Landscape initiative maturity framework
Mature landscape initiatives are defined by four core criteria essential to their effectiveness:
Scale: The landscape initiative operates at the scale of a defined ecological, socioeconomic, or administrative area (refer to the scale criterion for boundary delineation options).
Multi-stakeholder governance: The landscape initiative is governed by a multi-stakeholder process or platform that has decision-making responsibility for the design, implementation, and monitoring of the initiative.
Collective goals and actions: Stakeholders in the landscape initiative have agreed on a set of long-term, landscape-scale sustainability goals and a collective action plan for achieving those goals.
Collective monitoring: The landscape initiative manages a collective monitoring and reporting framework that enables assessment and communication of progress toward the initiative's collective sustainability goals.
These core criteria, along with their sub-criteria detailed below, provide a roadmap for developing initiatives over time. Implementing these elements also serves as a safeguard, reducing risks in decision-making while enhancing positive social and environmental outcomes.
Refer to the collective position paper webpage to access the full paper, which outlines the core criteria, their corresponding sub-criteria, and associated use cases.
Operationalizing the maturity framework
To operationalize the maturity framework, it was translated into a practical evaluation approach that can be applied consistently across landscapes. The sub-criteria are applied in a structured way to assess the maturity of enabling structures and processes, as outlined in the table below:
Scale
Landscape-level scale:
The landscape initiative operates at a scale that:
Is typically in the range of hundreds of thousands of hectares (though it may be larger or occasionally smaller, depending on the context).
Is sufficient to influence systemic conditions underlying its sustainability goals, such as through land use planning or policy reform.
Enables coherent area-level management through a multi-stakeholder governance process.
Multi-stakeholder governance process or platform
Participation from key stakeholders:
Includes active participation from key stakeholders in the landscape, including local community representatives in particular.
Alignment with governmental policies:
Engages directly with local government actors and seeks to align with progressive local, sub-national, and/or national government priorities and policies.
Governance and decision-making:
Has clear, transparent operating procedures and decision-making processes that support effective and inclusive stakeholder participation.
Coordination of actions and monitoring:
Plays a coordinating role in implementation for actions and monitoring across the landscape.
Implementation of safeguards:
Implements safeguards that minimize the risks of negative human rights or environmental impacts, while enhancing positive results for people and nature within the landscape.
Collective goals and actions
Collective sustainability goals:
The collective sustainability goals:
Are informed by a context analysis (or similar effort) to understand current landscape conditions and stakeholder priorities.
Encompass social, environmental, and economic priorities.
Are accompanied by measurable metrics, baseline data, and short and medium-term milestones.
Are reviewed regularly and revised as necessary to reflect the changing landscape context.
Collective action plan:
The collective action plan:
Addresses systemic issues by focusing on long-term solutions that can be embedded in local governance.
Reflects the diversity of land-use types and commodities present in the landscape.
Defines strategies and actions to achieve milestones and advance the sustainability goals.
Is agreed upon by participating stakeholders and made publicly available.
Is updated regularly to reflect progress and evolving funding realities.
Funding and finance strategy:
The initiative is supported by a funding and finance strategy that:
Accompanies the collective action plan and supports its long-term viability.
Identifies clear funding sources.
Seeks diversified and sustainable financing mechanisms to reduce reliance on a single source.
Collective monitoring
Baseline performance assessment and reporting:
A locally validated baseline assessment of ecological and socio-economic conditions across the landscape, supported by robust and transparent reporting.
Performance monitoring and reporting:
Locally validated monitoring of landscape-level performance against defined metrics and milestones linked to the collective sustainability goals, supported by robust and transparent reporting.
Activity monitoring and reporting:
Monitoring of progress in implementing activities outlined in the collective action plan, supported by robust and transparent reporting.
Maturity levels, which indicate the extent to which each sub-criterion is met, are outlined in the LandScale's maturity rubric section of the guidelines.
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