EMS 2008 Abstracts

In the last few years, economic, social and environmental development have been described as equal pillars of sustainable development (SD). However today we see that economic development in public perception is increasingly positioned behind social, and foremost, environmental concerns. This may be reflected in current and future regional or national policies and the use of standards. A number of trends in the international and European market place show growing sophistication in private market requirements imposed on small and medium enterprises (SMEs). This has led to an acceleration of elaborated policies frameworks and incentives from the public sector targeting the same group. Multiple certification requirements and performance requirements go hand in hand with legal compliance and reporting, and constitute a significant barrier to a number of small economic players. A growing number of voluntary labelling and/or certification systems assuring credibility on claims for the sustainability agenda are also becoming mandatory.

This is demonstrated by a significant growth of ethical and ‘fair trade’ standards and initiatives and a strong return to an environmental agenda driven by climate change, resource shortages, and loss of biodiversity.

Over the last 20 years or so, voluntary instruments have been used as additions to regulatory instruments as part of the overall ‘toolbox’ to foster environmental change. Now however, these instruments have becoming more important and may potentially trigger better results than traditional laws. Today 70% of business to business transactions in Europe are subject to technical specifications and ISO 14001 and EMAS are a growing part of this.

The largest exposed target group to these changes in regulations, incentives and perceptions is that of small business, which constitutes 90% of the economic tissue worldwide. High transaction costs linked to be in compliance with market based and modern policy induced standards are a solid barrier and problem for the SME’s. This paper describes a number of programs which have been set up in Europe to indirectly support networks, regions and administrations to move forward and upgrade SME’s to be part of a modern demanding marketplace. 

The Naval Communication Station, Harold E. Holt (NCS HEH) was constructed between 1963 and 1967. The operations at NCS HEH centre around a Very Low Frequency transmitter and antenna array that is used by American and Australian Naval Forces for communication with submarines.

Due to the extensive biodiversity of the area, as well as the adjacent Ningaloo Marine Park, managing the environment is of upmost importance to the Department of Defence who currently contract the operations on the Base to Boeing Defence Australia.

In 2002 Boeing Australia began the process of achieving certification to the ISO 14001 environmental management systems standard. Certification of site operations to ISO 14001 was achieved in March 2004. All Boeing Company manufacturing sites, world-wide, are now certified to ISO 14001.

Challenges inherent in a global system include differing legal requirements, site versus corporate attributes for certification and corporate targets versus site specific needs. On site challenges emerge over jurisdictional issues, contract requirements and impacts risk assessment as well as compliance requirements.

The EMS has helped Boeing maintain customer confidence and satisfaction in an increasingly important aspect of operations. It has provided a basis for many sites around the world to link with common and varied issues. As a result global and national reporting has been streamlined and a better understanding of impacts has allowed us to target areas for improvement.

An EMS certification is one way in which this can be achieved at a global level while still maintaining local level targets and objectives.

Australian developed biochar technology is leading the world in demonstrating carbon negative (removing CO₂ from the atmosphere) renewable energy production. The technology recycles waste biomass such as animal manures and municipal greenwaste to produce renewable electricity (displacing fossil fuels) and a very stable form of carbon called biochar which can be sequestered beneficially over the long-term in soils (natural, low-risk sinks). Technology developers BEST Energies have been working closely with NSW Department of Primary Industries to verify their Agrichar^TM biochars potential to both sequester carbon and improve productivity in a range of Agricultural applications. An extensive experimental program including biochar characterisation, pot trials, incubation and leaching studies, and in-field trials in a range of crops including; sweet corn, faba bean, sugar cane, pasture, macadamia nuts and avocados has been expanding over the last four years. The work has scientifically demonstrated that biochar amendment can; improve several soil health indicators, increase crop yields, decrease fertiliser requirements and therefore enhance agricultural sustainability. In addition, Agrichar^TM soil amendment can decrease soil emissions of the potent greenhouse gas nitrous oxide, a significant global warming contributor.

Biochar offers many advantages for environmental management as it combines solutions for biomass waste management and resources recovery, with the production of renewable ‘green’ energy, the increased sustainability of agriculture through biochar application, increased energy efficiency in industry, carbon sequestration and rural development. Several collaborative feasibility studies have been conducted to assess the business case for the commercial role out of the technology for the benefit of Australian industry and farmers. The economic drivers are well understood and the commercialisation pathway and near term applications will be discussed.

Recently soil carbon has become fashionable. Sustainable farming practices have valued and managed carbon in the soil for centuries. Some farming practices reduce soil carbon with consequent declines in productivity and soil resilience. Soil carbon is an important indicator of soil health. It is only a symptom of soil management practice and not the cause of good soil health. Adding carbon alone will not magically transform soils.

Other factors can be measured such as farming inputs. It can be argued that focussing on more efficient and effective use of inputs is far easier to measure and that building soil organic carbon will be a consequence. This paper will consider sustainable farming practices and what we might measure at the farm level.

Other fundamental questions arise such as the protection of productive soil resources and the important role they play in thriving rural communities and the provision of food security for nations. How do we measure the social and environmental benefits of a productive soil resource? The link to the current debate on climate change will also be explored. Finally, the beneficial recycling of organic wastes and ‘closing the loop’ will be discussed.

This paper seeks to provide a broader perspective and context within which to discuss ‘soil carbon’.

This paper aims to demonstrate how spatial datasets may be brought together within an online environment to facilitate the planning, management and monitoring of biosequestration projects. The tools described in this paper are both analytical and descriptive and the spatial element provided by remotely sensed data facilitates the management of large spatial areas in an easily accessible, cost effective manner. As such, the tools and approaches demonstrated in this paper could be readily incorporated into an Environmental Management System (EMS).

The Environmental Management System (EMS) management cycle incorporates ‘Plan’, ‘Do’, ‘Check’, and ‘Act’ aspects within a process of continuous improvement, with the goal being improved business and environmental performance. With the advent of greenhouse gas emissions reporting and trading there is then impetus to include the management of carbon within the EMS framework (Toal 2009). From the perspective of carbon sequestration through biosequestration, which is particularly relevant to agriculture and forestry activities, the often large areas involved need to be efficiently planned, managed and monitored. This may be efficiently carried out in an online environment by integrating a range of spatial data sets. Such data may include remotely sensed estimates of tree growth and biomass increase in combination with land title and property boundary information.

Following requests from the forestry industry in Western Australia, Landgate (the Western Australian Land Information Authority) began development of a suite of online tools to cost effectively plan, monitor and manage biosequestration plantings and meet regulatory and reporting requirements under a carbon trading scheme. These innovative tools integrate remotely sensed tree growth and biomass data with other spatial datasets including property boundaries taken from registered carbon rights in an online environment to provide a means of verifying both the existence of projects based on the available property information as well as the amount of carbon sequestered.

This following sections discuss the integration of remotely sensed data with other spatial datasets for the purpose of meeting the science and legal requirements imposed by greenhouse gas emissions reporting and trading which may be pertinent to the ‘planning prior to doing’ and ‘checking prior to acting’ stages within an EMS.

An Environmental Management System (EMS) is not one single entity – it is made up of a myriad of information components At the core an EMS has processes and data in numerous forms, the management of which parallel the overall governance of information management. However, creators or users of an EMS may find it difficult to aptly manage this information, or may believe there is no value in doing so. In order to gain the greatest value from information generated by an EMS, it is crucial to recognise what needs to be managed and why. If the EMS is being developed as part of an initial strategy, the process (from recognition of purpose to the final full implementation and maintenance) becomes the true, unique value to the systems developer/user. However, many unique, potentially significant, EMSs are essentially unrepeatable because the information remains under (or over) managed. The formula for EMS value is therefore effectiveness + repeatability x benefit = $value.

This paper describes simple, unambiguous methods for information management which provide strategic benefit to the system user. It discusses segregating units of information into process, benchmarks and evidence data that are essential to ensure credibility and robustness. Well mastered information then forms the basis of straightforward audit and governance practices. Amongst many benefits, this leads to informed decisions sanctioned with the assurance of current, understandable, absolute and valid data. Options then lead to open communication, sharing or controlled release of the information which may empower strategies of self-expansion, joint venture, intellectual property licensing, sales or any other means of diversification.

Taylors Wines Pty Ltd used innovation and simplicity to develop an EMS for their fully integrated winery, and vineyard facilities at Auburn, Clare Valley, South Australia.

Taylors Wines commenced using the simple EcoMapping™ Environmental Management System (EMS) tool before then progressing with use of the more detailed EMASEasy tool. The EMS has subsequently been successfully externally audited to ISO14001, the first company in Australia to achieve this with these tools.

The Ecomapping^TM EMS tool was integrated into their current management systems, including risk, safety, 5S (lean manufacturing) and maintenance systems. Avoidance of duplicating management systems was seen as important to Taylors Wines. Now all business processes at Taylors Wines has an environmental aspect to their approach.

EcoMapping™ helped to identify five distinct operations within the business, recognised by senior managers who already had functional control over daily operations and lean management techniques. Visualising the significant environmental aspects and developing a clear and achievable environmental management action plan assisted employees and management with identification and justification of projects of all sizes.

Achieving ISO 14001 is seen as a key market positioning tool for Taylors Wines. The EMASEasy tool has also become a key business management tool. It has assisted Taylors Wines to plan and clearly budget for environmental action, define key areas for improvement and better manage and control documents across the company. The integrated plan has allowed Taylors Wines to work with the local community on projects of local and national environmental significance and accurately project an image of a successful and sustainable company.

A moderate investment into the vegetable industry and the creation of partnerships between industry and government has increased the capacity of the Western Australian vegetable growers to gain environmental certification.

The vegetable industry has a series of well documented environmental assurance resources and systems that have been developed at a national scale with the assistance of Department of Agriculture Fisheries and Forestries (DAFF) Pathways to EMS funding. These systems provide information to vegetable growers on how their farming practices can effect the environment and suggest practices that may be more benefical to production, profitablity and the environment.

To make these systems workable on Western Australian vegetable farms, a 12 month project to help growers ‘Walk the Walk’ on environmental assurance was secured by vegetablesWA with funding supported by DAFF. The Department of Agriculture Food Western Australia (DAFWA) Farming for the Future project provided the expertise in natural resource management and environmental management systems. As a result a productive partnership in the management and implementation of the project was established, demonstrating the benefits of DAFWA working with industry to get on-ground change.

Many of the currently recommended practices needed by growers to attain environmental assurance are well documented; vegetablesWA Good Practice Guide, Freshcare’s Environmental workbook, AUSVEG developed EnviroVeg and DAFWA’s Farming for the Future self assessment tool.

While the industry recognises the importance of sustainable practices, it lacks the market drivers for growers to move to 2^nd or 3^rd party external certification. The project saw the capacity of the industry increased, with ten percent of WA vegetable production gaining certification through this project, thus enabling growers to meet any potential market demands.

Two New Zealand farming industry programs (The New Zealand Deer Farmers’ Landcare Manual and Meat and Wool New Zealand’s Land and Environment Plan) have the potential to build into third-party audited and creditable programs to assist in the restoration of water quality in the Rotorua Lakes. Building on this strong industry-owned base will help address one of New Zealand’s most topical environmental issues - the degrading water quality in most of the central North Island lakes, in particular the collection of lakes around Rotorua. Water quality decline in the Rotorua Lakes is linked to nutrient-loss, primarily Nitrogen (N) and Phosphorous (P) from pastoral farming activity and residential sewage. Controversial regulatory measures have been introduced by the local Regional Council, to arrest increasing nutrient-loss rates from farming (Rule 11) and Lakes Action Plans are being implemented to restore the water quality of these lakes. Both the New Zealand Deer Farmers’ Landcare Manual (DFLM) and Meat and Wool New Zealand’s Land and Environment Plan (LEP) require further development to meet Environmental Management Systems (EMS) compatible standards of auditing, monitoring and reporting. This paper describes the development of these two programs, and highlights how formal Stewardship Management Agreements with the Regional Council may lead to better farmer engagement with the Rotorua Lakes water quality issues and potentially reduce the risk of further regulatory impositions limiting farming capability in the lakes catchment areas.

The Australian Government is committed to pursuing in its own operations the same level of change it is seeking to implement in the broader community through its various climate change initiatives. Given that ICT is a significant emitter of greenhouse gases, the Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts, in consultation with the Department of Finance and Deregulation, is developing a Wholeof-Government ICT Sustainability Plan by December 2009. The plan will:

• identify ways of improving ICT environmental performance across government departments, particularly in terms of energy efficiency;

• identify the standards that should be applied in government purchasing of ICT products and services; and

• consider the contribution that ICT can make more broadly to achieving more sustainable practices in the community.

In addition, all agencies will be required to undertake periodic independent ICT energy assessments and large government agencies are required to develop an ICT energy management plan by March 2010.

Medicare Australia is an Australian government agency and plays an integral role in the Australian health sector. Medicare Australia has around 6 000 staff nation-wide and operates a distributed network of 238 Medicare branch offices across the country with the head office in Canberra.

The Australian Government requires that all Federal Government agencies have an Environmental Management System in place. A key requirement of an Environmental Management System (EMS) framework is raising environmental awareness among all staff as well as individuals and companies that directly or indirectly contracts to the organisation. Having in excess of 2 000 employees located in regional or remote areas and only two resources to deliver an ongoing nation-wide environmental message makes the task complex and difficult.

To address these issues and raise national awareness of a green office environment, Medicare Australia’s Environmental Management Unit (EMU) developed five interactive e-learning lessons, known as Green Office Awareness Lessons (GOALs), on energy, paper, water, waste recycling and transport, and deployed these on the corporate intranet site. The content design of the GOALs incorporates simple Facts, Did you Know’s and Hint’n’tips in appreciation of the fact that not all staff are on the same ‘green’ wave length and each one has a different set of environmental values. It also takes into consideration that not all staff had a basic understanding of environmental issues. These GOALs are now included in the human resource capability framework and all induction training programs across the Medicare Australia network. As a consequence of delivery of the GOALs, environmental work practices have improved and Medicare Australia has provided a national consistent approach over a nation-wide network.

Staff immediately embraced the GOALs with 90% being trained within the first three months of publication, guaranteeing consistent and standardised environmental work practices over the property network. Results, such as a 10% reduction in energy consumption, transpired through our monthly energy accounts. To further compliment and enhance the GOALs, an awareness DVD was developed. The DVD has been modelled on the GOALs and also provides relevant information.

The SA Environment Protection Authority has adopted a number of initiatives to assist businesses with improving their environmental performance and minimise confusion. They are integrating their sustainability services with SA Water, Zero Waste SA and Department of Trade & Economic Development in an agreement to form the “Business Sustainability Alliance” (BSA) with an aim to provide a systematic and centralised service to business.

As businesses, particularly SMEs, are attempting to create and implement a full blown EMS in one step, they are highly likely to be thrown into confusion and the system will implode. A series of small steps improves the odds of success.

Businesses are encouraged to infuse a good environmental culture within their business by getting staff to formulate a simple documented environmental action plan using the “Ecomapping” process then to progress into developing more comprehensive systems.

The paper details how this has been applied through the use of an Ecomapping CD, environmental awareness breakfasts, the Environmental Improvers Program, the Resource Efficiency Assistance Program, sustainability agreements and accredited licences.

A brief overview is also given of sector specific programs including the Motor Trades Association, the wine industry and a special segment of applying Ecomapping principles into the aquaculture industry.

Wine businesses around the world continue to watch the carbon debate. Carbon footprints, “food miles” and green credentials have become hotly debated, particularly for Australian wine exporters to European and British markets. The Adelaide Hills Wine Region, whilst interested in carbon issues, is particularly conscious of broader environmental factors, given its location in the water catchment for Adelaide, surrounding biodiversity hot spots and its unique South Australian tourism destination.

The committee of the Adelaide Hills Wine Region (AHWR) prompted action by deciding to offer its members a novel cluster group approach to environmental learning, with the intent that members could participate in environmental change, simply and affordably. The aim was to promote a collaborative support network through exchange of ideas, learning by doing and an outcome of demonstrated environmental improvement.

A cluster of 12 members were offered a simple learning by “doing”, 3 part EMS course using the EcoMapping™ tool. Participants included individual growers and large wine companies. Cluster group sessions allowed themes to be developed, ideas to be exchanged and experiences to be shared both formally and informally during smaller group site visits. The EcoMapping tool enabled participants to simply and clearly record environmental aspects and start developing an environmental action plan. Whilst carbon was a theme, environmental aspects were considered holistically and with regard for national carbon accounting and local water & natural resource management regulations.

Within 6 months, group members had all developed a simple 10 page working EMS. The cluster group approach demonstrated successful development of a regional approach to EMS.

With the current focus on carbon emission trading and greenhouse gas reporting, unfortunately this has become what “going green” is about. There is a decreased awareness of the need to care for other aspects of the environment and many businesses that were considering an EMS are opting for carbon management.

Carbon emission trading is barely even a subset of EMS. The emphasis is on auditing carbon emissions then buying carbon offsets. There is no environmental management plan, risk analysis or system in this and it is expensive.

Many businesses are interested in reducing their emissions by comprehensively reviewing their potential emissions resulting in a carbon management plan, reduction of emissions, tracking of the energy and other waste reductions and a saving of money. Carbon offsets should only be used as a last resort.

When carbon management is done like this, it can be a subset of an EMS

Climate change, unlike any other single environmental issue, has been responsible for the most dramatic change in Australia’s attitude towards the environment. September 2006 marks the date when, at a political, business and community level, environmental debate in Australia evolved from a mostly secondary issue to one set to shape the country’s economic future. The importance of this paradigm shift to the evolution and maturation of environmental management cannot be underestimated. Environmental management stands to change dramatically in a number of crucial ways: the most important of which is a shift away from the environment as a marketing tool to its true valuation within economic production. Equally important is the linking of environmental goals such as biodiversity management and natural resource use to a single tangible economic asset, and the promotion and development of energy and pollution-reduction technologies. The realisation of these opportunities, and the integration of environmental management into mainstream business principles, is ideally delivered through the existing architecture of Environmental Management Systems.

Over the past nine months two horticultural industries have been engaged to develop two separate EMS systems. This presentation will explore the learning outcomes from the EMS development process. In the first instance the stages of exposure are explored in relation to primary industry service providers’ and producers’ reaction to EMS in light of their various backgrounds. The process of adoption and resistance to change are then explored from stakeholder fears and the various points of view from the landholder, industry, Natural Resource Management catchment groups and agricultural scientists.

The presentation discusses the balance required when developing a new tool to complement those existing in the industry, with the aim being to provide a comprehensive EMS without replacing any that have been accepted and adopted in each of the industries. The important points of an EMS are discussed with particular emphasis on knowing where to stop and how to ensure validity and accuracy of information, and its application to specific industry practices.

The case study will also compare and contrast the style of EMS implementation for each production industry. Including the overarching question: What will producers gain from EMS? Thus deriving the aims of EMS for each industry, the case study then explores how the tools and programs are structured to suit industry needs and what industry representatives hope to gain from using an EMS.

Good environmental management is not yet recognised in Western Australia in a way that could attract price premiums, although there are several initiatives that may bring such a premium in the future for primary produce and value added goods.

BestFarms provides a programme involving a two day workshop and ongoing support for the development and implementation of an Environmental Management System (EMS). Feedback from people who have completed and implemented an EMS with BestFarms indicate that there are many and varied rewards for best practice environmental management. The main benefit being an improved environment and the benefits that improvement brings to both lifestyle and the workplace.

Other rewards and recognition are being achieved in the form of improved production, successful grant applications, nominations for environmental awards, peer approval, or maybe just a quiet sense of satisfaction in a job well done.

Industry specific recognition with the potential for certification is well advanced for Entwine (Australian Wine Industry initiative) and in progress to allow certification/environmental labelling for grain, wool, eggs, and vegetables. There is also the potential for engaging in carbon trading.

Following is a brief look at various rewards gained by people who developed and implemented an EMS with BestFarms assistance.

In 2006 the Department of Agriculture and Food Western Australia (DAFWA) initiated the Farming for the Future project to facilitate the uptake of on-farm assurance programs with a focus on demonstrating sustainable production practices in Western Australia (WA). The project identified and worked with industries that had developed, or were developing food safety, quality, environmental or animal welfare assurance programs, and required support for on-farm adoption. Stakeholders came from a range of industries (dairy, grain, sheep and wool, horticulture and wine), and from a range of organisational structures (grower groups, corporations, statutory boards). The establishment of a stakeholder network fostered relationships between the organisations; maximised funding opportunities; and enhanced the sharing of information, tools and training opportunities. The network enabled more timely and cost effective development of assurance processes. Through this network an integrated management systems approach (food safety and quality, and environmental management) was developed for the WA broadacre industry using the Cooperative Bulk Handling (CBH) Group’s BetterFarmIQ food safety and quality assurance program (underpinned by SQF1000^CM Certification), the Blackwood Basin Group’s BestFarms and Mingenew-Irwin Group’s HealthyFarms environmental management systems.

During my six years as an EMS facilitator and ten years as an auditor for organic certification I have seen many different systems and many different approaches to environmental management, property management, organic management, management of certification and total systems management.

Some organisations have healthy robust systems in place, some just bumble along and react to external pressures as they arise; whether being due to market forces, financially motivated or reactions to audit compliance.

The key seems to be the systematic approach. Once there is a systematic approach all elements can be fitted into that system or the system can be expanded to include the new elements.

Once the system is set up utilising standardised templates for documents and records and the process of “plan, do check review” is understood and practised by the all team members, the system can be applied to any issue, any type of operation and/or any activity.

Environmental management can easily be integrated into the total management system, whatever approach that system takes, as long as there is an understanding of a systems approach and a will within the organisation to carry out that approach.

The following are four examples of different systematic approaches which include or have expanded upon an EMS, and the benefits that the case study organisations have found in utilising their particular system.

Climate change will affect international food value chains in many ways. This paper investigates ways in which climate change may affect market requirements for agirfood products and alerts food producers to emerging market demands associated with climate change. Drawing on literature and applied market research in the UK and Japan it is clear that consumers and retailers in some of Australia’s export markets are responding to climate change. Food retailers are applying pressure to their value chains to measure and manage carbon emissions. Although consumers play a role, consumers are not the main driver compelling retailers to respond to climate change. The research suggests that food producers may need to consider market signals in addition to regulatory pressure and/or environmental concern when assessing their response to climate change.

In today’s world of increasingly stringent environmental legislation it makes sense for a company to be able to demonstrate on paper that they are compliant with relevant legal and other obligations. Many organisations use environmental ‘reviews’ or ‘audits’ to demonstrate compliance, however these tools provide only a ‘snap shot’ of performance at any one given time and may not be sufficient to provide the organisation with the assurance that they are meeting their obligations.

This paper describes a simple process by which EMS can be used as a frame work to manage an organisation’s legal compliance requirements, and to document the process such that the organisation can be assured that legal obligations have been taken into account across all facets of the operations. The paper also describes how Tiwest’s Kwinana Pigment Plant has utilised their EMS to assist the plant in meeting their legal and other obligations, using the Water Agencies (Water Use) Bylaws 2007 as a worked example.

Key learnings from Kwinana Pigment Plant’s experience indicates that an EMS can be used to assist a corporation in meeting their environmental legal requirements and can also assist in developing ‘ownership’ of legal requirements and the actions implemented to ensure compliance with them.

The Water Corporation is responsible for compliance with over 2,500 individual environmental legal and other compliance obligations, including conditions imposed by licences, permits, works approvals, various Ministers for Environment (State and Federal), agreements and memoranda of understanding. A comprehensive compliance evaluation process is required to satisfy internal and external scrutiny. This includes the capture and recording of compliance obligations, assignment of responsibility for compliance, monitoring of compliance, and finally internal and external audit of compliance activities. The Water Corporation has developed a robust process to capture compliance obligations, and through a combination of effort from our Environment Branch, Regional operators and Project Managers, we ensure our environmental legal and other requirements are complied with and are audited at appropriate intervals. Non-compliance with environmental legal and other requirements is reported to our Executive, with serious breaches such as DEC notifiable incidents reported to the Economic Regulation Authority (ERA), which issues our operating licence. Our Corporate EMS drives this process, and ensures that non-compliance with environmental legal and other requirements is captured in a central repository, corrective and preventive actions assigned and appropriate follow-up undertaken.

Over the last decade regional NRM bodies, such as the North East Catchment Management Authority (North East CMA) have trialled EMS as a way of achieving environmental outcomes relating to public good issues and as a way to measure on-ground progress towards catchment targets. The EMS process can provide useful data for CMAs including the results of on-farm self-assessments, action plans, target-setting and monitoring. However a number of challenges are faced when trying to make Regional Catchment Strategies and their targets relevant at a number of scales. North East CMA has trialled a web-based EMS system (eFarmer) which incorporates elements of EMS and on-farm and catchment spatial information. Farmers are able to carry out property planning, record paddock data, develop on-farm targets and develop action plans that incorporate catchment targets. The North East region was one of four regions where eFarmer was tested and evaluated. eFarmer was found to be functionally simple and provided a communication link between farmers, extension staff and catchment managers. eFarmer increased the knowledge and capacity of landholders to target high priority works on their properties; this was despite initial low levels of computer skills, low education, varying age groups and whether the participant had a farming or peri-urban background.

Institutional arrangements have a major bearing on how we manage our ecological impacts. However the design of many institutions related to land management is based on skewed interpretations of the economic performance and structure of agricultural industries, interpretations reinforced by the institutions they foster. This interdependence makes it difficult to improve environmental outcomes, not least through the constraint it places on the effective use of environmental management systems and the verification of environmental performance. New understandings or foundations are required to enable land management institutions to be more effective and these foundations need to guide consideration of the 2009 EMSA conference themes. Essentially we need institutional arrangements that foster innovations that build positive feedback loops between reducing adverse environmental impacts and producing internationally competitive products.

The education sector is the place where continuous improvement and lifelong learning collide. The federal government in its recent budget has shown an interest in and commitment to both education and the environment. This paper explores how already established and beneficial partnerships between educational providers, industry bodies, government agencies and land managers can be utilised as an opportune way to utilise this focus.

Within the Agricultural sector over the past 4 years a tide of landholders have undertaken training in Property Planning and a continuation of this training in key areas of interest. To bring this education and already established baseline information into an Integrated Environmental Management System is the next logical step. It provides a multitude of benefits and assists landholders to manage their data flow and meet their growing range of obligations such as legal, financial and social. It builds the resilience of landholders during a period of great change in the global economy and environment.

There has been a lot of research into EMS and its potential uses. Using the established Vocational Education Sector (VET) as the conduit for reaching the outcomes of education, land manager resilience, environmental management and growth of the Australian economy is the rational step.

The VET sector is working on engaging with industry to provide solid outcomes for individuals and industries. Capitalising on this renewed focus, aided by the spotlight provided by the government and the media makes a compelling argument for working together for the benefit of all. Using the established VET sector as the conduit for reaching the outcomes of education, land manager resilience, environmental management and growth of the Australian economy is the rational step.

Livingedge is an Australian owned furniture company that designs and supplies ‘high-end’ furniture pieces to its customers for both home and office settings. All the company sites are certified to ISO9001:2000, the Quality Management System. The company is simultaneously also committed to conserving the natural environment and hence primarily does business with manufacturers who believe and operate in eco-friendly methods too. The company promotes sustainable products through the LivingOn label. These labels detail information to customers on the furniture material content, Good Environmental Choice Accreditation (GECA) and whether the product is carbon offset. The company has implemented a number of procedures to identify, measure, set objectives, control & reduce (as required) the impact of its operations. The company has employed a full time person (‘Manager: Product, People, Planet’) to oversee the aspects related to ecological environment. This paper will report on Livingedge’s journey of implementing environmental initiatives.

A sustainability committee, green team or ewatch group are some common terms businesses and industry use to describe a team of key staff involved in providing leadership in environmental management and sustainability to their staff, suppliers and clients.

This paper will follow the commitment of two sustainability teams (Ewatch committee from Coomes Consulting & Green team from Moorabool Shire Council) to show the similarities and differences government & industry face when communicating & managing sustainability commitment from their committee members through to all staff and stakeholders.

Both committees’ focus on environmental legislation, government policy, local and global sustainability issues EMS objectives and action plans. But one team utilises all committee members through management acknowledgement and recognition, therefore communication and dissemination of sustainability is heavily reliant on all committee members. The other team focuses on 2 key members within the committee that request information from other members on an ad hoc basis with communication & dissemination of sustainability heavily reliant on 2 staff members only.

This paper will highlight the effective and negative impacts each committee system has, but at the same time highlight how each method achieves the same goal in transfer of knowledge & commitment through business & government across to staff and stakeholders.

Land Monitor is a coordinated effort between several state government and federal government agencies. Currently the partners hold an archived time series of 25m data over SW WA from 1988-2002 (every second year) and 2003-2008 (annually). This data is converted into vegetation products to show perennial vegetation extent, change over time, history and trends. Land Monitor also hosts datasets that show areas of consistently low productivity, areas at risk of becoming low producing, as well as a digital elevation model. These data products have been used for bushland management, fire management, salinity management, monitoring vegetation change, and regulation of land clearing regulations. A web map service is available for the public to view this data free of charge. The free subscription service will soon implement limited download of vegetation products.