Register assessment team members

In Step A, you must register all members of your assessment team, clearly indicating their roles and responsibilities. The assessment team is composed of individuals with relevant subject matter expertise who are responsible for developing the landscape profile and conducting the corresponding assessment(s). This includes engaging with stakeholders, collecting and analyzing data, and ensuring the overall quality and credibility of the assessment process.

Assessment team members from the baseline assessment will remain listed, with the option to update their details or revise the team composition as needed. You may also add new members and upload CVs or other supporting documents that demonstrate their skills and expertise. This helps maintain continuity while allowing flexibility to adapt the team structure as circumstances evolve.

Sample assessment team registration.

If you are not able to lead the reassessment or require specific expertise that is not available within your organization, refer to the 'Terms of Reference' template below for guidance on recruiting suitable team members.

Assessment team 'Terms of Reference' template.docx

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Assessment team composition

Role	Description
Owner	The individual(s) responsible for the landscape profile and the associated assessment(s). Owners have full control and access to the landscape profile and can transfer ownership to another individual at any time, if necessary. Owners can also add new users. Multiple owners may be designated for a single landscape.
Assessment lead	The individual responsible for leading the assessment team and ensuring the successful execution of the assessment. The assessment lead also has the authority to edit the landscape profile and can add new users. Only one lead can be assigned per assessment.
Assessor specialist	A subject matter expert who provides specialized knowledge and expertise for specific aspects of the assessment. Specialists should collectively cover all topics within the scope of the assessment. They can view the landscape profile, but must be granted permission to make edits.

Qualifications and expertise

Required subject matter expertise

The assessment team must have technical expertise across all sustainability themes within the assessment scope. This includes interdisciplinary knowledge in areas such as land use, natural resource management, commodity production, social development, and governance, as well as sector-specific expertise in agriculture or forestry if these are relevant to the landscape.

The team's expertise must cover all pillars of the LandScale assessment framework. Below is a summary of the areas where expertise is needed. Some areas marked '(optional)' indicate expertise that may only be required if those specific indicators are included in the assessment.

Pillar 1: Ecosystems

• Natural ecosystem protection, conversion, and degradation.

• Biodiversity habitat protection, conversion, degradation, and restoration.

• Restoration of converted and degraded ecosystems (optional).

• Connectivity and fragmentation of natural ecosystems (optional).

• Water resources measurement (optional).

• Greenhouse gas emissions (sources) and carbon sequestration (sinks) associated with agriculture, forestry, and other land use activities (optional).

• Ecosystem services measurement (optional).

Pillar 2: Human well-being

Due to the sensitive nature of human rights issues addressed by the LandScale framework, the assessment team must meet specific qualifications for assessing human rights indicators. This includes expertise related to the human rights issues covered in the LandScale framework (child labor, women's rights, Indigenous Peoples' and other marginalized groups' rights, forced labor, and workers' rights).

At a minimum, the team must include an expert who meets the following qualifications to ensure that the human rights indicators are assessed in a rigorous and objective manner:

• Proficiency in the local language(s) of the landscape.

• Commitment to objective and inclusive assessments, including a willingness to engage with marginalized or vulnerable groups separately as needed.

• At least 3 years of experience in human rights issues and impact assessments.

• Strong understanding of key human rights issues affecting local people and communities.

• Experience conducting surveys, interviews, focus groups, and other types of engagements with workers, households, and local communities.

• Familiarity with the local culture, context, and politics.

Additional areas of expertise needed within this pillar include:

• Multidimensional poverty assessments, covering education, sanitation, health, nutrition, etc.

• Human rights impact assessments (child labor, forced labor, workers’ rights) (optional).

Pillar 3: Governance

• Land and resource tenure.

• Land and resource conflicts.

• Transparency, participation, inclusion, and coordination in land-use policy, planning, and management.

• Illegality and corruption related to land and resources (optional).

Pillar 4: Production

• Productivity of agricultural (crop and livestock), agroforestry, and tree production systems in the landscape (optional).

• Efficiency of input use in agricultural, agroforestry, and tree production systems in the landscape (optional).

• Adoption of sustainable land management and waste management practices in agricultural and forest plantation operations in the landscape (optional).

• Expertise in other natural resource-based production sectors (optional).

Expertise requirements for different reassessment types

• Full reassessment: The team must have expertise covering all pillars of the LandScale assessment framework to ensure a comprehensive evaluation of landscape sustainability.

• Performance tracking of specific indicators: If reassessing only a subset of indicators, the team only needs expertise relevant to those topics, rather than full framework coverage.

Required technical skills

Data and analysis

• Expertise in social and environmental data collection and analysis.

• Ability to identify data sources, assess data quality, and calculate metrics from primary and secondary data.

GIS and data manipulation and management

Spatial information is a key component of a LandScale assessment. For this reason, the team should include one or more people experienced in the following:

• Proficiency in spatial data collection, management, and analysis using GIS software.

• Mapping skills to complete the landscape overview.

Other preferred qualifications

Writing skills

• Strong writing and editing skills in English to support the development of the landscape profile and final assessment report.

• Ability to translate findings into locally relevant languages and culturally appropriate formats for relevant audiences, as needed.

Data visualization skills

• Ability to create visualizations (e.g., maps, charts, infographics) to enhance the landscape profile and assessment report.

• Inclusion of team members with graphic design and production skills is recommended.