The EU Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) in the Nature Park Mont Avic
Best Practice
Topics
Policies and instruments
Protected areas
Short description
* Project updated on 9 May 2007 according to information from the project contact persons * The Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) is the EU voluntary instrument which acknowledges organisations that improve their environmental performance on a continuous basis. EMAS registered organisations are legally compliant, run an environment management system and report on their environmental performance through the publication of an independently verified environmental statement. The Natural Park Mont Avic registered EMAS in May 2003. Since then important improvements of the working processes have been registered. The Park administration is now an example for other enterprises and organisations to certify their management systems.
Project executive
Natural Park Mont Avic
European Union
Participants
Natural Park Mont Avic
Objectives
In a steadily changing environment consumers and shareholders are increasingly demanding environmentally-friendly products and services that are delivered by socially responsible companies. It is becoming increasingly important for organisations to demonstrate that not only their philosophies but also their investment strategies and day-to-day operations are sustainable. Therefore some of the aims of the EMAS registration are: 1. quality environmental management due to the use of a highly developed scheme; 2. contribution to environmental risk management of the organisation; 3. resource savings and lower costs according to the organisation's needs; 4. reduction of financial burdens due to reactive management strategies such as remediation, cleanups and paying penalties for breach of legislation; 5. financial benefits through better control of operations; 6. incentive to eco-innovate production processes while environmental impacts are rising world-wide; 7. new business opportunities in markets where green production processes are important; 8. added credibility and confidence with public authorities, other businesses and customers / citizens; 9. improved relations with the local community; 10. improved quality of workplaces, employee morale and incentive to team building; 11. marketplace advantage and improved company image by improving stakeholder relations.
Activities
There were no new activities resulting from the EMAS registration. But the Natural Park has improved its working processes and the activities are now carried out with more effectiveness.
Process
To receive EMAS registration the Nature Park has complied with the following steps: 1. conduct an environmental review considering all environmental aspects of the organisation’s activities, products and services, methods to assess these, its legal and regulatory framework and existing environmental management practices and procedures; 2. in the light of the results of the review, establish an effective environmental management system aimed at achieving the organisation’s environmental policy defined by the top management. The management system needs to set responsibilities, objectives, means, operational procedures, training needs, monitoring and communication systems; 3. carry out an environmental audit assessing in particular the management system in place and conformity with the organisation’s policy and programme as well as compliance with relevant environmental regulatory requirements; 4. provide a statement of its environmental performance which lays down the results achieved against the environmental objectives and the future steps to be undertaken in order to continuously improve the organisation’s environmental performance; 5. the environmental review, EMS, audit procedure and the environmental statement must be approved by an accredited EMAS verifier; 6. the validated statement needs to be sent to the EMAS Competent Body for registration in the concerned country and made publicly available.
Results
The Natural Park was certified ISO 14 001 in February 2003 and registered EMAS in May. It was the first protected area in Europe to register the Eco-Management and Audit Scheme. A year after the registration the natural Park noticed an improvement on its capacities to lead its institutional activities by guarantying and supporting more efficiently the knowledge, the conservation and protection and the valorisation of its natural and cultural heritage. A significant improvement was notified in the collaboration with other institutions and the local communities. The improvement of this relations was also after the enlargement of the surface of the protected area (+ 2 225 ha) in 2004. In 2004, the year after the registration a higher number of visitor has been registered on the parks website. The park has gained a higher effectiveness due to a better organization of the different working processes. In the field of communication there was a real improvement, the park has improved its capacities to communicate with the public and to spread knowledge. As of May 2007 the EMAS certification has been confirmed until December 2009.
Evaluation
The Natural Park is controlled two times a year by external EMAS controllers. Besides the external control there are different internal controls and evaluations between two and four times a year. A steady control of the application of the EMAS criteria is assured by the staff all the year.
The main strategies of the project didn’t change during the implementation phase. The control of the application of the EMAS criteria, anyway, permitted to solve problems during the implementation phase. The most relevant one was cause by the enlargement of the surface of the protected area decided by the Region Val d’Aoste in 2004 with the inclusion of some lateral valleys. This fact obliged the project team to modify the environment management analysis.
In 2007 the Nature Park published the new "Environment declaration" (download www.montavic.it), valid for 2006-2009. Its aim is to inform the public about the state of conservation and valorisation of the territory, ecosystems and biodiversity.
Difficulties
In a relatively small institution like the Natural Park, the lack of experience and time obliged the management authorities to engage external consultants for the registration process. The slight dimension of the Natural Park, anyway, was considered as a positive factor. Project management were able not only to assess an efficient recognition of priorities, but also to divided rationally tasks and responsibilities among participants. These decisions could be consider as the main success factor during the implementation phase. In these phase, anyway, the Natural Park encountered insufficient financial resources, but the problem was solved because the Region Val d’Aosta partially covered the shortage.
Financial backer
The EMAS registration was funded by 100% by the Region Val d’Aoste in the frame of the “Rural development plan”. The preparatory phase was completely financed by the Region. In the following phases, the Park itself covered some parts of the project. Now the park still receives a help of 30 and 50% of the funding from the Region.
