The Convention was adopted and opened for signature by the member States of the Council of Europe in 2000, in Florence, under the name "European Landscape Convention". Considering the city in which it was born, the Convention is also known as the Florence Convention. 

The Convention is based on a draft elaborated between 1994 and 1998 by the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, together with a draft explanatory report. Subsequently, after the Convention entered into force in 2004, considering the wish expressed by the Council of Europe Conference on the Convention, in 2008 the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe adopted a recommendation on guidelines for its implementation. 

In 2021, after its adoption in 2016, a Protocol amending the Convention entered into force. The aim of the Protocol is to promote European cooperation with non-European states wishing to implement the Convention by opening it up for their accession. The Protocol changed the title of the Convention to "Council of Europe Landscape Convention". Since its entry into force, the Protocol has been an integral part of the Convention. 

To date, the Council of Europe Landscape Convention has been ratified by 40 member states of the Council of Europe. The European Union may be invited by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe to accede to the Convention.