As landscape approaches relate to agriculture, forestry and other land uses, and to the livelihoods they sustain, it transcends traditional management and governance boundaries, and seeks to provide tools and concepts to identify, understand and address a complex set of environmental, social and political challenges, and enable evidence-based and inclusive prioritization, decision-making and implementation.

At the heart of this approach is a set of governance challenges, which include managing the mandates and boundaries of different institutions working in a landscape; the reality of power imbalances and the political economy of decision-making; and reconciling conflicting social, economic and environmental objectives. Principles of good governance (for example, legitimacy and participation, accountability and empowerment) and related processes are not taken into account and implemented sufficiently in landscape restoration efforts, ecosystems-based adaptation enhancement, or land-based emission reduction approaches (including REDD+).

This operational priority seeks to enhance the understanding and practice of good governance as a key component of landscape approaches.