How to build and implement your biodiversity action plan
You've set ambitious, measurable objectives for biodiversity. Now comes the crucial translation from what you want to achieve to how you'll achieve it. ISO 17298 requires organisations to develop a biodiversity action plan encompassing actions that reflect ambitions and objectives. This action plan is where strategy becomes operational reality – the roadmap that guides your organisation's journey from biodiversity impacts to biodiversity stewardship.
A well-designed action plan doesn't just describe good intentions; it specifies exactly what will be done, who will do it, when it will happen, what resources it requires and how success will be measured. It's the difference between aspiration and accountability.
The foundation of good action planning
ISO 17298 specifies that when setting up your action plan, you must consider several foundational elements:
The stakeholder engagement approaches identified in your planning ensure that interested parties are involved appropriately. Actions requiring supplier cooperation must engage suppliers. Community partnership actions need community co-design. Employee behavior change requires employee involvement.
The prioritised impacts, dependencies, risks and opportunities from your assessment focus actions on what matters most. Not all biodiversity issues warrant equal attention –concentrate resources where they'll deliver the greatest return for both biodiversity and business.
Your ambition and objectives define what success looks like. Every action should clearly connect to one or more objectives and collectively your actions should be sufficient to achieve those objectives. If gaps exist between objectives and planned actions, either add actions or reconsider objectives.
Following the mitigation hierarchy
The action plan must follow the mitigation hierarchy discussed in Article 6. ISO 17298 is explicit: favor actions that avoid adverse impacts first. If avoidance isn't technically and economically feasible, implement actions that reduce impacts. Only if reduction isn't feasible should you resort to restoration and regeneration. Organisations can also include actions not directly linked to their impacts but which contribute to broader biodiversity conservation.
This sequencing isn't optional – it's a core requirement. Your action plan should document why avoidance isn't possible before relying on minimisation and why minimisation isn't sufficient before depending on restoration. This documentation demonstrates genuine application of the hierarchy rather than superficial compliance.
Avoiding unintended consequences
A critical requirement often overlooked: ensure proposed actions don't produce other significant environmental impacts. This prevents impact transfer and displacement, where solving one problem creates another.
Impact transfers occur when an action shifts environmental burden from one form to another. Eliminating one toxic substance by replacing it with a different toxic substance transfers rather than solves the problem. Reducing water consumption by switching to energy-intensive processes may reduce water impact while worsening climate impact.
Impact displacement happens when avoiding impacts in one location causes them elsewhere. Sourcing from a different region to reduce local biodiversity impacts may simply export the problem. Protecting one habitat while intensifying use of another displaces rather than reduces overall impact.
Avoiding these unintended consequences requires systems thinking. Consider life cycle implications, assess alternative solutions comprehensively, account for broader landscape effects and ensure total impacts genuinely decrease rather than relocate.
Defining each action
For every action in your plan, ISO 17298 requires describing six essential elements:
What will be done describes the action in concrete terms. "Restore riparian habitat" is incomplete. "Remove 5 hectares of invasive species and replant with 10 native species appropriate to riparian zones" is concrete.
Expected results explain outcomes in relation to your objectives. How will this action contribute to achieving specific objectives? What biodiversity changes do you anticipate? What risk reduction will it deliver?
Necessary resources include financial and human resources required. What will this action cost? What staff time or expertise is needed? What external support is required? Realistic resource planning prevents actions from stalling due to inadequate support.
Who will be in charge assigns clear accountability. Someone must own each action's success. Distributed responsibility often means no responsibility – designate specific individuals or roles accountable for delivery.
Deadlines establish when actions will be completed and when milestones will be reached. Biodiversity outcomes often take years, but action implementation should have defined timeframes that create urgency and enable tracking.
How results will be assessed specifies evaluation methodology. Article 9 explores indicators in detail, but at the action planning stage, consider how you'll know whether each action succeeded and what data you'll need.
Organising and planning
Beyond individual action descriptions organise how actions integrate with existing initiatives and other sustainability efforts identified during context review. Biodiversity rarely exists in isolation – climate actions often have biodiversity co-benefits, circular economy initiatives may reduce resource extraction impacts and social responsibility programs may involve communities affected by biodiversity changes.
Plan how actions will be integrated into operational processes. Will biodiversity considerations be embedded in procurement procedures, investment decisions, site management protocols or product development processes? Integration into existing workflows is more sustainable than treating biodiversity as a separate, add-on activity.
Establish how effectiveness will be assessed. What monitoring systems are needed? What evaluation processes will determine whether actions are delivering expected results? Building assessment mechanisms into the action plan from the start ensures you'll have data needed for adaptive management.
Plan communication about the biodiversity approach in accordance with the principles that Article 10 will explore. How will you report progress to stakeholders? What transparency commitments will you make? What communication supports action implementation by building understanding and support?
Action categories to consider
While your specific actions must address your specific impacts, dependencies, risks andopportunities, several action categories commonly appear in biodiversity action plans:
Operations and site management actions might include habitat restoration on owned land, green infrastructure installation, invasive species management, pesticide elimination, water efficiency improvements, pollution prevention measures or wildlife-friendly infrastructure design.
Supply chain actions might include supplier engagement and capacity building, sourcing standards that protect biodiversity, traceability systems that verify sustainable sourcing, supplier audits and verification or support for supplier transition to biodiversity-friendly practices.
Product and service actions might include product reformulation to eliminate harmful ingredients, design for durability and circularity, packaging optimisation, sustainable material substitution or development of nature-positive products and services.
Advocacy and collaboration actions might include participation in landscape-level conservation initiatives, support for policy reforms that benefit biodiversity, industry collaboration on best practices, funding for conservation research or partnerships with NGOs and academic institutions.
Capacity and culture actions might include staff training and awareness building, integration of biodiversity into decision-making processes, performance incentives linked to biodiversity outcomes or development of biodiversity expertise within the organisation.
Integrating local context
ISO 17298 emphasises integrating local context into actions. List local biodiversity conservation initiatives and their current status. Ensure your actions are consistent with local, regional and national biodiversity strategies and priorities. Avoiding duplication and building on existing efforts multiplies effectiveness.
Consult local biodiversity experts and conservation organisations. They provide ecological knowledge about what actions will be most effective, insights about local ecosystem dynamics, awareness of conservation opportunities and challenges and connections to partners who can support implementation.
Actions that align with and support local conservation priorities often achieve better outcomes than isolated corporate initiatives. They benefit from existing knowledge and relationships, contribute to coordinated landscape-level impact and build stronger stakeholder support.
From planning to implementation
A biodiversity action plan is only as valuable as its implementation. The plan should be a living document that guides resource allocation, decision-making and performance management – not a static report that sits on a shelf.
Ensure senior leadership endorsement and resource commitment. Biodiversity action plans fail when they lack executive support or adequate resources. Present the plan to leadership highlighting business risks mitigated, opportunities captured and stakeholder expectations addressed. Communicate the plan throughout the organisation so everyone understands their role. Biodiversity performance depends on countless daily decisions by employees across the organisation. Awareness and understanding enable them to support plan implementation through their work. Build flexibility into your plan. Biodiversity approaches require adaptive management. Ecological systems are complex and outcomes are sometimes uncertain. Plans should be robust enough to drive action while flexible enough to adjust as you learn what works. The biodiversity action plan transforms your biodiversity approach from assessment and analysis into tangible activities that reduce harm, manage risk, capture opportunities and ultimately contribute to reversing biodiversity loss. It's where commitment becomes action and where organisations demonstrate whether their biodiversity approach delivers genuine impact or merely provides appearance of concern.
