Sustainable landscapes and jurisdictions
Climate change, deforestation and biodiversity loss remain critical and complex challenges that cannot be addressed solely on a farm by farm or enterprise by enterprise basis. Landscape and jurisdictional approaches have emerged as a solution.
They recognise the importance of tackling key sustainability challenges at a landscape or jurisdictional scale, working holistically across environmental, social and economic factors and operating collaboratively with local stakeholders taking aligned action towards common goals.
ISEAL and our membership have long recognised that complex sustainability issues require holistic, collaborative solutions. This work is complementary to existing supply chain focused tools for tackling sustainability issues, like sustainability standards and certification. Sustainability systems also have an innovative role to play in supporting landscape scale action. They are well placed to contribute to a landscape or region's sustainability, as they often address a range of issues that have implications for the wider landscape. These include high conservation value assessments, GHG emissions measurements, and the management of water resources.
More broadly, ISEAL convene key actors working on landscape or jurisdictional approaches, both within and beyond our membership, to align on and share good practice to improve the effectiveness and credibility of operating at this scale. Together, we provide organisations working on or investing in landscape initiatives, with accessible and consistent guidance for taking effective action in landscape and jurisdictions, monitoring progress and making credible claims.
Landscape
Soci-ecological system, defined by a geographic area with common and interacting ecological and socioeconomic characteristics. A landscape may be delineated based on river basins, seascapes, ecosystems, jurisdictions, productive boundaries, or in other ways.
Landscape approach
A management approach focused on multi-stakeholder collaboration to advance shared sustainability goals and build resilience at landscape scale.
Landscape initiative
The multi-stakeholder initiative that operationalises a landscape approach in a particular landscape, by setting common goals, taking collective action while reconciling different interests, and monitoring progress towards shared sustainability goals and outcomes at a landscape scale.
The terms landscape and jurisdiction are often used interchangeably within the context of a landscape and jurisdictional approach. Specifically, jurisdictional approaches are where the selected landscape is delineated by administrative boundaries of subnational or national government and are implemented with a high level of Government involvement.
To meet their potential, jurisdictional and landscape initiatives need to be able to demonstrate that they are delivering. To facilitate this, ISEAL aims to ensure that sustainability claims made by jurisdictions, landscape initiatives, and the companies that source from or support them, are credible.
ISEAL has brought together a network of landscape and jurisdictional practitioners to produce a series of aligned position papers that aims to provide those working on or with landscape initiatives with accessible and consistent guidance for effective investment and action in landscape and jurisdictions.
A range of resources have been developed by ISEAL and other thought leaders in recent years to support private sector action in jurisdictional initiatives: