Environmental management
Encyclopedia
Environmental resource management is “a purposeful activity with the goal to maintain and improve the state of an environmental resource affected by human activities” . It is not, as the phrase suggests, the management of the environment as such, but rather the management of the interaction and impact of human societies on the environment
. Environmental resources management aims to ensure that ecosystem services
are protected and maintained for equitable use by future human generations, and also, maintain ecosystem integrity as an end in itself by taking into consideration ethical, economic, and scientific (ecological) variables. Environmental resource management tries to identify the factors that have a stake in the conflicts that may rise between meeting the needs and protecting the resources.
which brought to the fore the integrated nature of environment and international development
and the Worldwatch Institute
’s annual State of the World (book series) reports.
s. The environment also involves the relationships of the human environment, such as the social, cultural and economic environment with the biophysical environment. The essential aspects of environmental resource management are ethical, economical, social and technological which provide for formulation of principles and help in making decisions. The scientific and technical nature makes environmental resource management profession to operate in a humanistic and rational mode in the world.
relationships. Ethical aspects involve the cultural and social issues relating to the environment, and dealing with changes to it. “All human activities take place in the context of certain types of relationships between society and the bio-physical world (the rest of nature)”, and so, there is a great significance in understanding the ethical values of different groups around the world. Broadly speaking, two schools of thought exist in environmental ethics: Anthropocentrism
and Ecocentrism
each influencing a broad spectrum of environmental resource management styles along a continuum. These styles perceive “different evidence, imperatives, and problems, and prescribe different solutions, strategies, technologies, roles for economic sectors, culture, governments, and ethics, etc”.
and deep ecology
which evolved as a reaction to the dominant anthropocentric paradigms. “In its current form, it is an attempt to synthesize many old and some new philosophical attitudes about the relationship between nature and human activity, with particular emphasis on ethical, social, and spiritual aspects that have been downplayed in the dominant economic worldview”.
and neoclassical economics
theories, yet the environment held a spot on the back-burner of economic policies from 1950 – 1980 due to emphasis from policy makers on economic growth. With the prevalence of environmental problems, many economists embraced the notion that “if environmental sustainability must coexist for economic sustainability, then the overall system must be one which permits the identification of an equilibrium between the environment and the economy”. As such, economic policy makers began to incorporate the functions of the natural environment – or natural capital
- particularly as a sink for wastes and for the provision of raw materials and amenities. Debate continues among economists as to how to account for natural capital, specifically whether resources can be replaced through the use of knowledge and technology, or whether the economy is a closed system that cannot be replenished and is finite. Economic models influence environmental resource management in that management policies reflect beliefs about natural capital scarcity – if natural capital is believed to be infinite and easily substituted, environmental management would be irrelevant to the economy. For example, economic paradigms based on neoclassical models of closed economic systems are primarily concerned with resource scarcity, and thus prescribe legalizing the environment as an economic externality for an environmental resource management strategy. This approach has often been termed ‘Command-and-control’. Colby has identified trends in the development of economic paradigms, among them, a shift towards more ecological economics
since the 1990’s.
is considered a useful framework through which to deal with situations of high levels of uncertainty though it is not without its detractors.
A common scientific concept and impetus behind environmental resource management is carrying capacity
. Simply put, carrying capacity refers to the maximum number of organisms a particular resource can sustain. The concept of carrying capacity, whilst understood by many cultures over history, has its roots in Malthusian
theory. An example is visible in the EU Water Framework Directive
. However, "it is argued that Western scientific knowledge ... is often insufficient to deal with the full complexity of the interplay of variables in environmental resource management. These concerns have been recently addressed by a shift in environmental resource management approaches to incorporate different knowledge systems including traditional knowledge
, reflected in approaches such as adaptive co-management community-based natural resource management and transitions management. among others.
There are many drivers that compel environmental resource management to take sustainability issues into account. Today’s economic paradigms do not protect the natural environment, yet they deepen human dependency on biodiversity and ecosystem services. Ecologically, massive environmental degradation
and climate change
threaten the stability of ecological systems that humanity depends on. Socially, an increasing gap between rich and poor and the global North-South divide
denies many access to basic human needs, rights, and education, leading to further environmental destruction. The planet’s unstable condition is caused by many anthropogenic
sources. As an exceptionally powerful contributing factor to social and environmental change, the modern organisation has the potential to apply environmental resource management with sustainability principals to achieve highly affective outcomes. To achieve sustainable development
with environmental resource management an organisation should coincide with sustainability principals, such as: social and environmental accountability
, long-term planning; a strong, shared vision; a holistic focus; devolved and consensus decision making; broad stakeholder engagement and justice; transparency measures; trust; and flexibility, to name a few.
reaching 1,560 business leaders from diverse regions, job positions, expertise in sustainability, industries, and sizes of organizations, revealed the many benefits of sustainable practice as well as its viability.
It is important to note that though sustainability of environmental resource management has improved, corporate sustainability, for one, has yet to reach the majority of global companies operating in the markets. The three major barriers to preventing organizations to shift towards sustainable practice with environmental resource management are: not understanding what sustainability is; having difficulty modeling an economically viable case for the switch; and having a flawed execution plan, or a lack there of. Therefore the most important part of shifting an organization to adopt sustainability in environmental resource management would be to create a shared vision and understanding of what sustainability is for that particular organization, and to clarify the business case.
comprises the general government sector plus all public corporations including the central bank
. In environmental resource management the public sector is responsible for administering natural resource management
and implementing environmental protection
legislation. The traditional role of the public sector in environmental resource management is to provide professional judgement through skilled technicians on behalf of the public. With the increase of intractable environmental problems, the public sector has been led to examine alternative paradigms for managing environmental resources. This has resulted in the public sector working collaboratively with other sectors (including other governments, private and civil) to encourage sustainable natural resource management behaviours.
comprises private corporations and non-profit institutions serving households. The private sector’s traditional role in environmental resource management is that of the recovers of natural resources
. Such private sector recovery groups include mining (minerals and petroleum), forestry and fishery organisations. Environmental resource management undertaken by the private sectors varies dependent upon the resource type, that being renewable or non-renewable and private and common resources (also see Tragedy of the Commons
). Environmental managers from the private sector also need skills to manage collaboration within a dynamic social and political environment.
comprises associations in which societies voluntarily organise themselves into and which represent a wide range of interests and ties. These can include community-based organisations, indigenous peoples’ organisations and non-government organisations (NGO). Functioning through strong public pressure, civil society can exercise their legal rights against the implementation of resource management plans, particularly land management plans. The aim of civil society in environmental resource management is to be included in the decision-making process by means of public participation
. Public participation can be an effective strategy to invoke a sense of social responsibility of natural resources.
attempts to reduce environmental impact
as measured by some objective criteria. The ISO 14001 standard is the most widely used standard for environmental risk management
and is closely aligned to the European Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS)
. As a common auditing standard, the ISO 19011
standard explains how to combine this with quality management
.
Other environmental management systems (EMS)
tend to be based on the ISO 14001 standard and many extend it in various ways:
Other strategies exist that rely on making simple distinctions rather than building top-down management "systems" using performance audit
s and full cost accounting
. For instance, Ecological Intelligent Design
divides products into consumables, service products or durables and unsaleables - toxic products that no one should buy, or in many cases, do not realize they are buying. By eliminating the unsaleables from the comprehensive outcome of any purchase, better environmental resource management is achieved without "systems".
Recent successful cases have put forward the notion of "Integrated Management". It shares a wider approach and stresses out the importance of interdisciplinary assessment. It is an interesting notion that might not be adaptable to all cases.
Natural environment
The natural environment encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally on Earth or some region thereof. It is an environment that encompasses the interaction of all living species....
. Environmental resources management aims to ensure that ecosystem services
Ecosystem services
Humankind benefits from a multitude of resources and processes that are supplied by natural ecosystems. Collectively, these benefits are known as ecosystem services and include products like clean drinking water and processes such as the decomposition of wastes...
are protected and maintained for equitable use by future human generations, and also, maintain ecosystem integrity as an end in itself by taking into consideration ethical, economic, and scientific (ecological) variables. Environmental resource management tries to identify the factors that have a stake in the conflicts that may rise between meeting the needs and protecting the resources.
Significance
Environmental resource management is an issue of increasing concern as reflected in its prevalence in seminal texts influencing global socio-political frameworks such as the Brundtland Commission’s Our Common FutureOur Common Future
Our Common Future, also known as the Brundtland Report, from the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development was published in 1987....
which brought to the fore the integrated nature of environment and international development
International development
International development or global development is a concept that lacks a universally accepted definition, but it is most used in a holistic and multi-disciplinary context of human development — the development of greater quality of life for humans...
and the Worldwatch Institute
Worldwatch Institute
The Worldwatch Institute is a globally focused environmental research organization based in Washington, D.C. Worldwatch was named as one of the top ten sustainable development research organizations by Globescan Survey of Sustainability Experts.-Mission:...
’s annual State of the World (book series) reports.
Scope
Environmental resource management can be viewed from a variety of perspectives. Environmental resource management involves the management of all components of the biophysical environment, both living (biotic) and non-living (abiotic). This is due to the interconnected and network of relationships amongst all living species and their habitatHabitat
* Habitat , a place where a species lives and grows*Human habitat, a place where humans live, work or play** Space habitat, a space station intended as a permanent settlement...
s. The environment also involves the relationships of the human environment, such as the social, cultural and economic environment with the biophysical environment. The essential aspects of environmental resource management are ethical, economical, social and technological which provide for formulation of principles and help in making decisions. The scientific and technical nature makes environmental resource management profession to operate in a humanistic and rational mode in the world.
Ethical
Environmental resource management strategies are intrinsically driven by conceptions of human-natureNature
Nature, in the broadest sense, is equivalent to the natural world, physical world, or material world. "Nature" refers to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general...
relationships. Ethical aspects involve the cultural and social issues relating to the environment, and dealing with changes to it. “All human activities take place in the context of certain types of relationships between society and the bio-physical world (the rest of nature)”, and so, there is a great significance in understanding the ethical values of different groups around the world. Broadly speaking, two schools of thought exist in environmental ethics: Anthropocentrism
Anthropocentrism
Anthropocentrism describes the tendency for human beings to regard themselves as the central and most significant entities in the universe, or the assessment of reality through an exclusively human perspective....
and Ecocentrism
Ecocentrism
Ecocentrism is a term used in ecological political philosophy to denote a nature-centered, as opposed to human-centred, system of values. The justification for ecocentrism usually consists in an ontological belief and subsequent ethical claim...
each influencing a broad spectrum of environmental resource management styles along a continuum. These styles perceive “different evidence, imperatives, and problems, and prescribe different solutions, strategies, technologies, roles for economic sectors, culture, governments, and ethics, etc”.
Anthropocentrism
Anthropocentrism, “an inclination to evaluate reality exclusively in terms of human values”, is an ethic reflected in the major interpretations of Western religions and the dominant economic paradigms of the industrialised world.Anthropocentrism supports an understanding of nature as existing solely for the benefit of man and as a commodity to be used for the good of humanity and improved human quality of life. Anthropocentric environmental resource management is therefore not the conservation of the environment solely for the environment's sake, but rather the conservation of the environment, and ecosystem structure, for humankind's sake.Ecocentrism
Ecocentrists believe in the intrinsic value of nature while maintaining an understanding that “human beings must use and even exploit nature to survive and live”. It is this fine ethical line that ecocentrists navigate between “fair use and downright abuse”. At an extreme end of the ethical scale, ecocentrism includes philosophies such as ecofeminismEcofeminism
Ecofeminism is a social and political movement which points to the existence of considerable common ground between environmentalism and feminism, with some currents linking deep ecology and feminism...
and deep ecology
Deep ecology
Deep ecology is a contemporary ecological philosophy that recognizes an inherent worth of all living beings, regardless of their instrumental utility to human needs. The philosophy emphasizes the interdependence of organisms within ecosystems and that of ecosystems with each other within the...
which evolved as a reaction to the dominant anthropocentric paradigms. “In its current form, it is an attempt to synthesize many old and some new philosophical attitudes about the relationship between nature and human activity, with particular emphasis on ethical, social, and spiritual aspects that have been downplayed in the dominant economic worldview”.
Economic
The economy functions within, and is dependent upon goods and services provided by natural ecosystems. The role of the environment is recognized in both classical economicsClassical economics
Classical economics is widely regarded as the first modern school of economic thought. Its major developers include Adam Smith, Jean-Baptiste Say, David Ricardo, Thomas Malthus and John Stuart Mill....
and neoclassical economics
Neoclassical economics
Neoclassical economics is a term variously used for approaches to economics focusing on the determination of prices, outputs, and income distributions in markets through supply and demand, often mediated through a hypothesized maximization of utility by income-constrained individuals and of profits...
theories, yet the environment held a spot on the back-burner of economic policies from 1950 – 1980 due to emphasis from policy makers on economic growth. With the prevalence of environmental problems, many economists embraced the notion that “if environmental sustainability must coexist for economic sustainability, then the overall system must be one which permits the identification of an equilibrium between the environment and the economy”. As such, economic policy makers began to incorporate the functions of the natural environment – or natural capital
Natural capital
Natural capital is the extension of the economic notion of capital to goods and services relating to the natural environment. Natural capital is thus the stock of natural ecosystems that yields a flow of valuable ecosystem goods or services into the future...
- particularly as a sink for wastes and for the provision of raw materials and amenities. Debate continues among economists as to how to account for natural capital, specifically whether resources can be replaced through the use of knowledge and technology, or whether the economy is a closed system that cannot be replenished and is finite. Economic models influence environmental resource management in that management policies reflect beliefs about natural capital scarcity – if natural capital is believed to be infinite and easily substituted, environmental management would be irrelevant to the economy. For example, economic paradigms based on neoclassical models of closed economic systems are primarily concerned with resource scarcity, and thus prescribe legalizing the environment as an economic externality for an environmental resource management strategy. This approach has often been termed ‘Command-and-control’. Colby has identified trends in the development of economic paradigms, among them, a shift towards more ecological economics
Ecological economics
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since the 1990’s.
Ecological
"The pairing of significant uncertainty about the behaviour and response of ecological systems with urgent calls for near-term action constitutes a difficult reality, and a common lament" for many environmental resource managers. Scientific analysis of the environment deals with several dimensions of ecological uncertainty. These include: structural uncertainty resulting from the misidentification, or lack of information pertaining to the relationships between ecological variables; parameter uncertainty referring to “uncertainty associated with parameter values that are not known precisely but can be assessed and reported in terms of the likelihood…of experiencing a defined range of outcomes” ; and stochastic uncertainty stemming from chance or unrelated factors. Adaptive managementAdaptive management
-What is Adaptive Management ?:Adaptive management , also known as adaptive resource management , is a structured, iterative process of optimal decision making in the face of uncertainty, with an aim to reducing uncertainty over time via system monitoring...
is considered a useful framework through which to deal with situations of high levels of uncertainty though it is not without its detractors.
A common scientific concept and impetus behind environmental resource management is carrying capacity
Carrying capacity
The carrying capacity of a biological species in an environment is the maximum population size of the species that the environment can sustain indefinitely, given the food, habitat, water and other necessities available in the environment...
. Simply put, carrying capacity refers to the maximum number of organisms a particular resource can sustain. The concept of carrying capacity, whilst understood by many cultures over history, has its roots in Malthusian
Malthusianism
Malthusianism refers primarily to ideas derived from the political/economic thought of Reverend Thomas Robert Malthus, as laid out initially in his 1798 writings, An Essay on the Principle of Population, which describes how unchecked population growth is exponential while the growth of the food...
theory. An example is visible in the EU Water Framework Directive
Water framework directive
The Water Framework Directive is a European Union directive which commits European Union member states to achieve good qualitative and quantitative status of all water bodies The Water Framework Directive (more formally the Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23...
. However, "it is argued that Western scientific knowledge ... is often insufficient to deal with the full complexity of the interplay of variables in environmental resource management. These concerns have been recently addressed by a shift in environmental resource management approaches to incorporate different knowledge systems including traditional knowledge
Traditional knowledge
Traditional knowledge , indigenous knowledge , traditional environmental knowledge and local knowledge generally refer to the long-standing traditions and practices of certain regional, indigenous, or local communities. Traditional knowledge also encompasses the wisdom, knowledge, and teachings...
, reflected in approaches such as adaptive co-management community-based natural resource management and transitions management. among others.
Sustainability
Sustainability and environmental resource management involves managing economic, social, and ecological systems within and external to an organizational entity in order for it to sustain itself and the system it exists within. In context, sustainability implies that rather than competing for endless growth on a finite planet, development will improve quality of life without necessarily having to consume more resources. In order to sustainably manage the state of environmental resources affected by human activities organizational change is needed to instill sustainability values within an organization, in order to portray these values outwardly from all levels and to reinforce them in its surrounding stakeholder community. The end result should be a symbiotic relationship between the sustaining organization and community, along with the environment.There are many drivers that compel environmental resource management to take sustainability issues into account. Today’s economic paradigms do not protect the natural environment, yet they deepen human dependency on biodiversity and ecosystem services. Ecologically, massive environmental degradation
Environmental degradation
Environmental degradation is the deterioration of the environment through depletion of resources such as air, water and soil; the destruction of ecosystems and the extinction of wildlife...
and climate change
Climate change
Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions or the distribution of events around that average...
threaten the stability of ecological systems that humanity depends on. Socially, an increasing gap between rich and poor and the global North-South divide
North-South divide
The north–south divide is a socio-economic and political division that exists between the wealthy developed countries, known collectively as "the north", and the poorer developing countries , or "the south." Although most nations comprising the "North" are in fact located in the Northern Hemisphere ,...
denies many access to basic human needs, rights, and education, leading to further environmental destruction. The planet’s unstable condition is caused by many anthropogenic
Anthropogenic
Human impact on the environment or anthropogenic impact on the environment includes impacts on biophysical environments, biodiversity and other resources. The term anthropogenic designates an effect or object resulting from human activity. The term was first used in the technical sense by Russian...
sources. As an exceptionally powerful contributing factor to social and environmental change, the modern organisation has the potential to apply environmental resource management with sustainability principals to achieve highly affective outcomes. To achieve sustainable development
Sustainable development
Sustainable development is a pattern of resource use, that aims to meet human needs while preserving the environment so that these needs can be met not only in the present, but also for generations to come...
with environmental resource management an organisation should coincide with sustainability principals, such as: social and environmental accountability
Accountability
Accountability is a concept in ethics and governance with several meanings. It is often used synonymously with such concepts as responsibility, answerability, blameworthiness, liability, and other terms associated with the expectation of account-giving...
, long-term planning; a strong, shared vision; a holistic focus; devolved and consensus decision making; broad stakeholder engagement and justice; transparency measures; trust; and flexibility, to name a few.
Current Paradigm Shifts
In order to adjust to today’s environment of quick social and ecological changes some organizations have begun to experiment with various new tools and concepts. Those which are more traditional and stick to hierarchal decision making are having difficulty dealing with the demand for lateral decision making that supports affective participation. Whether it be a matter of ethics or just strategic advantage organizations are internalizing sustainability principles. Examples of some of the world’s largest and most profitable corporations who are shifting to sustainable environmental resource management are: Ford, Toyota, BMW, Honda, Shell, Du Pont, Swiss Re, Hewlett-Packard, and Unilever. An extensive study by the Boston Consulting GroupBoston Consulting Group
The Boston Consulting Group is a global management consulting firm with offices in 42 countries. It is recognized as one of the most prestigious management consulting firms in the world. It is one of only three companies to appear in the top 15 of Fortunes "Best Companies to Work For" report for...
reaching 1,560 business leaders from diverse regions, job positions, expertise in sustainability, industries, and sizes of organizations, revealed the many benefits of sustainable practice as well as its viability.
It is important to note that though sustainability of environmental resource management has improved, corporate sustainability, for one, has yet to reach the majority of global companies operating in the markets. The three major barriers to preventing organizations to shift towards sustainable practice with environmental resource management are: not understanding what sustainability is; having difficulty modeling an economically viable case for the switch; and having a flawed execution plan, or a lack there of. Therefore the most important part of shifting an organization to adopt sustainability in environmental resource management would be to create a shared vision and understanding of what sustainability is for that particular organization, and to clarify the business case.
Public Sector
The public sectorPublic sector
The public sector, sometimes referred to as the state sector, is a part of the state that deals with either the production, delivery and allocation of goods and services by and for the government or its citizens, whether national, regional or local/municipal.Examples of public sector activity range...
comprises the general government sector plus all public corporations including the central bank
Central bank
A central bank, reserve bank, or monetary authority is a public institution that usually issues the currency, regulates the money supply, and controls the interest rates in a country. Central banks often also oversee the commercial banking system of their respective countries...
. In environmental resource management the public sector is responsible for administering natural resource management
Natural resource management
Natural resource management refers to the management of natural resources such as land, water, soil, plants and animals, with a particular focus on how management affects the quality of life for both present and future generations ....
and implementing environmental protection
Environmental protection
Environmental protection is a practice of protecting the environment, on individual, organizational or governmental level, for the benefit of the natural environment and humans. Due to the pressures of population and our technology the biophysical environment is being degraded, sometimes permanently...
legislation. The traditional role of the public sector in environmental resource management is to provide professional judgement through skilled technicians on behalf of the public. With the increase of intractable environmental problems, the public sector has been led to examine alternative paradigms for managing environmental resources. This has resulted in the public sector working collaboratively with other sectors (including other governments, private and civil) to encourage sustainable natural resource management behaviours.
Private Sector
The private sectorPrivate sector
In economics, the private sector is that part of the economy, sometimes referred to as the citizen sector, which is run by private individuals or groups, usually as a means of enterprise for profit, and is not controlled by the state...
comprises private corporations and non-profit institutions serving households. The private sector’s traditional role in environmental resource management is that of the recovers of natural resources
Natural Resources
Natural Resources is a soul album released by Motown girl group Martha Reeves and the Vandellas in 1970 on the Gordy label. The album is significant for the Vietnam War ballad "I Should Be Proud" and the slow jam, "Love Guess Who"...
. Such private sector recovery groups include mining (minerals and petroleum), forestry and fishery organisations. Environmental resource management undertaken by the private sectors varies dependent upon the resource type, that being renewable or non-renewable and private and common resources (also see Tragedy of the Commons
Tragedy of the commons
The tragedy of the commons is a dilemma arising from the situation in which multiple individuals, acting independently and rationally consulting their own self-interest, will ultimately deplete a shared limited resource, even when it is clear that it is not in anyone's long-term interest for this...
). Environmental managers from the private sector also need skills to manage collaboration within a dynamic social and political environment.
Civil Society
Civil societyCivil society
Civil society is composed of the totality of many voluntary social relationships, civic and social organizations, and institutions that form the basis of a functioning society, as distinct from the force-backed structures of a state , the commercial institutions of the market, and private criminal...
comprises associations in which societies voluntarily organise themselves into and which represent a wide range of interests and ties. These can include community-based organisations, indigenous peoples’ organisations and non-government organisations (NGO). Functioning through strong public pressure, civil society can exercise their legal rights against the implementation of resource management plans, particularly land management plans. The aim of civil society in environmental resource management is to be included in the decision-making process by means of public participation
Public participation
Public participation is a political principle or practice, and may also be recognised as a right . The terms public participation may be used interchangeably with the concept or practice of stakeholder engagement and/or popular participation.Generally public participation seeks and facilitates the...
. Public participation can be an effective strategy to invoke a sense of social responsibility of natural resources.
Tools
As with all management functions, effective management tools, standards and systems are required. An environmental management standard or system or protocolProtocol (natural sciences)
In the natural sciences a protocol is a predefined written procedural method in the design and implementation of experiments. Protocols are written whenever it is desirable to standardize a laboratory method to ensure successful replication of results by others in the same laboratory or by other...
attempts to reduce environmental impact
Environmental degradation
Environmental degradation is the deterioration of the environment through depletion of resources such as air, water and soil; the destruction of ecosystems and the extinction of wildlife...
as measured by some objective criteria. The ISO 14001 standard is the most widely used standard for environmental risk management
Risk management
Risk management is the identification, assessment, and prioritization of risks followed by coordinated and economical application of resources to minimize, monitor, and control the probability and/or impact of unfortunate events or to maximize the realization of opportunities...
and is closely aligned to the European Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS)
Eco-Management and Audit Scheme
The Eco-Management and Audit Scheme is a voluntary environmental management instrument, which was developed in 1993 by the European Commission. It enables organisations to assess, manage and continuously improve their environmental performance. The scheme is globally applicable and open to all...
. As a common auditing standard, the ISO 19011
ISO 19011
ISO 19011 is an international standard that sets forth guidelines for:*quality management systems auditing*environmental management systems auditingIt is developed by the International Organization for Standardization....
standard explains how to combine this with quality management
Quality management
The term Quality management has a specific meaning within many business sectors. This specific definition, which does not aim to assure 'good quality' by the more general definition , can be considered to have four main components: quality planning, quality control, quality assurance and quality...
.
Other environmental management systems (EMS)
Environmental Management System
Environmental management system refers to the management of an organization's environmental programs in a comprehensive, systematic, planned and documented manner....
tend to be based on the ISO 14001 standard and many extend it in various ways:
- The Green Dragon Environmental Management Standard is a five level EMS designed for smaller organisations for whom ISO 14001 may be too onerous and for larger organisations who wish to implement ISO 14001 in a more manageable step-by-step approach,
- BS 8555 is a phased standard that can help smaller companies move to ISO 14001 in six manageable steps,
- The Natural StepThe Natural StepThe Natural Step is a non-profit organization founded in Sweden in 1989 by scientist Karl-Henrik Robèrt. Following publication of the Brundtland Report in 1987, Robèrt developed The Natural Step framework, setting out the system conditions for the sustainability of human activities on Earth;...
focuses on basic sustainabilitySustainabilitySustainability is the capacity to endure. For humans, sustainability is the long-term maintenance of well being, which has environmental, economic, and social dimensions, and encompasses the concept of union, an interdependent relationship and mutual responsible position with all living and non...
criteria and helps focus engineeringEngineeringEngineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
on reducing use of materials or energy use that is unsustainable in the long term, - Natural CapitalismNatural capitalismNatural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution is a 1999 book co-authored by Paul Hawken, Amory Lovins and Hunter Lovins. It has been translated into a dozen languages and was the subject of a Harvard Business Review summary....
advises using accounting reformAccounting reformAccounting reform is an expansion of accounting rules that goes beyond the realm of financial measures for both individual economic entities and national economies...
and a general biomimicryBiomimicryBiomimicry or biomimetics is the examination of nature, its models, systems, processes, and elements to emulate or take inspiration from in order to solve human problems. The term biomimicry and biomimetics come from the Greek words bios, meaning life, and mimesis, meaning to imitate...
and industrial ecologyIndustrial ecologyIndustrial Ecology is the study of material and energy flows through industrial systems. The global industrial economy can be modeled as a network of industrial processes that extract resources from the Earth and transform those resources into commodities which can be bought and sold to meet the...
approach to do the same thing, - US Environmental Protection AgencyUnited States Environmental Protection AgencyThe U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is an agency of the federal government of the United States charged with protecting human health and the environment, by writing and enforcing regulations based on laws passed by Congress...
has many further terms and standards that it defines as appropriate to large-scale EMS, - The UN and World BankWorld BankThe World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...
has encouraged adopting a "natural capitalNatural capitalNatural capital is the extension of the economic notion of capital to goods and services relating to the natural environment. Natural capital is thus the stock of natural ecosystems that yields a flow of valuable ecosystem goods or services into the future...
" measurement and management framework, - The European UnionEuropean UnionThe European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS)Eco-Management and Audit SchemeThe Eco-Management and Audit Scheme is a voluntary environmental management instrument, which was developed in 1993 by the European Commission. It enables organisations to assess, manage and continuously improve their environmental performance. The scheme is globally applicable and open to all...
.
Other strategies exist that rely on making simple distinctions rather than building top-down management "systems" using performance audit
Performance audit
Performance audit refers to an examination of a program, function, operation or the management systems and procedures of a governmental or non-profit entity to assess whether the entity is achieving economy, efficiency and effectiveness in the employment of available resources...
s and full cost accounting
Full cost accounting
Full cost accounting generally refers to the process of collecting and presenting information - about environmental, social, and economic costs and benefits/advantages - for each proposed alternative when a decision is necessary. It is a conventional method of cost accounting that traces direct...
. For instance, Ecological Intelligent Design
Ecological Intelligent Design
A consumable is, according to the 1913 edition of Webster's Dictionary, something that is capable of being consumed; that may be destroyed, dissipated, wasted, or spent. John Locke specifies these as "consumable commodities."...
divides products into consumables, service products or durables and unsaleables - toxic products that no one should buy, or in many cases, do not realize they are buying. By eliminating the unsaleables from the comprehensive outcome of any purchase, better environmental resource management is achieved without "systems".
Recent successful cases have put forward the notion of "Integrated Management". It shares a wider approach and stresses out the importance of interdisciplinary assessment. It is an interesting notion that might not be adaptable to all cases.
Journals
- Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy, ISSN 1618-954X
- Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, ISSN: 1535-3966 (electronic) 1535-3958 (paper), John Wiley & SonsJohn Wiley & SonsJohn Wiley & Sons, Inc., also referred to as Wiley, is a global publishing company that specializes in academic publishing and markets its products to professionals and consumers, students and instructors in higher education, and researchers and practitioners in scientific, technical, medical, and...
- Environmental Practice, ISSN: 1466-0474 (electronic) 1466-0466 (paper), Cambridge University PressCambridge University PressCambridge University Press is the publishing business of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII in 1534, it is the world's oldest publishing house, and the second largest university press in the world...
- Environmental Quality Management, ISSN: 1520-6483 (electronic) 1088-1913 (paper), John Wiley & SonsJohn Wiley & SonsJohn Wiley & Sons, Inc., also referred to as Wiley, is a global publishing company that specializes in academic publishing and markets its products to professionals and consumers, students and instructors in higher education, and researchers and practitioners in scientific, technical, medical, and...
- Journal of Environmental Economics and ManagementJournal of Environmental Economics and ManagementThe Journal of Environmental Economics and Management is a peer-reviewed academic journal of environmental economics published six times per year. It is the official journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists and publishes theoretical and empirical papers concerned with the...
- Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, ISSN: 1360-0559 (electronic) 0964-0568 (paper), RoutledgeRoutledgeRoutledge is a British publishing house which has operated under a succession of company names and latterly as an academic imprint. Its origins may be traced back to the 19th-century London bookseller George Routledge...
- Journal of Environmental Management, ISSN: 0301-4797, ElsevierElsevierElsevier is a publishing company which publishes medical and scientific literature. It is a part of the Reed Elsevier group. Based in Amsterdam, the company has operations in the United Kingdom, USA and elsewhere....
- Environmental ValuesEnvironmental ValuesEnvironmental Values is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal of ecological economics. Subjects covered are philosophy, economics, politics, sociology, geography, anthropology, ecology, and other disciplines, which relate to the present and future environment of human beings and other species....
See also
- Actor analysisActor analysisActor analysis can be seen as an approach to environmental management. Environmenal issues are often very complex, because many parties are involved. All parties have their own interests, goals and strategies...
- Cleaner productionCleaner productionCleaner production is a preventive, company-specific environmental protection initiative. It is intendend to minimize waste and emissions and maximize product output. By analysing the flow of materials and energy in a company, one tries to identify options to minimize waste and emissions out of...
- Eco-Management and Audit SchemeEco-Management and Audit SchemeThe Eco-Management and Audit Scheme is a voluntary environmental management instrument, which was developed in 1993 by the European Commission. It enables organisations to assess, manage and continuously improve their environmental performance. The scheme is globally applicable and open to all...
- Environmental impact assessmentEnvironmental impact assessmentAn environmental impact assessment is an assessment of the possible positive or negative impact that a proposed project may have on the environment, together consisting of the natural, social and economic aspects....
- Environmental management systemEnvironmental Management SystemEnvironmental management system refers to the management of an organization's environmental programs in a comprehensive, systematic, planned and documented manner....
- Environmental management schemeEnvironmental management schemeAn environmental management scheme is a mechanism by which landowners and other individuals and bodies responsible for land management can be incentivised to manage their environment.-Australia:...
- Environmental Quality ManagementEnvironmental Quality ManagementEnvironmental Quality Management, Inc. is an environmental engineering and remediation company headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio that has been active in providing environmental remediation support in response to terrorist attacks, the space shuttle disaster, superfund site cleanup, hazardous...
- ISO 14000ISO 14000The ISO 14000 environmental management standards exist to help organizations minimize how their operations negatively affect the environment The ISO 14000 environmental management standards exist to help organizations (a) minimize how their operations (processes etc.) negatively affect the...
- ISO 19011ISO 19011ISO 19011 is an international standard that sets forth guidelines for:*quality management systems auditing*environmental management systems auditingIt is developed by the International Organization for Standardization....
- Planetary managementPlanetary managementPlanetary management is intentional global-scale management of Earth's biological, chemical and physical processes and cycles . Planetary management also includes managing humanity’s influence on planetary-scale processes...
External links
- Economic Costs & Benefits of Environmental Management NOAA Economics
- business.gov - provides businesses with environmental management tips, as well as tips for green business owners] (United States)
- Low Hock Heng (2003). Globalisation, Business and Environmental Management: to Correct the Broken Compass?. Jurnal Kemanusiaan ISSN 1675-1930.