# Guidelines changelog
News, updates, and changes to the LandScale guidelines and documentation, organized by date.
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Instead of maintaining version numbers for the guidelines, all updates will now be tracked through this changelog for greater transparency and ease of reference.
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20 April 2026
### What’s new?
The following updates have been made:
* The [profile setup and landscape initiative maturity](https://docs.landscale.org/) sections have been updated to reflect changes to the maturity framework and evaluation process.
* The [landscape initiative maturity](/landscape-initiative-maturity/get-started-with-landscape-initiative-maturity.md) section now includes step-by-step instructions on [how to complete the evaluation](/landscape-initiative-maturity/get-started-with-landscape-initiative-maturity/how-to-complete-the-evaluation.md) on LandScale, an overview of the [maturity framework](/landscape-initiative-maturity/landscape-initiative-maturity-framework.md) and associated [maturity rubric](/landscape-initiative-maturity/landscape-initiative-maturity-framework/landscales-maturity-rubric.md) (which sets out progress levels for each sub-criterion), and updated [validation criteria](/landscape-initiative-maturity/get-started-with-landscape-initiative-maturity.md#explore-each-core-criterions-requirements) for each sub-criterion.
13 March 2026
### What’s new?
The following updates have been made:
* Climate mitigation project guidance has been published to support landscape initiatives in implementing high-integrity projects. A [new section under additional resources](/assessment-guidelines/additional-resources/climate-mitigation-project-guidance.md) in the assessment guidelines outlines the guidance’s purpose and structure, and links to the technical guidance document.
2 December 2025
### What’s new?
The following updates have been made:
* Revised wording in the [regenerative agriculture section of the assessment guidelines](https://docs.landscale.org/assessment-guidelines/get-started/introduction-to-the-landscale-system/regenerative-agriculture-assessment-lens) to replace all mentions of 'the lens' with 'the assessment lens' for clearer, more consistent terminology.
18 November 2025
### What’s new?
The following updates have been made:
* The regenerative agriculture assessment lens has been published. This includes a [section in the assessment guidelines](https://docs.landscale.org/assessment-guidelines/get-started/introduction-to-the-landscale-system/regenerative-agriculture-assessment-lens) that outlines its purpose, structure, and provides supplemental measurement guidance, as well as a detailed technical document on the lens available for download.
24 September 2025
### What’s new?
The following updates have been made:
* The [reassessment guidelines](https://docs.landscale.org/reassessment-guidelines) are now live, providing step-by-step instructions for conducting a reassessment in LandScale, consistent with the platform design.
* Removed the requirement to demonstrate good faith efforts to recruit two local reviewers per indicator. Instead, the [review criteria for the first review](https://docs.landscale.org/assessment-guidelines/step-c/review-and-submit-for-validation#review-criteria) now specify that there must be at least one local reviewer per indicator.
* Updated the titles of the [local review](https://docs.landscale.org/assessment-guidelines/step-c/address-comments-from-local-review) and [final validation](https://docs.landscale.org/assessment-guidelines/step-c/proceed-to-final-validation) sections to better reflect the workflow. Assessment results do not need to be actively submitted by the assessment team for these stages; they proceed automatically from the first review once feedback is addressed.
* Added the Positive Tipping Points Toolkit to the 'further reading and resources' hint in '[Complete the assessment](https://docs.landscale.org/assessment-guidelines/step-c/complete-the-assessment#next-steps)', offering guidance on navigating systemic change in complex systems.
9 July 2025
### What’s new?
We’ve made a few minor updates to the [assessment guidelines](https://docs.landscale.org/assessment-guidelines/) to strengthen guidance and support better planning:
* Added a brief description at the start of '[Register assessment team members](/assessment-guidelines/step-a/register-assessment-team-members.md)' to clarify what an assessment team is and what it does.
* Moved '[Identify and register local reviewers](/assessment-guidelines/step-a/identify-and-register-local-reviewers.md)' to Step A to highlight the importance of early planning and budgeting, even though the local review takes place in Step C.
* Included a note in '[Select data resources](/assessment-guidelines/step-b/select-data-resources-and-address-data-gaps.md)' to encourage assessment teams to proactively consider how they might address any data gaps or data-deficient metrics in future assessments.
20 May 2025
### What’s new?
The LandScale team is thrilled to launch our new guidelines on GitBook.
* We've transitioned from static PDF guidelines (version 1.1) to a dynamic GitBook format for easier access and maintenance.
* The new format includes AI-powered search functionality, the ability to export content as a PDF, and a feedback rating system to capture user satisfaction with the guidelines.
* The guidelines content has been updated to reflect the revised workflow and platform design.
* The categorizations of indicators and metrics in the assessment framework have been streamlined.
* Previously:
* Indicators were categorized as *core*, *landscape-dependent*, *optional*, or *custom*.
* Metrics were categorized as *required*, *recommended*, or *user-defined*.
* Now:
* Indicators are categorized as either *core* or *additional*.
* Metrics are categorized as either *essential* or *complementary*.
## Previous guidelines documents
Before May 2025, the LandScale guidelines (version 1.1) were provided as step-specific PDF documents. All previous guideline documents are available for download below:
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