Environment Management System in Abu Dhabi - Term Paper Example

Environmental Management Abu Dhabi-Case Study Customer Inserts His/Her Name Customer Inserts Grade Course Customer Inserts Tutor’s Name Insert Date Here (Day, Month, Year) Introduction The Environment Management System (EMS) has been conceptualized to reduce pollution and maintain conducive environment. It helps in improvement of the performance in the environment. According to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), Environment Management System is “part of the overall practices, procedures, processes and resources for developing, implementing, achieving, reviewing and maintaining the environmental policy.” (Olson 1999: 170) It’s major concern is the proper implementation of the environment management practices. It forms the framework according to which environment agencies can carry out policies and procedures conducive for their effective management and reduction of the pollution. It permits federal agencies and facilities to adapt the system according to their needs and priorities. It makes organisation helps in managing the environment and health related matters. The EMS has been build on Plan , Do Check and Act methods. (Rashed, Hasaneen, Edward & Dwagi 2008: 383) Planning means identification of the goals of the environment and its various aspects; Do means implementing the plan including monitoring and preparing action plan; Check means monitoring the effective implementation of the plans; and Acting means reviewing including making the progress review and forming the action plans to impart necessary changes for the Environment Management System which can result in the benefit of both the business and environment. (Rashed, Hasaneen, Edward & Dwagi 2008: 383) Environment Management System has many benefits like it helps in reducing costs by reducing the wastes and inducing the respective organisations to make effective use of the natural resources like electricity, water, gas and fuels, avoidance of fines and penalties if environment legislation is not met as it helps in the identification of the risks imposed by the environment and reduce weaknesses if any and it also decreases the cost of the insurance by giving better results. It also helps in the improvement of the performance level in the most efficient way and is able to monitor the business in the most effective way. (The Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts 2008: Online) To protect the environment is one of the most important objectives of the UAE. The government formed the Federal Environmental Agency (FEA) which has most important laws and regulations and serve as the most important function to keep check on different agencies and government bodies to maintain environment standards. For e.g. this should be an aim of the several construction projects to implement the environmental assessment process. The complete review should be necessitated and certified by the Emirate-level enforcement authorities. Besides, other federal ministries also have their duties assigned to protect environment in specific areas. For e.g. The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries have formulated the laws which are related to agriculture, pesticides and marine resources, Ministry for Presidential Affairs oversees forestry and agriculture programmes and funds groundwater research, in the same way each of the emirates has its respective duties to follow the laws pertaining to environment through its own local environmental regulatory authority. The emirate of Abu Dhabi has also set up the Environmental Research and Wildlife Development Agency (ERWDA), one of the largest and most proactive of the local authorities in the UAE. My following case study is related to the suggested Environment Management Plan and how the management plan can help Abu Dhabi Civil Defense in reducing pollution in Abu Dhabi. (Executive Office of the President of USA 2005:2) Pollution in Abu Dhabi The main concern in the Abu Dhabi city is the air pollution caused by the increasing emissions of the “sulphur dioxide (SO2), carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), ground-level ozone (O3), particular matter (PM10) and lead (Pb).” (Environmental Agency 2009: Online) The main source of air pollution in Abu Dhabi is the oil and gas industry followed by the power and transportation sectors. It also has large quantity of natural level of matter in the air. Companies like Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) and its group of companies are responsible for the maximum pollutants immersing from exploration and production, refining, gas processing, and petrochemicals industry. Strategies for the Control of Pollution Many environmental strategies and action plans have been initiated to control environment like “National Environmental Strategy and Work Plan of the United Arab Emirates” (2000), “Regional Action Plan for the Conservation of Coral Reefs in the Arabian Seas Region” and the “Kuwait Action Plan”, among others. Environment Management System (EMS) acts under the norms lay down by ISO 14001:2004 allowing organisation to identify and control the impact of environment and its activities, products and services. It looks at the improvement in the environment performance and to establish a systematic approach for setting up objectives and targets for the same. The National Environmental Strategy and the National Action Plan of the UAE The Federal Environment Agency formulated the National Environmental Strategy and the National Environmental Action Plan for the UAE. The action plan and the strategy was adopted and put to practice in 2002 as related to the national policies for conservation of the natural resources and its sustainable use. These strategies were used in the context of the conservation of the sustained natural resources and the sectors they covered included Municipalities, Water Resources, Marine Environment, Planning and Urban Environment, Agriculture and Land, Oil and Gas etc. UAE has been taking care of wildlife and protection of endangered species since early times and a series of marine protected areas were established. To take this step further, The Federal Environmental Agency is carrying out a preliminary study to protect the areas in UAE. As per its initiative, the Ministry of Communication is also initiating its plan to secure life and belongings in air, sea and on lands and as the initiative to have a know about the climatic change in the country, Government is forming an administration for metrology equipping it with satellites. Under the legal Framework, UAE issued Law No 24 for the protection of the Environment and development of the same in 1999. It includes development of natural resources, sustaining bio diversity, development of wild life environment resources, increasing the ways it could protect and develop the agricultural areas including constriction of activities that could damage the vegetation cover. Almost all the wastewater in the Abu Dhabi is treated and again used. Emirates of Abu Dhabi set up Abu Dhabi Sewerage Services Company (ADSSC) with assets having value of US$2.45 billion. ADSSC is also envisaging the building of four treatment plants to treat the amount of wastes increasingly spread from the development activities and for the collection of the medical wastes, there are two private companies. (UAE Report To UNCCD 2002: Online) Kuwait Action Plan This Action Plan also known as Kuwait Action Plan has intention and purpose to meet the needs of the environment capabilities of ROPME Member States like Bahrain, I.R Iran, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates and aims at the implementation of the coordinated national and regional programmes. The Action Plan constitutes four main parts: “Environmental Assessment, Environmental Management, Legal Component and Institutional and Financial Arrangements.” (ROMPE 2003: Online) With an aim to protect the marine life along with the human health and for fulfillment of the goal, Kuwait Action Plan aims at assessing the state of environment including socio-economic development related to the quality of environment; assisting Government in dealing with the environmental problems especially related to the marine environment; framing of guidelines as well as legalities for initiating efforts in a cooperative way; and giving support to any mechanism and structure required for the implementation of the action plan successfully. Directorate of Civil Defense (GDCD) Civil Defense of the UAE ensures protection of the people, their public and private property, guarantees of the functioning of the communication and transport system and ensures that the social activities are carried out in continuity. It also ensures protection of national heritage buildings and other public properties in both the times of war and peace. They also have responsibility to protect oil and gas operational fields. During their protection process either of life or property, the materials and equipments they use result in dampening of the environment. On many occasions, immersions of the gases and their processes may have a devastating effect on the environment. They should follow the ISO 14000: 2004 and ISO 14004: 2004 Environmental Management System. It helps in identifying and controlling the impact on any of its activities, services or products on environment, maintains the Civil Defense’s performance in the environment and formulates an approach for the implementation of the objectives and targets related to the reduction of pollution. According to ISO 14001, the Civil Defense must maintain requirement of emergency management plans but however the system could vary according the condition and situation. It is the duty of the Civil Defense to adopt every measure to prevent any kind of disaster and reduce its effects but along with it they have to look that the environment is also not affected and for this purpose it is suggested they follow Environment Management System. They should help minimize pollution, reduce waste and resource consumption at various levels in the organisation and for sustainable development. For their day-to-day activities, they help the Environment Protection Division for protecting, increasing and conserving the environment. It helps in the implementation of the most adequate management practices with the help of the monitoring and in the utilization of the legal and technical instruments. They should see that the equipments they use must not produce harmful gases. In today’s global scenario, the biggest threat on the environment for any nation is the threat of nuclear bombs, biological threat, chemical threat and similar threats. Each threat includes prevention measures that can involve civilian life. These are not only harmful for the nation but also for the whole environment. Other initiatives As Abu Dhabi National Oil Company has successfully launched UAE first Natural Gas Filling station for vehicles with the main purpose to protect environment, Civil Defense system should also make use of it. With the help of the ADNOC, Civil Defense system can protect the environment by controlling fuel vapor emissions and shifting towards the burning fuels, which could in turn reduce the combustion of emissions by products. They should also run the vehicles with the help of the Natural Gas, which can prevent pollution and take initiative to spread the awareness of the same around whole city. They should also maintain that their fully equipped emergency response vehicles and trained staff can have all provisions for not only safety of the people but also are environment friendly. Conclusion Environment has been a major concern for almost all over the world especially among the developing and developed nations and for this purpose Environment Management System has been formulated which has become the most crucial aspect of any government and an agency. For its functioning, government must maintain that every organisation is conforming to the environment legislation as laid down by the ISO 4001. Every action plan must follow the action plan constituting four main parts i.e. Environmental Assessment, Environment Management, Legal Component and Institutional and Financial Arrangements. Due to the increasing amount of pollution due to rapid industrialization, urbanization and transport system, government was forced to spend around Dh18 billion to reduce the health problems that resulted from the emission of the gases from vehicles alone. Government is also concerned about the lakes that have turned into quagmire and have reached higher pollution level and here the Civil Defense comes into play. They are taking the initiatives and necessary steps to control the air pollution by putting into practical application of environmental legislation that could reduce the emissions of Carbon di Oxide. They are also involved in widening of the roads, inducing citizens to use public transport system, introducing the alternative transport system, bringing into the reach of the people unleaded gasoline instead of fuel, and very minimum carbon diesel and moreover natural gas has also begun to be used more. Importance is being felt to use more of the modern techniques like monitoring, controlling, in the management of the air pollution and in conducting more of the research processes and studies to bring out the effect air pollution has on health of the people and social and economic impact it creates. Reference List Brady, J. 2005. Environmental Management in Organizations: The IEMA Handbook London: Earthscan. Dupont, R.R., Theodore, L. & Ganeshan, K. 2000. Pollution Prevention: The Waste Management Approach for the 21st Century. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press. Environmental Agency. Abu Dhabi Air Quality Monitoring and Management Project. 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