Caving & Speleological Guidelines

This UIS page aims to provide convenient access to speleological guidelines and standards from around the world.

It shows documents from both UIS and from other organisations. If you know of further documents, either completed or in draft, and whether by UIS or by others, please send their details to the Editor for inclusion here. If they are already on a website, just send their web address, otherwise please send the text of the document itself. Where there is no digital copy available, OCR scanning can be arranged if necessary.

UIS Documents

UIS - Issued:

General

UIS Bureau and General Assembly:

UIS Code of Ethics for Cave Exploration and Science in Foreign Countries

 

Documentation

Working Groups of the UIS Informatics Commission:

Surface Karst Mapping Symbols

Basic Cave Mapping Symbols

Caver's Multi-lingual Dictionary

UIS - Under consideration:

Protection and Management

Commission for Protection, Management and Tourism in Caves and Karst Regions:

Guidelines for the Selection, Development and Management of Show Caves

 

Documentation

From the UIS Informatics Commission or its Working Groups:

Data Transfer and Archiving Format

Data Field Definitions

Speleological Subject Classifications

Database Table Designs

Documents Issued by Other Organisations

International

International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN - The World Conservation Union):

Guidelines for Cave and Karst Protection.

The World Bank Group:

Biodiversity and Cultural Property in the Management of Limestone Resources: Lessons from East Asia

Australia

Australian Speleological Federation (ASF):

Code of Ethics

Minimal Impact Caving

Minimal Impact Cave Rescue

Cave Safety Guidelines

Cave Diving

Free Diving

Cave Survey and Map Standards

Cave Terminology

Cave and Karst Numbering

Cave Naming

Cave Map Numbering

Data-Use Agreement

USA

Boy Scouts of America (BSA):

Caving Guidelines