Under the Proteus Partnership, UNEP-WCMC has been exploring how companies can use supply chain sustainability initiatives and Landscape-level Approaches (LLAs) to conserve and restore landscapes along their supply chains and operations.  

Companies depend on nature, yet ecosystems across the world are being degraded. All businesses rely on healthy and functioning landscapes for their direct operations, or for sourcing raw materials. The most exposed to these dependencies and related risks are those with operations focusing on primary production, or whose supply chains rely heavily on ecosystem goods and services.  

UNEP-WCMC's Proteus Partnership is exploring how companies can apply both landscape-level and supply chain approaches to their business activities in a coordinated manner. While some companies in the agri-food sector are already using landscape-level approaches, they are gaining more traction in other sectors as they can be applied across a wide range of different sectors, including mining, forestry and fishing. Applying both supply chain and landscape-level approaches together has the potential to harmonize positive action on environmental and social impacts, while decreasing nature-related risks for business. 

The project team conducted a series of interviews with several business professionals and discovered a strong appetite for adopting both approaches alongside one another to reap benefits for nature. 

What are landscape-level approaches? 

Landscape-level approaches (LLAs) utilize a multi-stakeholder approach to reconcile competing social, environmental and business goals in a landscape. Sustainability goals across all these areas are agreed through consensus. LLAs consider how different actors across a landscape, including local communities or businesses, weave together and impact nature, therefore offering a holistic approach for the sustainable management of landscapes. 

There is a strong business case for extending LLAs beyond agri-food operations, to sectors that are working in landscapes or have influence over them through their supply chains. By engaging in meaningful multi-stakeholder collaboration, businesses can strengthen their social license to operate in their locations or build more resilient supply chains through increasing nature ambition in their sourcing areas. Adopting these approaches also makes for a more sustainable end product, as production processes respect ecosystem services and human rights within the operation or sourcing landscape. 

There are a variety of ways to operationalize these approaches, but the process always begins with stakeholder mapping. This step is then followed by a stakeholder convening process, in the form of multi-stakeholder workshops, interviews and other meaningful forms of engagement. They include a range of stakeholders, from business professionals and regulators to Indigenous Peoples and local communities. From these workshops, strategies to protect local biodiversity and human rights are co-produced, as well as commonly agreed monitoring frameworks. These solutions inclusively tackle a wide range of issues as they account for the interactions between different variables along downstream supply chains, and advance a shift towards inclusive, participatory action. 

How are LLAs different from supply chain approaches? 

Supply chain approaches originate from a business environment, focusing on operational logistics and regulatory compliance, but now increasingly seek to consider a wider range of factors. LLAs, however, belong to a multidisciplinary background including areas of knowledge such as conservation, social science and land management. Modern supply chain approaches can examine a broader range of impacts and dependencies, including human rights considerations. In many ways, they can address similar topics as landscape-level approaches. 

The key difference between these approaches lies in their scope. Supply chain approaches often focus on the sourcing location, without examining the broader landscape in which these activities occur. In contrast, LLAs extend beyond the sourcing site and have a holistic approach –  they consider the whole landscape and a wider array of stakeholders that the operation interacts with. This involves co-defining challenges and goals through collaborative methods such as participatory workshops. This distinction highlights why companies need to go both "deep" into supply chains and "broad" into the surrounding landscape to fully address sustainability challenges. 

Supply chain approaches also encompass supplier engagement, the establishing of procurement practices and, if needed, product redesign. These actions are not necessarily elements of LLAs. However, when suppliers act within the same landscape such practices could be integrated into the LLA’s stakeholder engagement plan. When multiple suppliers operate in the same landscape, there is also an opportunity for businesses to elevate one-on-one engagement with the suppliers to a more inclusive conversation that integrates elements of LLAs. 

Opportunities for businesses when combining approaches 

Based on the findings, businesses today are more familiar with supply chain approaches, with fewer companies directly involved with LLAs. However, the team also found that implementing both approaches together has the potential to strengthen the resilience of supply chains and sustain vital ecosystem services across landscapes. Companies across supply chains can implement two distinct but complementary approaches and integrate them when they overlap in relevance. 

There are a range of access points for businesses to engage in both approaches. Examples include:

• Focusing on sourcing landscapes for offsetting and restoration projects 

• Collaborating on LLAs around logistics hubs, shipping routes and railways 

• Incentivizing suppliers to adopt LLAs 

• Prioritizing suppliers from within the operating landscape to increase stability and the ability to monitor and ensure sustainability performance 

Businesses interested in applying LLAs in conjunction with their supply chain approaches can directly engage with the topic by understanding their nature impacts and dependencies, exploring guidance on successfully implementing landscape-level approaches, as well as joining an existing LLA partnerships in their landscape or taking steps to create one with other key stakeholders. Nature-related reporting frameworks, including the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures and the Science Based Targets Network are now increasingly referring to both LLAs and supply chain approaches in their guidance and recognizing the benefits they could both bring to the nature performance of companies. 

For more information on landscape-level approaches, please contact Juan Manuel Vargas at juan.vargas@unep-wcmc.org. For more information on business involvement and the relevance of supply chains in landscapes, please contact Bálint Ternyik at balint.ternyik@unep-wcmc.org. 

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