ISO technical committee TC 331 aims to produce standardization in the field of biodiversity, for organisations to enhance their contribution to sustainable development. To know more about ISO TC331, please refer to the webinar: IUCN & ISO technical committee on biodiversity
Members of ISO TC331 are national normalisation organisation. To share your expertise with ISO TC331, please contact your national committee: ISO/TC 331 - Biodiversity
ISO TC 331/WG 2 on ‘Measurement, data, monitoring and assessment’ has been
developing a framework for developing biodiversity monitoring standards under a Task Force Umbrella.
While this work is progressing, ISO TC 287 ‘Sustainable processes for wood and wood-based products’ has launched the development of a new work item proposal under the title ‘Biodiversity dynamics in forest landscapes’.
The scope and ambition of this standard overlap with the work initiated by ISO TC 331/WG 2 and it offers an opportunity to develop a biodiversity monitoring standard for managed forests.
This project is important because it could be used by forest industry actors and other forestry stakeholders in measuring and reporting the impacts of forest management practices on biodiversity.
Draft key elements of the standard’s scope:
• Policy frameworks on biodiversity are emerging, highlighting the need for organisations using wood and wood-based products to report on their biodiversity impacts in forests.
• While existing regulations and standards focus on set-aside land, land-use change, or generic indicators, they lack operational tools for standardised biodiversity impact reporting in actively managed forests.
• The standard would enable organisations to transparently report biodiversity impacts at different scales (stand, microhabitat, species, landscape).
• The standard aims to provide a framework for selecting locally relevant variables, be adaptable over time, support certification and compliance reporting.
Members having expertise in “forest biodiversity, forest management practices and/or wood products” and interested in discussing this initiative are invited to write to Samy Porteron ([email protected]) and Caroline Lhuillery ([email protected]) by April 03, 2025, as well as contact their country's national mirror committee for nomination (IUCN will not proceed to nomination).
The list of country members of ISO TC331 and respective contact is available here: ISO/TC 331 - Biodiversity