diff --git a/DESCRIPTION b/DESCRIPTION
index 53948d1..9a1387a 100644
--- a/DESCRIPTION
+++ b/DESCRIPTION
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ BugReports: https://github.com/SymbolixAU/geojsonsf/issues
 Encoding: UTF-8
 LazyData: true
 Depends: R (>= 3.3.0)
+SystemRequirements: C++11
 LinkingTo: 
     geometries,
     jsonify (>= 1.1.1),
diff --git a/src/Makevars b/src/Makevars
index 64adefd..e932cb1 100644
--- a/src/Makevars
+++ b/src/Makevars
@@ -1,2 +1,4 @@
+CXX_STD = CXX11
+
 PKG_CXXFLAGS = -I../inst/include/
 PKG_CPPFLAGS=-DSTRICT_R_HEADERS
diff --git a/src/Makevars.win b/src/Makevars.win
index 64adefd..e932cb1 100644
--- a/src/Makevars.win
+++ b/src/Makevars.win
@@ -1,2 +1,4 @@
+CXX_STD = CXX11
+
 PKG_CXXFLAGS = -I../inst/include/
 PKG_CPPFLAGS=-DSTRICT_R_HEADERS