GEOS-EUDR: Technical and Policy Brief No. 2

Navigating the Geodata Jungle: A Curated Metadatabase for Supporting EUDR Supply Chain Monitoring

The implementation of the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) (Regulation (EU) 2023/1115) has fundamentally changed compliance requirements across global supply chains. Using the cut-off date of 31 December 2020 as a reference point, operators and national competent authorities (CAs) can leverage Earth Observation (EO) data, maps, and other pertinent information to evaluate whether products from cattle, cocoa, coffee, oil palm, rubber, soy or wood meet the EUDR's deforestation-free requirements.

However, despite the wide availability of EO datasets and maps, operators and CAs face a highly fragmented EO and geospatial data landscape, characterized by differences in definitions, spatial resolutions, thematic coverage, and methodological approaches. This fragmentation makes it difficult to select and interpret suitable datasets in a transparent manner, which poses challenges for operators seeking to demonstrate EUDR compliance and for CAs verifying regulatory compliance.

This technical and policy brief introduces a curated, open-access catalogue of datasets hosted on GitHub and developed within the GEOS-EUDR project at the Thünen Institute of Forestry, Germany. Developed between May 2024 to June 2026, this metadatabase serves as a digital public infrastructure by curating publicly available global, regional, and selected national geospatial datasets relevant to the EUDR. To ensure immediate regulatory relevance, only datasets with a spatial resolution of 30 meters or finer and temporal coverage within 5 years before or after the EUDR reference year 2020 were included.

By standardizing 28 structural, technical, and quality-related metadata attributes - from explicit canopy thresholds to validation sampling sizes - the catalogue enables stakeholders to quickly find and compare spatial data. The database serves as a knowledge resource, providing an overview of available EO map products and their potential application in relation to the EUDR. This brief outline the contents of the metadata database and explains how it can be used. It also provides practical recommendations for using EO data and maps, taking into account the products currently available.

Link repository: https://github.com/GEOS-EUDR-RepoHub/Metadatabase-Geodata-EUDR