Digital Public Infrastructure
Implementing the Regulation on Deforestation-free Products (EUDR) requires reliable ways to collect, exchange, and verify data across complex global supply chains. Companies and public authorities need to trace the origin of products and demonstrate that they are deforestation-free, often across multiple countries, systems, and actors. Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) provides the digital foundations for transparent, efficient, and inclusive supply chains. Through interoperable and open digital systems, DPI strengthens governance and improves data sharing.
The digital solutions provided are commonly free, open-source, and part of a growing ecosystem of solutions that place farmers at the center of digital transformation.
Key Facts
plots globally are estimated to need mapping for EUDR compliance
times a month is how often Whisp gets called on average, showing the demand for deforestation-risk analysis
How does DPI address zero-deforestation?
Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) addresses one of the biggest challenges in deforestation-free supply chains: fragmented digital systems that duplicate data collection, create unnecessary costs, and leave farmers with little control over their information. Instead of isolated proprietary platforms, DPI promotes open, interoperable building blocks that can work together across organizations, countries, and value chains. The approach combines open-source technologies, shared standards, and common digital services that allow data to move securely between different applications while remaining under the control of those who generate it. By placing farmers at the centre of digital transformation, DPI improves transparency and data sovereignty, and creates a more inclusive digital ecosystem that supports both sustainable production and regulatory compliance.
What are the necessary steps?
Data Collection and Data Quality
Reliable compliance begins with high-quality farm and geolocation data, yet many producers still rely on paper records or incompatible digital systems. Open-source solutions, such as Open Foris Ground and INATrace enable farmers and producer organisations to collect farm information, field boundaries, and georeferenced data directly in the field, even when internet connectivity is limited. GeoRoots complements this process by helping users validate, clean, convert, and manage geospatial datasets, ensuring that information meets technical requirements before it is shared with downstream partners. Together, these tools improve data quality, reduce errors, and make it easier for producers to participate in transparent and deforestation-free supply chains.
Spatial Identity and Plot Identification
A common challenge in traceable supply chains is that the same land parcel may be identified differently by different organisations, making data exchange difficult and increasing the risk of inconsistencies. This challenge can be addressed by assigning unique and anonymous geo-IDs to agricultural plots, such as through GeoID. This standardised spatial identity allows different systems to recognise the same plot without exchanging sensitive location information. The result is greater interoperability, more reliable traceability, and a consistent foundation for deforestation risk assessments and EUDR compliance.
Supply Chain Traceability
Meeting zero-deforestation requirements depends on being able to trace commodities throughout the supply chain, yet data is often fragmented across multiple actors and digital solutions. Open-source solutions such as INATrace and Whimo strengthen traceability by connecting production, processing, and trade data through interoperable digital systems. Their approach enables supply chain actors to record and exchange information efficiently while avoiding duplicated data collection and vendor lock-in. This creates greater transparency, supports due diligence requirements, and helps companies demonstrate that products originate from deforestation-free sources.
Geospatial Risk Assessment
Understanding whether a production area is linked to deforestation requires public maps and reliable, science-based geospatial analysis. Open Foris WHISP combines publicly available commodity and forest datasets to assess deforestation risk for individual plots. Rather than requiring every organisation to develop its own analytical system, WHISP provides a transparent and standardised approach that can be integrated into multiple workflows. This helps farmers, cooperatives, companies, and authorities generate credible evidence for due diligence while supporting informed decision-making on sustainable land use.
Data Governance and Secure Data Sharing
Smallholder farmers often face barriers to meeting due diligence requirements due to limited digital literacy, unequal access to digital tools, and uncertainty about how their data is used. Proprietary solutions can further restrict data ownership and create vendor lock-in. A strong data governance approach promotes open, interoperable solutions and ensures Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) for data sharing. This helps farmers retain control over their data while enabling secure and transparent participation in deforestation-free supply chains.
One of the solutions available that addresses data governance and data sharing is Sylva. Sylva promotes trusted approaches to data governance that give producers greater control over their information while enabling authorised data exchange between supply chain actors. Rather than creating another isolated platform, Sylva supports interoperable data sharing based on clear governance principles, transparency, and consent. This helps build trust across the digital ecosystem while ensuring that valuable farm data can be reused for multiple purposes without unnecessary duplication.
Where can I get further guidance?
Sylva: One Entry Point to the DPI Ecosystem
Navigating the growing number of digital tools for EUDR compliance can be challenging, particularly for organisations with limited technical capacity. To help users understand how different DPI components connect and how they can be combined into practical workflows tailored to specific supply chains or country contexts, the International Trade Centre has developed Sylva. Through guidance, practical resources, and implementation support, users can identify which tools best meet their needs and how data can move seamlessly between them. The objective is to make Digital Public Infrastructure easier to adopt and to help organisations build coherent, future-proof digital solutions.
Explore the Sustainable Supply Chain Toolkit
The Sustainable Supply Chain Toolkit brings together free and open-source tools that can support different aspects of EUDR compliance and due diligence. It provides guidance on solutions for geolocation data collection, traceability, deforestation risk analysis, legality risk assessment, interoperability, and due diligence management.
Designed for producers, cooperatives, traders, exporters, retailers, governments and other supply chain actors, the toolkit helps users navigate the growing landscape of digital solutions available to support supply chain transparency and compliance. Rather than promoting a single approach, it offers an accessible overview of practical tools that can be used individually or combined according to different needs and contexts.
By bringing these resources together in one place, the toolkit aims to make it easier for organisations to identify and compare available options, particularly those that are freely accessible and, in many cases, open source.
Explore the Sustainable Supply Chain Toolkit.
Projects / Activities on World Map
The positions of the southern and northern hemisphere are changed on this map to encourage a change in perspectives and to counteract potential biases in world views.
Videos
DPI Playlist
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Publications
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A new course on EUDR, traceability, and digital soft skills is now available for free on the Atingi platform, in both Spanish and English. This milestone is the result of…
SUMMARY OF THE FIRST MILE SUPPLY CHAIN IN THE COCOA, COFFEE, PALM OIL AND RUBBER SECTORS The first mile, the journey from production farm to the first aggregation or processing…
New eLearning Course: Open Foris Ground Discover how digital innovation can transform forest and land-use monitoring with FAO’s new Open Foris Ground eLearning course! This free, self-paced training introduces you…
Relevant links
- Preferred by Nature Due Diligence Toolkit: Preferred by Nature Due Diligence Toolkit | Preferred by Nature
- AidEnvironment: Compliance Checker: Compliance Checker – AidEnvironment
- Preferred by Nature: Traceability Tools Navigator: Home | Traceability Tools Navigator
Partner organisations
Strengthening Interoperability Through Partnerships and Alignment
Building effective Digital Public Infrastructure requires collaboration across governments, international organizations, technology providers, civil society, and the private sector. Explore how our partners work together to develop shared standards, promote interoperability, and coordinate open-source digital solutions.
