ISO/DIS 17298

Biodiversity – Requirements and guidelines for strategically and operationally addressing biodiversity at the organizational level

Scope

This standard defines requirements and guidelines to help organisations understanding and mainstreaming biodiversity’s protection, conservation, the sustainable use of its components and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources, within their activities.

This standard is suitable for all kind of organisations (e.g. economic operators, national or local governments, inter-governmental organizations, public or private organizations, financial institutions, development organizations, civil society organizations and specialists) and can be used at different scales if needed (e.g. local scales such as a production site or municipalities, as well as a larger scales such as a corporate / entire group level or by a regional public organisations). This standard is applicable to all activities of any organisations (including projects and operations), from site direct operations (including land-holding) to entire value chains or their sphere of influence (including relationship inside or outside the value chain, e.g: formal or information associations in which the organisation is involved, peer organisations, competitors …).

While this standard is aligned with current regulations and standards, it can be used as a standalone by organisations and without prior knowledge, actions or strategies of biodiversity.

This standard ensures robustness of organisations’ strategic approaches to biodiversity in terms of the method used to define it, its content, and its implementation. It is built on latest available data and knowledge and sets best practices for organisations.

This standard provides guidance on identifying organisation-specific dependencies and impacts on biodiversity, prioritizing them, setting ambitions and goals, and defining coherent actions to mitigate impacts on biodiversity. It also sets requirements regarding governance of the strategic approach for biodiversity, engagement of stakeholders, and communication.