About WHC Conservation Certification

WHC’s certification program, Conservation Certification, is the only voluntary sustainability standard designed for broad-based biodiversity enhancement and conservation education activities on corporate landholdings. It is built on best practices of global recognition programs, reflects contemporary conservation efforts, and aligns our members’ collective works with the future of biodiversity across the globe. Conservation Certification:

  • Recognizes meaningful wildlife habitat management and conservation education programs
  • Provides third-party credibility and an objective evaluation
  • Produces an aggregated metric for reporting and disclosure
  • Helps companies demonstrate a long-term commitment to managing quality habitat for wildlife, conservation education and community outreach initiatives

“The objective third-party review provided by Conservation Certification is very important to the continued improvement of our regional and corporate biodiversity programs. Beyond our own sustainability reporting and communications, WHC promotes our certified conservation programs through success stories, white papers and industry presentations, which brings value to our social license.”

Heather Ferguson, Vice President, Environment, Ontario Power Generation

A Global Presence

WHC Conservation Certification programs can be found in 48 U.S. states and 25 countries.

Conservation Certification is open for comments

Go to the survey

The Conservation Certification standard consists of three components related to the design, application and review of conservation projects. The first component is embodied in each Project Guidance to help users understand the design requirements for projects and programs. The application component includes approximately 1,300 unique questions, allowing corporations to select conservation projects that best meets their site’s needs. The third component is the review process that details the strength of individual projects.

To improve these components, WHC relies on Conservation Certification users and stakeholders. We invite users of the standard, conservation experts, corporate sustainability professionals, community members and other stakeholders to share comments. Go to the survey.

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