Biodiversity: France takes the lead on behalf of ISO

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has tasked France with leading the preparation, with all volunteer countries, of international standards promoting the protection of biodiversity. AFNOR is launching a call for participation, with projects already on the table. Find out more at a free web-conference on July 7, 2020.

At the initiative of AFNOR, France’s representative within ISO, the first twenty countries have already indicated their willingness to participate in the drafting of voluntary international standards on the subject of biodiversity. Whether identified as the “lungs of the planet”, like the Amazon rainforest and the Congo Basin, or from Europe and other parts of the world, all five continents are represented. Public and private players, researchers and NGO representatives will therefore be brought together to work out, by consensus, methods and reference frameworks that will strengthen everyone’s action in favor of biodiversity protection. AFNOR invites you to find out more at a free web-conference on July 7, 2020, from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m., hosted by Agnès Meur, in charge of the subject at AFNOR Normalisation.

Biodiversity: France’s contribution already well advanced

For the past year, some twenty French socio-economic players have been working on a project with the ambition of making initial contributions at international level. The NF X32-001 standard(open to comments until September6, 2020) will be one of these: it offers all organizations a methodology for systematically screening biodiversity issues and analyzing the impact of their activities. This will lead to a structured approach in this area (definition of strategy, action plan, evaluation of results and improvement). This tool, which will be finalized by the end of 2020, will help integrate the challenges of conserving, restoring and sustainably using biodiversity and the ecosystem services from which humans benefit.

Biodiversity: creating common denominators

The ISO project will be carried out in coherence with those of international bodies directly concerned with biodiversity issues. The IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) has already lent its support. In addition to common terms and project management methods, whether on an organizational or territorial scale, the ISO project will also enable us to showcase our successes in preserving biodiversity. Participants will be able to share their experiences based on real-life case studies.

The first working meeting will be held at the end of 2020. Alternating between national and international discussions, the technical committee will present its first voluntary standards by 2023.

Register for the AFNOR web-conference on July 7, 2020…

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