ISO (International Organization for Standardization) has published a new, improved edition of its successful manual, Environmental management and ISO 14000.

The first edition was published in 1999 as part of ISO's series of manuals for developing countries, but it proved to be equally as appreciated by readers in developed countries for its overview of the standards making up the ISO 14000 family. The new edition has been updated to take into account the latest developments in environmental management standardization and gives an account of the standards published to date and those in preparation by ISO technical committee, ISO/TC 207.

ISO Manual 10, Environmental management and ISO 14000 (ISBN 92-67-10341-5), A5 format, 200 pages, English only, price 44 Swiss francs, is available from ISO's national member institutes (see complete list with contact details), or from ISO Central Secretariat (sales@iso.org).

ISO 14001, which contains the requirements for an environmental management system (EMS) and against which an EMS can be audited and certified, is by far the best known standard developed by TC 207. However, the ISO family currently comprises 20 standards. The basic philosophy is that the EMS is of central importance to an organization and that the other standards are intended to support specific elements of the organization's environmental policy.

Written by experts of ISO/TC 207, Manual 10 begins with an account of how the technical committee came into existence in 1993, against the backdrop of events such as the Earth Summit of 1992 and the formulation of the concept of sustainable development. It then describes the different groups of standards within the ISO 14000 family, the principles behind them, the issues they address and the solutions they propose.

The 10 chapters which make up the manual cover the following subjects: ISO/TC207 background; Managing the environment? Why ISO 14000?; Environmental management systems - The ISO approach; Environmental auditing; Environmental assessment of sites and organizations; ISO 14020 series of standards for environmental labelling; Environmental performance evaluation; Life cycle assessment; Environmental terms and definitions; The possible use of ISO 14001 and ISO 14004 in the forestry sector to support sustainable forest management, and Design for the environment