MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazilian platform to track commodity chains ahead of EU deforestation rules

The EUDR is expected to have a greater impact in the coming years, given the growing trade ties between Mercosur and the European Union.

A new Brazilian digital platform began operating on Monday to cross-check social and environmental data and support the tracing of commodity chains linked to deforestation, land conflicts and other rural violations.

The Socio-Environmental Platform, developed by the Instituto Sociedade, População e Natureza (ISPN), gathers information from different sources and allows users to view data by municipality and state. The tool is intended for companies, governments, researchers, civil society groups and public authorities seeking to assess local impacts associated with agricultural production.

The system monitors soy, coffee, cocoa, palm, rubber and cattle-based product chains, sectors covered by the European Union’s Regulation on Deforestation-free Products, known as the EUDR.

The EU regulation requires operators and traders placing certain products on the EU market — or exporting them from the bloc — to prove that they do not come from recently deforested land or contribute to forest degradation. Under the European Commission’s current timetable, the rules will apply from Dec. 30, 2026, for large and medium-sized operators, and from June 30, 2027, for micro and small businesses.

The EUDR is expected to have a greater impact in the coming years, given the growing trade ties between Mercosur and the European Union.

According to ISPN, the platform is based on databases from 15 national and international organizations working in human rights, environmental protection and civil society. The information covers the period from 2002 onward and may be updated annually, with new datasets expected to be incorporated gradually.

The data crossings allow users to analyze disputes over water and land, forced labor, rural violence, environmental contamination and water use. The database on social conflicts is supplied by the Pastoral Land Commission (CPT).

ISPN said the system is intended to increase transparency over the expansion of commodity production and its links to socio-environmental conflicts. In its presentation, the institute said the platform “allows users to visualize, by states and municipalities, the direct relationship between the advance of commodity production and socio-environmental conflicts.”

The tool also makes it possible to identify some land irregularities, including so-called “green land grabbing,” in which conserved areas occupied by traditional communities are declared as legal reserves for large rural properties under Brazil’s declaratory Rural Environmental Registry.

The platform will be presented on Tuesday to representatives from the embassies of France, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark at an in-person meeting. Other countries are expected to participate remotely.