Environmental risks and impacts - Environmental Deterioration and Contamination: Problems and their Management - page 213

growing without deteriorating the environment. Instead of conquering nature, one
should live in harmony with it in a pragmatic way. But how can we do this? It is only one
aspect of the necessary changes: individuals should become more pragmatic and
more environmentally conscious (this is the aim of the social movement of environmen-
talism), and the other, which maybe a much stronger aspect is the right management
of the environment, which is not “easy'' like an individual decision, but a complex
political, legal, social and educational task, with many contradictory interests, poor
knowledge and lack of experience.

8 HOWTO MANAGE THE ENVIRONMENT EFFICIENTLY?

Managing the environment is a multidisciplinary activity. It requires effective manage-
ment tools, a wide range of risk-reducing technologies, up-to-date information about
the environment, legislation and standards, for example, uniform methods and proto-
cols, as well as management systems. In addition to environmental, natural, chemical
and biological bases, legal, economic and social approaches play an important role in
decision making in the course of environmental management.
An environmental management system (EMS) is a complex system in aid of
continuously planning, implementing, controlling and correcting every activity of a
company.
EMSs exist in standardized forms too. In company management schemes, the
ISO 14000 standard series is the most widely used standard for environmental risk
management—the relevant standards from this series are given in the reference list
(ISO, 2007). It is harmonized with the European Eco-Management and Audit Scheme
(EMAS, 2009). ISO 19011 (2002) explains the combination of environmental man-
agement with quality management. Two other standards play an important role in
company management: ISO/IEC 27001 (2005) on information security management
and ISO 26000 (2010) on social responsibility.
The European IPPC Directive (2008) requires a permit for activities with a high
pollution potential, which must contain a number of specific requirements, including
the following:

- Emission limit values for polluting substances;

- Any soil, water and air protection measures required;

- Waste management measures;

- Measures to be taken in exceptional circumstances (leaks, malfunctions, tempo-

rary or permanent stoppages, etc.);

- Minimization of long-distance or transboundary pollution;

- Release monitoring;

- All other appropriate measures.

Application of an EMS ensures the management of an organization's environmen-
tal programs in a comprehensive, systematic, planned and documented way. It helps
in the following:

- Serves as a tool to improve environmental performance;

- Provides a systematic way of managing an organization's environmental affairs;