Environmental management systems as adaptive natural resource management: Case studies from agriculture

Abstract

There are strong parallels between Environmental Management Systems (EMS) and Adaptive Management (AM); both focus on a cycle of continuous improvement through planning, doing, checking and acting and they both enable the modification of management practices based on monitoring. AM is a science-based structure for natural resource management. The strength of AM is that it brings a scientific approach to the management of complex biological, ecological, economical and social processes and that is what agriculture is. EMS can be based on an international standard. A manager using EMS identifies likely environmental impacts and legal responsibilities and implements and reviews changes and improvements in a structured way. EMS was developed so it could be used in all business sectors. The complexity of issues facing agricultural managers can provide a challenge to the application of EMS within that sector, however at the same time the process involved in developing an EMS can assist greatly in reducing and clarifying the complexity. An understanding and application of AM can also assist the application of EMS in agriculture. Importantly, in both AM and EMS the modifications are continual and can be determined mid-course. This chapter draws on an analysis of a group of 17 agricultural EMS case studies as examples of adaptive management in an industry that uses natural resources.