Page 25 - FDMAsia Jul/Aug 2026

FOCUS 23
www.fdmasia.com | FDM ASIA JUL/AUG 2026

Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment high for products such as coffee, rubber and timber, particularly
said the core requirement of the EUDR is that commodities in the Central Highlands, underscoring the need for further
placed on the EU market must not be linked to deforestation. data verification.
To demonstrate compliance, producers must first provide Ministry of Agriculture and Environment officials said the
the geographical coordinates of production plots and compare EU is expected to establish a legal data repository for EUDR
them against a 2020 forest boundary map to determine whether implementation in June 2026.

the area is associated with deforestation, Do said. Vietnam’s forest boundary map could be integrated into
He noted that because the EUDR uses December 31, 2020, that system alongside relevant land, forestry and traceability
as its reference date, maps created after that point cannot regulations.
serve as the basis for compliance assessments. Any change If Vietnam succeeds in building a scientifically robust,
in forest status after the cut-off date could be considered regularly updated and locally verified dataset, it could
a violation, even if land-use conversion was authorised by significantly reduce compliance risks for exporters while
competent authorities. strengthening the country’s data governance capacity and
To address the issue, Vietnam is developing a forest ability to adapt to increasingly stringent global sustainability
boundary dataset that combines multiple sources, including standards, experts said.

provincial forest-status maps in 2020, remote-sensing data,
multi-temporal satellite imagery and international reference Digital technology helps sustain export competitiveness
datasets such as UMD/GLAD and the European Commission’s With support from regulators and industry experts, Vietnamese
Joint Research Centre (JRC). exporters are expected to boost competitiveness and turn
Data from 13 provinces that have completed reviews show trade barriers and market volatility into opportunities for
that green areas account for about 54 percent of the mapped sustainable growth.
area, yellow areas 45 percent and red areas 0.8 percent. Local As global markets tighten technical standards, raise logistics

authorities have already conducted field verifications for all costs and accelerate green transition requirements, Vietnamese
red-zone locations. exporters are coming under mounting pressure to upgrade
The Forestry and Forest Protection Department will publish supply chains and improve competitiveness.
Version 1.0 of the map on its website after receiving review Rising logistics costs, stricter technical barriers and tougher
results from all 34 participating provinces and cities. The environmental standards are forcing a structural shift in how
database will remain open for further updates, following a
model similar to that used by the EU’s JRC, with the aim
of improving accuracy and reliability in subsequent versions. Needpix.com
To-date, 19 of the 34 provinces and cities have submitted

complete datasets while the remaining localities are continuing
verification before finalising submissions.
Experts pointed out that the biggest challenge is the lack
of 2020 forest-status data in some localities, beside uneven
technical capacity and concerns over discrepancies with
previously published map.
Experts warned that EUDR-related risks remain relatively