Evaluate landscape initiative maturity

To evaluate their maturity, landscape initiatives must respond to the relevant prompts for each sub-criteria they aim to meet. Once the required information and supporting documentation are uploaded to the LandScale platform and submitted for validation, the LandScale team will review the submission to confirm which sub-criteria have been credibly met. Upon validation, the results will be published on the initiative’s profile.

Each successfully achieved sub-criteria will be displayed as an icon or badge at the top of the initiative’s profile. This allows the initiative to:

• Showcase its progress to key stakeholders, including supply chain companies, donors, and investors.

• Identify areas for growth, highlighting where additional support and resources could further strengthen the initiative.

• Increase credibility and transparency, making it easier for companies and organizations to engage with and support the initiative.

By completing this process, landscape initiatives gain structured feedback on their current maturity level and areas for further development, ensuring they continue to progress toward long-term sustainability and impact.

Landscape initiative maturity framework

Criteria	Sub-criteria
Scale	Landscape initiatives typically operate at a scale of hundreds of thousands of hectares but can often be larger or occasionally smaller, depending on the landscape context. The landscape initiative is of a scale that: It can influence systemic conditions underlying its sustainability goals, such as through land use planning or policy reform. It enables coherent area-level management by the multi-stakeholder governance process.
Multi-stakeholder governance process or platform	The multi-stakeholder process or platform: Includes active participation from key stakeholders in the landscape, including local community representatives in particular. Sets or facilitates definition of the collective goals and actions of the initiative. Engages with local government directly and seeks to align with progressive local, sub-national, or national government priorities and policies. Has clear and transparent operating procedures and decision-making that support effective stakeholder participation. Plays a coordinating role for actions and monitoring in the landscape. Implements safeguards, including grievance mechanisms, that minimise the risks of negative human rights or environmental impacts, while enhancing positive results for people and nature within the landscape.
Collective goals and actions	The sustainability goals: Are informed by a context analysis or similar effort to understand current landscape conditions and stakeholder priorities for action. Encompass social, environmental, and economic priorities. Are each 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. The collective action plan: Addresses systemic issues by focusing on long-term solutions that can be embedded in local governance. Considers the diversity of land-use types and commodities that are present in the landscape. Lays out strategies and actions to achieve defined milestones and make progress towards the sustainability goals. Is made publicly available and is agreed upon by participating stakeholders. Is updated regularly to reflect progress and funding. Is accompanied by a finance or funding strategy.
Collective monitoring	The collective monitoring framework includes: A locally validated baseline performance assessment of the ecological and socio-economic conditions of the landscape. Activity monitoring that assesses progress in implementing activities included in the action plan. Performance monitoring at a landscape scale against defined performance metrics and milestones for the collective sustainability goals. Robust and transparent reporting of activity and performance data.