Editing a series of reports for IUCN

The challenge 

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is the world’s largest and most diverse environmental network. Its Red List of Threatened Species – an inventory that shows which species face extinction – is used by organisations worldwide.

Working with various partners and supporters, IUCN also implements a large and diverse portfolio of conservation projects. In 2024, we won a tender to edit eight reports about the AlUla Protected Area Network (APAN) project, which aims to establish an effectively managed network of protected and conserved areas in Saudi Arabia.

The scope of the work involved copyediting and checking the references of the reports according to IUCN publication guidelines. The total word count of the eight documents came to around 200,000 words and featured some highly technical material.

The solution

 Having thoroughly acquainted ourselves with IUCN’s style requirements, we created, trained and oversaw a taskforce of editors who worked on the different documents over the course of four weeks. 

• Our team copyedited and checked the references in all eight reports, which meant reviewing and formatting the reference lists, as well as verifying clarity of language, grammar, spelling, punctuation and accuracy of captions, headings, acronyms and abbreviations.
• An editor within the team cross-referenced the reports and ensured they were stylistically consistent.
• At the same time, since each report was written by a different author, we took pains to maintain their individual voices as much as possible.
• We also spent time parsing the technical aspects of the various reports and making sure the language was as clear and accessible as possible.

We delivered all of the documents on schedule and to the highest standard.