AHA is being implemented in three phases:
AHA’s Platform has been developed for registered users, currently restricted to U.S. hardwood exporters, to provide access to AHA’s deforestation-risk data at state and county level, alongside the results of AHA-endorsed JRAs.
AHA’s Platform provides a simple and user-friendly mechanism by which U.S. hardwood exporters can prepare, with each individual consignment for onward sale, a due diligence statement containing summary data, and links to relevant documentation, on the legal and deforestation-free status of U.S. hardwoods. The Platform automates the gathering and entry of standard due diligence data including the exporter’s name and address, product description (harmonised system code, free-text description, trade name and full scientific name of the species) and product quantity.
Using drop-down lists and point-and-click maps, AHA’s Platform allows exporters to generate a file containing geolocations of all counties from which hardwood contained in the consignment may have derived. This geoJSON file conforms to the WGS84 coordinate standard and EPSG:4326 projection as required by EUDR.
AHA has built on improved site-level analytical capability drawing on satellite imagery and the Expert Eye tool to develop a supplementary data layer to bring geolocation output closer to the current EUDR specifications without imposing new data-collection requirements on Platform users.
The first version of the additional data layer will launch on 16 October 2026 and is updated annually. The layer identifies a comprehensive pool of AHA-detected real and potential harvest sites in each county within a 12-month period. Recipients of AHA Statements are given the option of downloading geolocation data as county polygons or to include all harvest sites identified in source counties during the relevant 12 month period. This can be used to demonstrate EUDR compliance using the “Declaration in excess” procedure outlined in EU guidance which allows operators handling bulk-traded or mixed commodities to submit a Due Diligence Statement (DDS) that includes a pool of multiple known, compliant plots of origin, even if a specific physical shipment only originates from a subset of those plots.
Development of this additional data layer has been technically challenging because it requires identification of numerous lower intensity selection harvest sites. These sites typically do not involve large scale opening of the canopy and are not easily visible on publicly available satellite data sets. The data layer is dependent on a range of additional remote sensing analytical techniques (notably using the visible red, near-infrared, and shortwave-infrared parts of the spectrum in Sentinel-2 imagery) combined with the necessary processing power and AI advancements which are only now becoming available.
During 2027, AHA’s Platform will be integrated with a Proof of Provenance (PoP) procedure to strengthen assurance that AHA claims are applied only to eligible U.S. hardwoods. The Platform will be extended to accommodate registered users, both upstream and downstream of U.S. hardwood exporters, and to allow them to convey due diligence data through the supply chain. Blockchain technology will be used to help protect the integrity of data transfer via the Platform, and appropriate encryption technologies will be employed to provide for data security and commercial confidentiality. The Platform will be linked with a surveillance system drawing on plant-chemistry-based technology to further protect the integrity of claims.
Under the AHA PoP procedure, primary hardwood processors and exporters of logs and other unprocessed hardwood material in the U.S. registered on the system shall use the Platform to determine: (a) the risk of illegal harvesting in the specific states where they source timber; and (b) the risk of hardwood forest land being converted to agriculture in the specific counties where they source timber. Where risks are specified, primary hardwood processors and exporters of logs and other unprocessed hardwood shall mitigate these risks in their future procurement activity for any products they wish to sell bearing AHA’s legal and deforestation-free claim.
AHA is cooperating with the U.S. Forest Service International Programs’ Wood Identification and Screening Center (WISC), World Forest ID (WFID), and other international agencies in work to develop plant-chemistry based testing procedures to identify harvest location of finished forest products. Lab-based techniques include Stable Isotope Ratio Analysis (SIRA) and Trace Element Analysis (TEA). Another technique known as Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) may allow testing of finished products on-site, using portable hand-held devices.
All these techniques require the prior establishment of comprehensive databases of timber samples covering a variety of commercial species from across the U.S. hardwood production area. The larger and more representative the database, the higher the resolution and confidence of the provenance test. The process of building the database and refining the testing techniques may take up to two years, but when ready, will provide an extremely robust method to help protect the integrity of AHA-labelled products, while also reducing the need for more traditional chain of custody audit checks.
Learn more about the innovative work going on behind the scenes.
