FREE online courses on Environmental management system - Environmental
Management System
Introduction
Certain environmental issues have been discussed in the
earlier chapters and other issues are being take up in the subsequent chapters.
These issues are too important to remain at a level of academic thinking or
discussion. We have described that growing recognition about environmental
issues now exists at every level in public, governments and corporate
organizations. We have seen new environmental legislation being passed and
implemented, though not satisfactorily. All this came about as a consequence of
forces arising out of political, social, health, economic, cultural scientific
and other such factors. The environmental problems, both at global and national
levels have brought a new awakening, awareness, concerns and even anxieties.
These problems have already affected the living conditions of many people,
specially those living in developing countries and in due course will affect
developed countries.
The environment provides services as well as physical habitat
to live and if the habitat is damaged, how could life remain normal. The
environment provides resources which are used for producing goods and services
chiefly by industrial sector. Some of the resources are not renewable and those
which are renewable do not get renewed at the same pace as they are consumed. We
have also seen that production processes result in producing not only the
desired products but also the wastes. How are wastes going to be managed?
It has therefore become imperative that resource conservation
and environmental protection must now become a part of overall management and
Environmental Management System (EMS) be adopted as a strategy for meeting the
expectations of the society as well as for sustainable growth. Not only this but
EMS must take cognizance of nature, not infinite but nature finite. The nature
has been providing sustenance and protection to living creatures including human
but now nature is in need for protection from human. EMS must take into
consideration the fact that world is now moving towards innovations in
technology which often denies legitimacy of environmental themes. To bring these
under the ambit of environmental considerations, the structure of organizations
will need to be changed to understand the ecological reality.
In summary, it is fair to say that we have only begun to
adopt EMS in a responsible way both in national and global perspectives. It is
our hope that our relationship with nature and its resources would be perceived
at every level, especially political and corporate, with a sense of urgency and
acute sensitivity.
Till 1970's the slogan was “limit to growth” which means
environmental management to “aim at resource conservation at local, community or
national level”. During 1980's and 1990's the situation changed. The
environmental issues became global, though they originate at local or national
level. Added to this, is the belief that with new technology, free trade and
product innovation, environmental protection and regeneration of ecosystem is
possible. According to this school of thought environmental and resource
management is more a problem of efficiency in energy use, substitution of
nonrenewable or recycling technology. In this way more could be produced. But
the question is whether more production is achieved without increase in raw
materials or resource base. If the resource base/raw material is finite, can we
increase production?
