Confirm the landscape boundary

As part of the reassessment process, you must confirm that the landscape boundary remains accurate or update it if necessary. If the boundary has changed by more than 10%, it will be considered a new baseline assessment, as the data will no longer be comparable. Boundary changes of up to 10% may be treated as a reassessment if adequately justified, unless LandScale determines that the change materially affects key habitats or socio-culturally sensitive areas.

Confirm or modify the boundary

• No change: If the existing boundary remains accurate, confirm it without modification.

• Minor changes (<10%): Adjustments within 10% of the original boundary must be justified with clear reasoning, such as evidence from a participatory process or supporting data. Changes should be made only to improve accuracy or relevance and must not be used to exclude areas in a way that could compromise the integrity of the assessment.

• Major changes (>10%): If the boundary has shifted significantly, it will be considered a new baseline assessment.

Since the process of defining a landscape boundary remains the same as in the baseline assessment, you can refer to the baseline assessment guidelines for boundary delineation and conducting an adjacency analysis. These guidelines provide detailed criteria on landscape size, boundary types (jurisdiction, catchment, or stakeholder-defined), stakeholder engagement recommendations, and identifying boundary limitations.

Boundary limitations must be updated to reflect any new constraints not captured in the baseline assessment. The adjacency analysis remains optional for reassessment.

Reassessment considerations

When confirming or modifying the boundary during reassessment, key considerations include:

• Does the boundary still reflect the key sustainability issues in the landscape?

• Has stakeholder input indicated a need for boundary adjustments?

• Are any important areas—such as relevant ecosystems or communities—currently excluded?

• Would any changes to the boundary affect data availability or comparability with the previous assessment?

If adjustments are made, the updated boundary must be submitted as a spatial data file (.shp or .kml format).

Performance tracking of a limited set of indicators

This step does not apply when conducting performance tracking for a limited set of indicators. It is only applicable for a full reassessment.