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Forest Monitoring for Transparent Supply Chains

AIM4Commodities
Accelerating Innovative Monitoring for Forests and Commodities

AIM4Commodities advances forest monitoring as the core mechanism for achieving transparent and deforestation-free commodity supply chains. Led by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and funded by the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) and the United Kingdom, the initiative develops open, inclusive, and scalable solutions that put verified geospatial forest data at the centre of commodity trade.

By closing persistent gaps in forest-related data, AIM4Commodities enables smallholders, producers, companies, and regulators to demonstrate that the commodities they grow, trade, and buy come from deforestation-free land — making forest monitoring the shared foundation of sustainable supply chains worldwide.

Why AIM4Commodities? 

As the global demand for sustainable commodities increases, so does the need for reliable and transparent monitoring of land use and deforestation risks. Recent regulations emphasize the necessity of geospatial data for supply chains compliance. AIM4Commodities seeks to bridge persistent data gaps by providing open, inclusive, and scalable solutions to support smallholders, producers, companies, and regulators in ensuring sustainable and deforestation-free supply chains. 

Why forest monitoring?

Forest monitoring provides the geospatial evidence that a given parcel of land has not contributed to forest loss. It combines field data collected by farmers and cooperatives, Earth Observation layers from satellites, and a convergence of evidence approach that cross-checks multiple datasets to build a reliable, plot-level picture. Without this monitoring layer, supply chain transparency claims remain unverified — and smallholders risk losing market access under emerging deforestation regulations.

AIM4Commodities puts this monitoring capability directly in the hands of the people who need it most.

Scope and activities 
  • Monitor: Enhancing interoperability of Open Foris solutions with National Forest Monitoring Systems, integration of convergence of evidence processes in national platforms for forest and commodity monitoring. 
  • Engage: Engagement with governments and commodity platforms to help engage a wide cross-section of supply chain actors and enable feedback to government-led processes of relevance (national forest monitoring, cadastres and others). 
  • Locate: Large-scale field data collection campaigns to bridge the gap for smallholder associations for regulation compliance, promoting right to data for smallholders, reducing de-duplication.
  • Trace: Strengthening physical and digital traceability in key supply chains through open-source solutions. 
Highlights
cacao colombia
Geolocating the origin, securing the destination: the role of Open Foris Whisp and Ground in forest monitoring for transparent supply chains of colombian cocoa
12/05/2025
Enhancing compliance with deforestation-free regulations and enabling local participation with Ground: Insights from user experiences in Ivory Coast
Enhancing compliance with deforestation-free regulations and enabling local participation with Ground: insights from user experiences in Ivory Coast
05/05/2024
E-learnings
Open Foris Ground elearning
Publications
Open Foris Ground Guide
01/10/2025

Check the Open Foris Ground Guide to learn step by step how to design surveys, collect data offline, and visualise results in the web console.

Towards a digital public infrastructure for deforestation-related trade regulations
Towards a digital public infrastructure for deforestation-related trade regulations. What is in that plot? (Whisp)
31/05/2024

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) drives the development of a pre-competitive digital public infrastructure to support compliance on aspects of the trade regulations related to forest monitoring.

Photos
Visit to cocoa-growing areas, nursery, and production centre in Meta Department (Colombia) with the AIM4Commodities project
Visit to cocoa-growing areas, nursery, and production centre in Meta Department (Colombia) with the AIM4Commodities project
24/04/2025

Through the AIM4Commodities (A4C) project, funded by GIZ, FAO aims to support countries in improving forest-related data to achieve transparent supply chains.

Start of AIM4Commodities project activities in Colombia: strengthening the traceability and sustainability of cocoa
Visit to the cocoa-growing areas of Nariño Department (Colombia) with the AIM4Commodities project
23/04/2025

Through the AIM4Commodities (A4C) project, funded by GIZ, FAO aims to support countries in improving forest-related data to achieve transparent supply chains.

Start of AIM4Commodities project activities in Colombia: strengthening the traceability and sustainability of cocoa
Start of AIM4Commodities project activities in Colombia: strengthening the traceability and sustainability of cocoa
21/04/2025

The event took place on 22 and 23 April in Bogotá, bringing together nearly 50 participants, including representatives from government agencies, cocoa cooperatives, exporters, and national and international technical partners.

Videos