Environmental Management System: Implementation, Adoption, and Limitations in Australian Agriculture Sector

Running Head: Environmental Management System
Environmental Management System
Essay
System04104
9/11/2018

Environmental Management System
1
Environmental Management Systems: Implementation, Adoption, and
limitations in Australian Agriculture Sector
The ‘Environmental Management System (EMS)’ in Australia, is supported and regulated by
the Australian government to assist the agricultural sector and its grain and beef production.
As the world become more polluted the main agenda behind creating EMS is to focus on food
production by providing advanced technology to agricultural sector in order to produce
quality grains and also support other production system (such as beef production, cattle
feedlots, piggeries, and battery hens etc.) which all are part of Australian agriculture
(Nguyen, et.al, 2014).
The terms ‘clean and green' are highly used in Australian agriculture which means the food is
produced free of contamination, while ‘green' refers to food that is produced and processed
with the help of natural resources and environmentally acceptable things. The green product
should be extended to the packaging and distribution of products and are free from genetic
engineering that causes dangerous disease such as Cancer.
1. What is EMS?
EMS is a methodical approach, which concerned with organisational regulations, controlling,
structure, planning, and review of the organisational operations and activities thus the adverse
impacts of the organisational activities should be minimised on the environment. The major
focus of EMS is to measure and control the impacts of production on the environment rather
than regulating the quality of end products. EMS is a management tool that helps the
Australian government to manage day-to-day environmental hazards that are occurring
because of using artificial techniques and chemicals for producing agricultural products (de
Oliveira, et. al, 2017).
2. Key objective of EMS
The three key objectives of EMS reflect the three broad environmental problems of the world
and that can be so harmful to our community. Therefore, these objectives can be transformed
into three key drivers, which are as follow:
1. The management of natural resources and focuses on environmental issues such as
conservation of water, soil, biodiversity, and vegetation

Environmental Management System
2
2. Focuses on competitiveness objectives (such as better product quality, price, and
standard, input-output efficiencies, and efficient production)
3. Social objectives (farmers, landholders, and community to protect cultural heritage
and care about occupational health and safety matters)
3. ISO 14001:2015 and 14040:2006
There are many different frameworks for EMS, however, ISO 14000 series is adopted by
both Australian and New Zealand as the preferred standard. The ISO 14001:2015 and ISO
14040:2006 are the two major internationally accepted standards. Both helps and guide to
successfully implementing the EMS system in agriculture system. The ISO 14001:2015 is a
tool that helps EMS program and applicable to any organisation regardless of the nature and
size of the organisation. These two international standards monitor and control the products,
services, and other environmental activities that beyond of organisational control. The ISO
14001:2015 does not support any precise environmental performance criteria rather it support
to eliminate those activities that harm our environment. The other ISO standard 14040:2006
describe the main approach and outline for life cycle assessment (LCA) that includes life
cycle inventory analysis (LCI), basics (definition, goals, and scope) of the LCA. Further, it
describes the pros and cons of LCA. It covers all the detail information about LCA but failed
to describe the techniques of LCA in details and also failed to specify practices for the
separate stages of the LCA (ISO, 2006).
The effectiveness of other agriculture programs of Australia support environmental
management system to proper use and management of water and soil, thus the adverse effect
of it on the environment can be prevented. These programs are working together with other
environmental programs. EMSs are systems employed to successfully manage the
environmental effects and minimise the environmental risks that are associated with business
activities. Mainly Australian government focuses on agriculture sector along with beef and
dairy farming. On the basis and guidelines provided by international standard ISO 14001,
EMS was designed to be applying in every small and large organisation, which affects the
environment through their business operation. However, the Australian government
discovering its self-capability of achieving those targets of EMS with the purpose of
connecting farm-level actions the targets they set for environmental protection in both short
and long time period. Australian government and catchment management both regulatory