Provide landscape overview
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The landscape overview provides a structured format to document the key characteristics and context of the landscape. This information will form part of both the landscape profile and the introduction of the landscape report. It helps the assessment team identify important sustainability factors to consider throughout the assessment process. Additionally, the overview is where the assessment team specifies the economic activities that will be covered, which will define the scope of certain indicators.
The landscape overview should be based on the assessment team’s knowledge, desk-based research, and input from key stakeholders. It must include all required elements, which should be entered via the platform interface. While required information is essential, the team is also encouraged to document the recommended elements, which can be presented in any format and will be added as an annex to the landscape report. The recommended information provides valuable context for the assessment and supports the interpretation of assessment results.
Landscape introduction
Provide a general introduction to the landscape (~400-800 words), which will serve as the introduction of the landscape report. It should cover:
Landscape geography: The landscape’s physical attributes and position within the country.
Local economy: The landscape’s main economic sectors and the trends within them (e.g., growth, shrinkage, or change).
Landscape partnerships and planning: A summary of any initiatives, processes, or partnerships focused on planning and managing the landscape to achieve common sustainability goals.
Demographic information
Enter the total population of the landscape. This information provides essential context for understanding the human footprint, demand on natural resources, and potential social dynamics within the landscape. Population size is also a key factor in assessing the scale and impact of economic activities, infrastructure needs, and service delivery.
Economic activities of interest
Select key economic activities or sectors (e.g., agriculture, forestry, fisheries, mining, infrastructure, tourism, etc.) relevant to the LandScale assessment. The selection informs the assessment scope for Goals 2.2, 3.2, and 4.1.
The assessment team is encouraged to review the metrics and requirements for these goals to determine whether the necessary data for the selected activities or sectors is available or can be obtained. Identification of economic activities will not limit the assessment scope for other goals, which are intended to be evaluated more broadly across the landscape.
Landscape trends and risks
Provide a narrative (~400 words or more) describing key sustainability-related trends, threats, and/or risks that affect or are likely to affect the landscape. It should cover the following themes to the extent relevant:
Climate change impacts: Examples include shifts in precipitation patterns, rising temperatures, and extreme weather events.
Other physical, geological, climatic, or ecological threats or dynamics: Examples include floods, coastal storm surges, droughts, wildfires, landslides/mudflows, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, and interannual climate cycles such as those associated with El Niño and La Niña.
Social challenges and trends: Examples include rising economic inequality; tension or conflict due to ethnic, religious, or other divisions in the local population; large-scale migration to, from, or within the landscape; social unrest, organized crime, or terrorism; etc.
Governance challenges or risks: Examples include government collapse, government transition, conflict over land rights or resource tenure, widespread illegality or corruption, etc.
Shifts in the market: Examples include significant increase or decrease in demand for products that are or could be produced in the landscape; shifting levels of public or private external investment; and other major economic shifts with demographic or land use implications, such as rapid urbanization.
Landscape maps
Submit the following two maps as image files (e.g., jpeg, pdf):
Context map: Shows the approximate landscape boundary in the context of national and subnational jurisdictions, major infrastructure (e.g., highways), urban areas, and other relevant features (e.g., water bodies).
Land use/cover map: Shows the approximate landscape boundary in the context of land cover and/or land use together with major features in the landscape (e.g., major infrastructure, water bodies, population centers).
These maps are valuable additions for visualizing information in the final report, should you choose to create one.
Demographic information
Add a brief description of past and current human migration trends relevant to land use activities (e.g., transient agricultural workers, out-migration to urban areas or to bordering countries).
Then, enter population breakdowns using the corresponding data entry fields in the platform. This data will be used to automatically generate a landscape statistical overview to be included in the landscape report. Breakdown options include:
Population breakdown by age group.
Population breakdown by rural vs. urban domicile.
Population breakdown by ethnic and/or Indigenous group.
If landscape-specific data is unavailable for the population breakdowns, estimated figures from larger regions (e.g., jurisdiction-level) can be used, provided this is documented accordingly.
Production context
Describe the agricultural and forestry production systems found within the landscape, including:
Land allocation and management: How the land is allocated and by whom it is managed (e.g., smallholders, plantations, community forests, etc.).
Production practices: What kinds of production practices are most common (e.g., agroforestry, perennial monocultures, intensive or extensive livestock operations, diversified small farms, etc.).
Labor composition: Types of labor for agricultural and forestry operations (e.g., household labor, casual workers, permanent full-time workers, seasonal and migratory workers, etc.).
Product consumption or commercialization: How products are used or sold (e.g., subsistence, local trade, commercial trade outside of the landscape, etc.).
Risks and threats: Identify risks and threats to agricultural and forestry production systems (e.g., the potential effects of climate change on yield, water supply, colonization or expansion of pests and diseases, shifting cultivation zones, or other factors).
Governance structures
Provide a list and brief description of relevant governance bodies and structures relevant to land use and resource management, including:
Government institutions responsible for relevant sectors.
Government plans and/or strategies relevant to land use and landscape sustainability.
Non-governmental entities, such as producer groups, cooperatives, civil society organizations, and multi-stakeholder partnerships.
Indigenous community governance mechanisms and decision-making structures.
Land use and land allocation
Provide information on recent land use changes and their drivers, such as:
Protected areas map: A map of the protected areas in the landscape with a list detailing each area’s size and type of protection (this will support the assessment of indicator 1.1.1).
Land use/land cover map: A prior land use/land cover map with a quantitative summary of land use changes from the prior period to the most recent mapped data (this will support the assessment of indicator 1.1.2).
Drivers of land use change: A narrative description of the key drivers of land use change in the landscape (e.g., agricultural expansion, infrastructure development, etc.).
Land allocation: Allocation of land in the landscape by ownership/management category (e.g., private ownership by individuals or smallholders, private ownership by companies, community ownership, government ownership, etc.). For government or community land, include information on the type and extent of concessions or use rights granted to other parties.
Land use and land cover breakdown
Provide a breakdown of land use or land cover that align with the as closely as possible. The categories should be mutually exclusive and total 100% of the landscape.
If appropriate, a finer level of disaggregation may be provided (e.g., the 'agriculture' category in the land cover map may be disaggregated by crop type or livestock production system).