Land Eligibility for ARR: Proving No Forest Cover

Updated 2026-11-02 · 4 min read · By the akar.earth specialist team

ARR land eligibility explained: the 10-year no-clearing rule, forest definitions, and how to prove non-forest status with satellite and field evidence.

To be eligible for ARR crediting, you must show that the land does not meet the forest definition at the start of the project (for afforestation and reforestation) and, under Verra’s rules, that it was not cleared of native ecosystems in the ten years before the project start. The proof is a documented land-use history built from dated satellite imagery, analysed against the forest definition and backed by field evidence.

Why the rule exists

The aim is to stop perverse incentives. Without it, a developer could clear natural forest or scrub, replant fast-growing trees and earn removal credits. The rule protects both integrity and biodiversity. It also aligns with buyer expectations and frameworks such as the ICVCM Core Carbon Principles.

ARR methodologies differ in detail. VM0047 covers both establishing vegetation on non-forest land and enhancing stocks where forest cover exists, through its area-based and census-based approaches. Read the applicability conditions of the VM0047 version you apply, and the VCS Standard requirements on native ecosystems, before designing your evidence.

The forest definition

A forest definition sets thresholds for:

• Minimum area (a parcel smaller than this cannot be “forest”).
• Minimum crown cover (share of ground covered by tree crowns).
• Minimum tree height at maturity.

Indonesia has a national forest definition used in international reporting; projects normally apply the host-country definition. Note that this differs from the definition in the EU Deforestation Regulation, which uses 0.5 ha, 10% canopy cover and 5 m. See EUDR forest definition. Land can be “non-forest” for one framework and “forest” for another, so record which definition each analysis uses.

Step by step: building the eligibility case

1. Fix the project start date and therefore the reference window (at least ten years back).
2. Map the boundary accurately, ideally with field-checked polygons.
3. Assemble imagery. Landsat (30 m) covers the whole window; Sentinel-2 (10 m) adds detail from 2015–2017 onwards; high-resolution archive imagery helps for small parcels. See Sentinel-2 for forest monitoring.
4. Use existing products as a cross-check: global tree cover loss, national land-cover maps, and plantation maps. Do not rely on them alone.
5. Classify each parcel at key dates (reference date and start date at minimum, ideally annually) against the forest thresholds.
6. Look for clearing events within the window: sudden canopy loss, burn scars, new roads.
7. Field check a sample: vegetation structure, stumps, fire signs, regrowth age.
8. Collect land-use history from landholders, village records, concession maps and land documents.
9. Exclude ineligible areas rather than arguing them in. Smaller eligible area beats a failed validation.
10. Write it up in a form a VVB can reproduce.

Typical eligible and ineligible land in Indonesia

Handling unclear cases

Some parcels will not fit neatly: scattered trees near the crown cover threshold, cloud in key years, or conflicting maps. Treat them conservatively. Exclude the parcel, find better imagery, or collect field evidence such as tree ages from ring counts or interviews. Document every decision in a table so the VVB sees a consistent rule rather than case-by-case judgement.

Common mistakes

• Using one cloud-free image per decade and calling it a history.
• Ignoring that someone else’s clearing still makes the land ineligible.
• Misreading shrubland or young regrowth as non-forest without checking crown cover and height.
• Mixing up the EUDR and host-country forest definitions.
• Drawing the project boundary from a sketch instead of verified polygons.
• Leaving out peat. ARR on drained peat brings separate emissions and risks.

What good evidence looks like

A VVB will expect: the forest definition applied, with source; a list of images with IDs and dates; classification method and accuracy assessment; maps of each parcel’s status at each date; a clearing-event analysis; field photos and plot notes; land-use history documentation; and a table of included and excluded areas with reasons.

Linking with feasibility

Eligibility is the first item on the ARR feasibility checklist because it is the most common deal-breaker. Our feasibility and eligibility service produces land-history analyses to validation standard, and akar eligibility screens parcels quickly. More on the ARR hub.