The evolution of radiation protection in exposures to natural sources has been commenced since decades.In the last two decades the developments concerning exposure to naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM) have resulted in progress towards achieving broad international consensus on managing exposure to NORM.However,the standards and regulatory approaches being adopted at the national level still needs to be harmonized especially in developing countries with limited regulatory resources.A large effort is under way at national and international level to assess exposure to NORM and to develop strategies to address existing situations that give rise to exposures.UNSCEAR in its report 2008,encourage further development of inventories and methodologies for dose assessment in order to have a more comprehensive view over the topic.The new International Basic Safety Standards (the BSS) published by the IAEA in 2011 provides requirements reflecting the concept of planned,existing and emergency exposure situations.Exposure to natural sources in generalis subject to the requirements for existing exposure situations with some exceptions to be considered as planned exposure situations.The BSS provides numerical criteria for exemption and clearance for regulatory purpose as well as reference levels for exposures to radon in workplaces for exposure control.On a global perspective,the new radiation protection challenges for natural sources include-harmonization of standards and regulatory approaches,diverse nature of the industries and the need for industry-specific approach in determining radiation protection measures,the identification of situations that could be classified as either existing exposure situations or planned exposure situations and how such exposures should be optimized using,as appropriate,reference levels or dose constraints and related problems in interpretation,the use of a graded approach in national regulations,realistic estimation of individual doses and the need for an evidence-based approach for regulatory decisions,resurgence of uranium mining industries and fast expanding worldwide exploration activities for uranium,differences in interpretation of the standards,especially with respect to the concepts of exclusion,exemption and clearance,exposure of workers,radon in workplaces,transport issues,NORM residue recycling and use,management of NORM residues and wastes and addressing the legacy situations.A summary of the international standards and guidance on control of exposures to natural sources and the work of the IAEA on industry specific safety reports are provided.