The International eDNA Standardization Task Force (iESTF): toward development of inclusive international standards for eDNA biodiversity monitoring

Environmental DNA (eDNA) analysis has emerged as a transformative tool for biodiversity assessment and environmental monitoring, offering a non-invasive, cost-effective approach to detecting species and characterizing ecological communities. Despite growing adoption by researchers, regulatory agencies, and industry, the widespread implementation of eDNA methods continues to face challenges, including inconsistent protocols across laboratories and the absence of internationally recognized standards. These barriers have slowed the integration of eDNA into routine monitoring programs and other operational settings, particularly in regulatory contexts. Standardization is widely recognized as an essential prerequisite for building confidence among end users and enabling meaningful comparison of results across studies and jurisdictions. While standards development efforts have begun to emerge at national and regional scales, the lack of international coordination risks producing fragmented or contradictory guidelines that could hinder rather than advance the field. Here, we introduce the International eDNA Standardization Task Force (iESTF; https://iestf.global), an initiative established to facilitate and accelerate the development of inclusive international standards for eDNA-based biodiversity monitoring. The iESTF aims to identify opportunities for new work item proposals within the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) framework, catalog existing standards and best practices, and ensure that standards development is accessible to practitioners in nations historically underrepresented in eDNA research. We outline some key challenges facing eDNA standardization, describe the structure and goals of the iESTF, and present a vision that includes the formation of a truly inclusive international community of practice, the establishment of pipelines for fast-tracking the development of international standards, and support for critical activities such as cross-regional standards testing and validation. The iESTF represents a critical step toward ensuring that eDNA methods achieve their full potential as reliable, globally comparable tools for biodiversity monitoring.