diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index c40920f83..ad0c4213e 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ message(STATUS "mapnik version: ${PROJECT_VERSION}")
 set_property(GLOBAL PROPERTY USE_FOLDERS ON)
 
 set(CMAKE_MODULE_PATH ${CMAKE_MODULE_PATH} "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/cmake")
+include(MapnikMinimumVersions)
 include(MapnikFindPackage)
 include(MapnikCopyDependencies)
 include(MapnikInstall)
@@ -133,7 +134,7 @@ endif()
 find_package(PkgConfig)
 mapnik_find_threads()
 mapnik_find_package(ICU REQUIRED COMPONENTS uc i18n data)
-mapnik_find_package(Boost 1.61 REQUIRED COMPONENTS filesystem system regex)
+mapnik_find_package(Boost ${BOOST_MIN_VERSION} REQUIRED COMPONENTS filesystem system regex)
 if(USE_BOOST_REGEX_ICU_WORKAROUND)
     message(STATUS "using boost regex workaround")
     set_property(TARGET Boost::regex PROPERTY INTERFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES)
@@ -142,15 +143,14 @@ endif()
 mapnik_find_package(Freetype REQUIRED)
 
 # try to find harfbuzz with the native configuration and fallback to our "own" FindHarfBuzz
-set(HARFBUZZ_MINIMUM_VERSION 0.9.34)
-mapnik_find_package(harfbuzz CONFIG QUIET)
+mapnik_find_package(harfbuzz ${HARFBUZZ_MIN_VERSION} CONFIG QUIET)
 if(harfbuzz_FOUND)
     message(STATUS "Found harfbuzz native cmake")
     list(APPEND MAPNIK_OPTIONAL_LIBS harfbuzz::harfbuzz)
 else()
     # we use our "own" FindHarfBuzz. See https://github.com/mapnik/mapnik/pull/4191#issuecomment-874728157 for more details
     message(STATUS "Fallback to FindHarfBuzz")
-    mapnik_find_package(HarfBuzz ${HARFBUZZ_MINIMUM_VERSION} REQUIRED COMPONENTS ICU)
+    mapnik_find_package(HarfBuzz ${HARFBUZZ_MIN_VERSION} REQUIRED COMPONENTS ICU)
     list(APPEND MAPNIK_OPTIONAL_LIBS HarfBuzz::HarfBuzz HarfBuzz::ICU)
 endif()
 
@@ -297,11 +297,11 @@ endif()
 
 if(USE_PROJ)
     #https://proj.org/development/cmake.html
-    mapnik_find_package(PROJ QUIET)
+    mapnik_find_package(PROJ ${PROJ_MIN_VERSION} QUIET)
     # currently the cmake files are not installed, when installing proj via apt-get. So search via pkg-config
     if(NOT PROJ_FOUND)
         message(STATUS "PROJ not found via FindPROJ. Searching via pkg-config...")
-        pkg_check_modules(PROJ REQUIRED IMPORTED_TARGET proj)
+        pkg_check_modules(PROJ REQUIRED IMPORTED_TARGET proj>=${PROJ_MIN_VERSION})
         string(REGEX MATCH "([0-9]+)\.([0-9]+)\.([0-9]+)" _dummy "${PROJ_VERSION}")
         set(PROJ_VERSION_MAJOR "${CMAKE_MATCH_1}")
         set(PROJ_VERSION_MINOR "${CMAKE_MATCH_2}")
@@ -311,7 +311,7 @@ if(USE_PROJ)
     message(STATUS "Using mapnik PROJ version: ${MAPNIK_PROJ_VERSION}")
     list(APPEND MAPNIK_COMPILE_DEFS MAPNIK_USE_PROJ MAPNIK_PROJ_VERSION=${MAPNIK_PROJ_VERSION})
     list(APPEND MAPNIK_OPTIONAL_LIBS ${PROJ_LIBRARIES})
-    list(APPEND MAPNIK_OPTIONAL_LIBS_INCLUDE ${PROJ_INCLUDE_DIRS})
+    list(APPEND MAPNIK_OPTIONAL_LIBS_INCLUDE $<BUILD_INTERFACE:${PROJ_INCLUDE_DIRS}>)
 endif()
 
 if(USE_GRID_RENDERER)
diff --git a/cmake/MapnikMinimumVersions.cmake b/cmake/MapnikMinimumVersions.cmake
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b4ae45924
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmake/MapnikMinimumVersions.cmake
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+set(BOOST_MIN_VERSION 1.61)
+set(HARFBUZZ_MIN_VERSION 0.9.34)
+set(PROJ_MIN_VERSION 7.2.0)
diff --git a/test/CMakeLists.txt b/test/CMakeLists.txt
index 9724cd33c..bea2742c0 100644
--- a/test/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/test/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 project(mapnik-test)
 
-find_package(Boost REQUIRED COMPONENTS program_options)
+find_package(Boost ${BOOST_MIN_VERSION} REQUIRED COMPONENTS program_options)
 find_package(PostgreSQL REQUIRED)
 
 include(FetchContent)
diff --git a/utils/mapnik-index/CMakeLists.txt b/utils/mapnik-index/CMakeLists.txt
index d6ae7974d..f9e568474 100644
--- a/utils/mapnik-index/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/utils/mapnik-index/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 project(mapnik-index)
 
-find_package(Boost REQUIRED COMPONENTS program_options)
+find_package(Boost ${BOOST_MIN_VERSION} REQUIRED COMPONENTS program_options)
 
 add_executable(mapnik-index
     mapnik-index.cpp
diff --git a/utils/mapnik-render/CMakeLists.txt b/utils/mapnik-render/CMakeLists.txt
index 2125c60a0..705482350 100644
--- a/utils/mapnik-render/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/utils/mapnik-render/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 project(mapnik-render)
 
-find_package(Boost REQUIRED COMPONENTS program_options)
+find_package(Boost ${BOOST_MIN_VERSION} REQUIRED COMPONENTS program_options)
 
 add_executable(mapnik-render mapnik-render.cpp)
 
diff --git a/utils/pgsql2sqlite/CMakeLists.txt b/utils/pgsql2sqlite/CMakeLists.txt
index 7e79a0bd0..1412e4dd6 100644
--- a/utils/pgsql2sqlite/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/utils/pgsql2sqlite/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 project(pgsql2sqlite)
-find_package(Boost REQUIRED COMPONENTS program_options)
+find_package(Boost ${BOOST_MIN_VERSION} REQUIRED COMPONENTS program_options)
 find_package(SQLite3 REQUIRED)
 find_package(PostgreSQL REQUIRED)
 
diff --git a/utils/shapeindex/CMakeLists.txt b/utils/shapeindex/CMakeLists.txt
index ba535b170..c3ddb9208 100644
--- a/utils/shapeindex/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/utils/shapeindex/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 project(shapeindex)
 
-find_package(Boost REQUIRED COMPONENTS program_options)
+find_package(Boost ${BOOST_MIN_VERSION} REQUIRED COMPONENTS program_options)
 
 add_executable(shapeindex 
     shapeindex.cpp
diff --git a/utils/svg2png/CMakeLists.txt b/utils/svg2png/CMakeLists.txt
index 328197611..7dce53fbe 100644
--- a/utils/svg2png/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/utils/svg2png/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 project(svg2png)
 
-find_package(Boost REQUIRED COMPONENTS program_options)
+find_package(Boost ${BOOST_MIN_VERSION} REQUIRED COMPONENTS program_options)
 
 add_executable(svg2png 
     svg2png.cpp