VM0047 Field Data: What an ARR Project Records for Verification

Verra's VM0047 is the methodology for afforestation, reforestation and revegetation (ARR) projects under the Verified Carbon Standard. This guide explains what it asks your field team to record, so the data you collect in year one still holds up at verification in year five and beyond.

It summarizes VM0047 version 1.1, active since May 14, 2025, in our own words. Projects staying on version 1.0 needed an "Under Validation" pipeline listing request by December 31, 2025, and must request registration by December 31, 2026. Always work from Verra's methodology page and the v1.1 document. Checked October 17, 2026.

Disclosure: Restoration Scope makes field and monitoring software for carbon projects. We are not a validation or verification body (VVB), and we don't issue credits.

Area-based or census-based

VM0047 has two ways to count removals. A project can use both, in separate areas that don't overlap.

The area-based approach is not available to a project that qualifies for the census-based approach.

What to record for a census-based project

The census is the project. It starts at year zero, when you count every tree the project planted. That count, N, multiplies everything that follows, so each tree has to be findable again.

For every tree:

• A unique ID. Either a GPS point or a durable physical marker with the ID on it. With GPS, trees must be spaced at least as far apart as your GPS unit's accuracy: with five-meter accuracy, five meters apart.
• Planting year or annual cohort. Mortality can be sampled by cohort, which improves precision.
• Species and what it is. VM0047 calls each one a planting unit, and the monitoring plan must define it: a tree, a shrub or a bamboo clump.

For the sample of trees you check at each monitoring event:

• Live or dead. A tree with no green tissue is dead, and a tree you can't find is counted as dead too. You can re-check every tree or a sample.
• The measurements your allometric equation needs, typically diameter at breast height and total height.
• A sample drawn from the census list, for example a systematic sample with a random start within each cohort. For how teams measure survival in practice, see how to track tree planting survival.

Existing trees don't count toward N or toward the 50-per-hectare limit. Dead trees can be replanted, as long as live project trees stay within that limit. Each tree also gets a 10-meter buffer that forms the accounting area, and that area can't overlap another project instance.

What to record for an area-based project

Area-based projects estimate biomass per hectare from sample plots and scale it up to the project area. Satellite data does a second job: it compares how a stocking index changes in your project plots against matched control plots outside the project. That comparison sets the crediting baseline at each verification.

VM0047 asks for a plot database with at least:

• Project plots: a unique ID, location, size and layout, and the stocking-index values from year zero onward.
• Control plots: the same, plus the ID of the project plot each one is matched to and its weight.
• Satellite inputs: the imagery and timestamps used to calculate each value.

Field plots can be combined with the stocking index in a two-phase sample. Verra has vetted three data providers for stocking-index data (Sylvera, Kanop and Chloris Geospatial) and is not taking on new ones before the second quarter of 2027. You can use another provider, but Verra and the VVB review the data either way.

What the monitoring plan must cover

Most monitored values are measured at least every five years. The monitoring plan describes how. In summary, it covers:

• Which approach applies where, the accounting boundary and, for census projects, the definition of a planting unit.
• Each monitoring task, the parameters you measure, and a standard operating procedure for field data collection.
• The sample design: what the population is, how many units you sample and how you choose them.
• How often each value is measured.
• Quality checks that catch and correct anomalies and make sure data is complete.
• Archiving: all monitoring data, including QA/QC data, kept electronically for at least two years after the last crediting period ends.
• Roles, responsibilities and chain of custody for the data.

Ex-ante estimates made at validation carry an uncertainty deduction of at least 10%. Ex-post uncertainty comes from your sampling error, so a weak sample design costs credits.

What changes with VCS version 5

Most VCS version 5 rules apply from January 1, 2027, with transition dates that vary by requirement. For field data, two changes matter:

• Geolocation files. Every project submits one at registration, and again at verification or renewal when boundaries change. Verra's requirements ask for KML or KMZ files in WGS84, with an ID, activity, implementation date, centroid and area for each project instance, and clean geometry. The VVB checks the file before it reaches Verra.
• Digital submission through the Verra Project Hub wherever a digital version of the methodology exists.

Source: VCS version 5 overview.

Checklist before validation

• Choose the approach for each area, and keep census and area-based areas apart.
• Write the field SOP before the first tree is counted or the first plot is laid out.
• Give every tree or plot an ID that never changes, and keep it the same across every tool your team uses.
• Record who collected each measurement, when and with what device.
• Keep photos and GPS points attached to the record they describe.
• Plan the archive to outlast the crediting period, and the staff who set it up.
• Ask your VVB early which export formats they want for tree lists, plots and boundaries.

Where software fits

A census project spread across many farms can mean tens of thousands of tree records that have to stay findable for decades. A spreadsheet can hold that list. Keeping IDs, photos, GPS points, mortality checks and replanting consistent across seasons and field teams is the hard part.

Restoration Scope gives field teams offline capture of tree and plot records with GPS and photos, keeps the history of inspections and field updates on each record, and exports tables as CSV for your VVB. It doesn't calculate credits or replace your methodology expert. See Restoration Scope for carbon projects.

Questions about VM0047

What is VM0047? VM0047 is Verra's methodology for afforestation, reforestation and revegetation projects. It replaced the CDM methodology AR-ACM0003 in the Verified Carbon Standard in September 2023 and carries the ICVCM Core Carbon Principles label.

What is the difference between area-based and census-based VM0047? Area-based projects measure sample plots and compare satellite data with control plots; census-based projects count every planted tree and measure a sample. Census-based fits trees on farms and other planting at 50 or fewer per hectare that doesn't change land use.

Do I need a GPS point for every tree? For census-based projects, every tree needs either a GPS point or a durable physical marker with a unique ID. With GPS, trees must be at least as far apart as the GPS unit's accuracy.

How often is a VM0047 project monitored? Most monitored values are measured at least every five years, or before each verification if you verify more often.

What happens to trees we can't find? They are counted as dead. Clear IDs and good locations protect credits.

Who provides the stocking index? Verra has vetted Sylvera, Kanop and Chloris Geospatial. Projects can use another provider, but Verra and the VVB review the data in every case.

More guides: compare carbon standards for nature projects, the records funders and verifiers ask for and Plan Vivo vs Gold Standard vs Verra for smallholder agroforestry.