How it Works - LandScale

LandScale includes three components to help the private sector, governments, and civil society access objective and credible landscape-level trends.

The Assessment Framework

The framework offers a standardized approach for assessing sustainability status and trends across four key pillars — ecosystems, human well-being, governance, and productivity. Conducting an assessment involves a simple, three-part process:

Identify Landscape

Identify Landscape

Use a pre-defined boundary, such as a jurisdiction or water catchment, or define your own boundary in accordance with the guidelines provided.
Select Indicators

Select Indicators

‘Core’ indicators are combined with the relevant ‘landscape-dependent’ and ‘optional’ indicators to balance global consistency with local flexibility.
Conduct Assessment

Conduct Assessment

Repeat the assessment periodically to monitor trends and communicate your results on the LandScale platform.

See the Framework

Verification

A verification mechanism, currently in development, will be available to give more confidence in the results of LandScale assessments.

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Data and Reporting Platform

An easy to use online platform will allow users to analyze data, visualize results and communicate stories of impact.

The data and reporting platform is currently in development. Join our newsletter for updates on the progress of the platform.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Who will conduct the LandScale assessment?

LandScale assessments could be conducted by a single organization, a group of actors interested in developing a formal governance structure for improved long-term management of the landscape, or an existing multi-stakeholder landscape partnership.

If the primary purpose of conducting a LandScale assessment is to identify issues and trends that may pose a risk to a particular project, investment, or business activity, then the assessment could be undertaken by an individual actor, without engagement with other stakeholders within the landscape.

However, if the intention is to use the results of LandScale assessments to drive improvements in the sustainability performance of the landscape, then it is advisable for the assessment to be conducted under the auspices of a multi-stakeholder group representing key parties with a presence or interest in the landscape.

How much will it cost to conduct an LandScale assessment?

LandScale intends to be as cost-efficient as possible so that it is accessible to a wide range of stakeholders.

Costs may include the human resources needed to collect and analyze the data required to conduct an assessment as well as the cost of independent verification, which is required if LandScale users wish to make public-facing claims.

Through conducting pilot LandScale assessments in a variety of different landscapes, more information about the exact costs in different situations will become available.

What claims can be made?

Individuals and organizations involved in conducting LandScale assessments will likely want to communicate the results via simple statements to their stakeholders, be they donors, investors, buyers, civil society organizations, local communities, or consumers.

LandScale will therefore provide guidelines on translating the results of assessments into accurate yet easy to understand claims regarding the progress and performance of a landscape.

LandScale intends to support the following types of claims: claims about landscape performance in relation to a single LandScale indicator (snapshot claims/trends) and claims about landscape performance in relation to multiple LandScale indicators.

What is the timeline for development?

August 2019 – Launched first public consultation to capture feedback on v0.1 of LandScale framework and guidance
Quarter 4 2019 – Started testing LandScale in pilot landscapes to gather feedback about application of v0.1 in diverse settings
Quarter 3 2020 – Release of v0.2 for second public consultation
Quarter 3 2021 – Publication of first full version for general use, including verification mechanism, data and results platform, and a variety of supporting tools

How can an individual or organization get involved in LandScale?

LandScale offers multiple ways to get involved:

Test the LandScale assessment framework in a new landscape. Send an expression of interest to piloting@landscale.org
Participate in our 2nd public consultation planned in Q3 2020. Sign-up to our newsletter to stay updated.

How does LandScale relate to traditional certification systems?

LandScale is designed to complement rather than replace traditional certification programs that assess and recognize sustainability performance at the level of production units (e.g., farms, farmer groups, processing mills, or forest management units).

Traditional sustainability standards tend to focus on improving sustainability within an individual management unit, whereas LandScale is designed to drive improvements across entire landscapes.

In general, traditional certification systems focus on a single crop or sector. In contrast, LandScale is designed to assess the outcome of all activities within a landscape.

The results of LandScale assessments are therefore relevant to individuals and organizations involved in any natural resource dependent activity within the landscape, including agribusiness, forestry, extraction of natural resources, fisheries and infrastructure.

Traditional sustainability standards tend to prescribe best management practices or set threshold performance levels that must be met to achieve and retain certified status. In contrast, LandScale does not define minimum required practices or performance levels to participate in the program.

LandScale focuses on driving improvement in sustainability performance by providing reliable information about the status of ecosystems, human well-being, governance, and productivity at landscape scale. This information can help inform locally relevant policies and management interventions, guide sustainable sourcing and investment decisions, and create market incentives for landscape sustainability.