Designing and adapting landscape interventions for complex systems

How do we design and implement landscape interventions that remain coherent in complex, dynamic environments?
How do we make sense of change as it unfolds, and adapt interventions accordingly?

To support this, UNDP developed the Causality Assessment for Landscape Interventions (CALI) within the framework of the GEF-funded Good Growth Partnership (GGP).

What CALI offers

CALI is a systems-informed design and sensemaking tool that supports project teams to engage explicitly with the dynamics shaping landscapes.

It enables teams to:

• Visualise how social, ecological, economic, and institutional processes interact
• Position project interventions within those dynamics
• Explore interdependencies, feedback, and risks
• Refine intervention strategies and Theories of Change to better fit place-specific realities

CALI is applied through a facilitated, participatory process, strengthening shared understanding and strategic alignment among project teams and key landscape stakeholders.

How CALI is applied

CALI can be used at different stages of the project lifecycle, including at project start and during implementation, with each application tailored to context and timing.

A CALI application generally involves:

• Preparation
  Clarifying scope, prerequisites, and the design process.
• Landscape system mapping
  Developing or updating a shared representation of key dynamics, constraints, and feedback shaping land-use outcomes.
• Positioning interventions in the system
  Identifying where project interventions engage with landscape dynamics, and where important gaps or opportunities may exist.
• Refining pathways and strategy
  Reflecting on how interventions are expected to influence system behaviour, informed by implementation experience and stakeholder knowledge.
• Updating the project design
  Adjusting the Theory of Change, implementation strategy, and results framework to strengthen coherence and adaptability.

CALI in practice: adapting interventions in the Peruvian Amazon

In the Peruvian Amazon, CALI was applied to support strategic reflection and adaptation during implementation in a highly dynamic landscape. Working across diverse actors, shifting incentives, and evolving land-use pressures, CALI helped project teams and stakeholders make sense of emerging system behaviour, surface assumptions, and re-examine intervention pathways and strategic choices.

This application illustrates how CALI supports teams to work with complexity over time, strengthening coherence and adaptability as landscape conditions evolve.

Read more: Engaging with complex systems in the Peruvian Amazon

Earlier applications

Earlier versions of CALI were piloted under the Good Growth Partnership in:

• Indonesia — Sintang (West Kalimantan), Pelalawan (Riau), South Tapanuli (North Sumatra)
• Liberia — North-Western Liberia Landscape
• Paraguay — Western Region (Paraguayan Chaco)

These experiences informed the current version of the tool.