only on pixels identified as tree crops, so the legally required forest inside the farm does not trigger a false deforestation alert.
Source: Space Intelligence, ICE CoT EUDR Deforestation Maps overview, page 6.
Source
Space Intelligence Ltd. Space Intelligence ICE CoT EUDR Deforestation Maps (Overview, 10 pages). space-intelligence.com
Page 1: EUDR definitions of forest and deforestation; when trees do not meet the forest definition
Page 5: Timber plantations, the agroforestry exception, "Coffee okay for sale in EU?" and how timber plantations, forest and agroforestry are differentiated
Page 6: What is different about Brazil (tree crops map)
The ICE CoT EUDR Deforestation Maps are available under licence from ICE Benchmark Administration Limited.