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A forum report to explore implementation
by Tony Gleeson
July 2007
RIRDC Publication No 07/093 RIRDC Project No WS056-14
Executive Summary
What the report is about
This report describes and
extends discussions at a forum on the need for and the design of a voluntary
Australian land management certification system. The forum was held on
the 9th May 2006 in Canberra.
What we did
We provided a loosely structured
forum to enable people committed to improving environmental outcomes to
talk.
Into this forum we injected ideas from our experience in designing and testing a land management certification system, the Australian Landcare management system (ALMS). Additionally we demonstrated the utility of using a web based planning and information management tool to assist in the development, maintenance and auditing of such systems and in the collation and dissemination of information arising from environment management systems.
After the forum we moulded ideas from the forum into steps for implementing a voluntary Australian land management certification system. These steps reflect our extensive practical land management and policy development experiences and our previous work on the nature of creativity, on institutional constraints on creativity, on how innovation occurs and on how people manage complexity in a variety of situations, including in land management.
The forum
The forum was convened by
Australian Landcare Management System Ltd (ALMS Ltd) to further consider
the implications of earlier work by ALMS Ltd and other organisations. Forum
participants were asked to consider the implementation of a voluntary Australian
land management certification system or systems.
The forum was opened by the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Ms Sussan Ley MP, who was introduced by the Member for Maranoa, Mr Bruce Scott MP.
Forum participants included progressive landholders and representatives of environmental organisations, government agencies, universities and agribusiness. A list of forum participants is included in Appendix 1.
On the days before and after the forum, in Canberra and Sydney respectively, ALMS Ltd provided an open opportunity for interested individuals and organisations to attend seminars at which the proposal for the certification system was presented. About 60 people attended those seminars.
Context
Improving global environmental
outcomes is now a prime focus for policy and practice development in the
private, public and community sectors. Understandably the management of
our environmental impacts in rural Australia is included within this broader
focus leading to massive increases in the volume of environmental regulation,
the number and costs of support programs and to organisational experimentation,
as in the establishment of catchment management authorities throughout
Australia.
Notwithstanding these initiatives the continuing deterioration in the ecological condition of much of rural Australia necessitates that, as land managers, we continue to seek insightful ways to better manage our environmental impacts. This is why landholders established the not-for-profit company, Australian Landcare Management System Ltd (ALMS Ltd).
The thinking within the Board of ALMS Ltd is fairly straightforward, and it goes along these lines.
Land managers need to improve environmental outcomes by strengthening positive environmental impacts and by reducing or abolishing negative impacts of their activities.
ALMS Ltd is committed to assisting land managers meet this challenge by developing practical and effective management systems and tools and through enabling greater recognition for improved land management.
ALMS Ltd now has a management system and tools that work reasonably well. However there is a desperate need to enable greater recognition for improved land management. This is why ALMS Ltd convened this forum on the implementation of a voluntary Australian land management certification system.
Implementation of a voluntary land management certification system is one of the keys to improving environmental management as it will unlock existing drivers and enable new drivers to emerge for improving land management. In this way it will strengthen the motivations and capabilities of land managers to improve environmental outcomes.
Previous work
Previous work by ALMS Ltd
has resulted in:
It is beyond the scope
of this project to review all relevant past and continuing work. However
whilst ALMS is unique in some design and operational aspects the positions
reached on many issues by ALMS Ltd also are evident in the Watermark Environmental
Stewardship Project and the Gippsland and North East Catchment Management
Authority EMS programs.
In fact there is much common ground.
We know that land managers who wish to improve environmental outcomes can implement a certifiable land management system. We know that many more would do it, and stay doing it, if the rewards were more tangible. We know that such rewards are far less likely to be realised if there is no credible system to recognise improved land management.
But what we do not know is whether we are able to manage the political, policy, organisational and financial constraints to implementing such a system; and that now is our challenge.
Forum conclusions
All invitees to the forum
either participated or indicated that they would have had they been able.
Organisations were represented at senior levels.
It was not possible to accommodate all groups currently involved in environment management system programs. However the managers of current environment management programs were invited and participated.
Forum participants contributed constructively, at times forcefully, and there was a strong indication that participants wished that action would follow the forum.
The conclusions of the forum were as follows:
Is there a need for recognition
of improved land management?
Forum participants concluded
that a credible voluntary national system for recognising improved land
management should be implemented so as to enable existing drivers for improving
land management to operate more effectively and to enable the development
of additional drivers.
Upon what basis should
improved land management be recognised?
Forum participants concluded
that the basis for certification adopted by ALMS Ltd (ISO 14001 management
process standards combined with requirements to take account of catchment
priorities and strategies and to support biodiversity conservation) is
appropriate with the qualification that more work needs to be done to refine
ways of incorporating catchment and biodiversity considerations.
Should the recognition
system be common across industries?
Majority of forum participants
concluded that environmental certification system(s) should be implemented
across industries and other land uses.
Should the recognition
system be restricted to improved land management?
Majority of forum participants
concluded that a system or systems for recognising improved land management
should be restricted to environmental management issues and not include
other facets of property management. However forum participants also concluded
that there should be further consideration of how best to link occupational
health and safety management systems with environment management systems.
What is the plan for the
implementation of a voluntary national system to certify improved land
management?
Forum participants concluded
a voluntary land management certification system is needed now and that
an implementation plan should be developed that, amongst other things,
identifies the roles of catchment management authorities, industry organisations,
research and development corporations and other public, private and community
sector organisations and the extent and sources of funding.
The next steps
Forum participants from
a broad spectrum of organisations and backgrounds agreed on the need to
establish a voluntary Australian land management certification system.
This needs to be seen as a significant initiative requiring support from
a range of organisations and from landholders themselves.
However it should be relatively easy to implement because it is timely, it is voluntary, we know we can do it and it would have significant commercial and public benefits and broad community and political appeal.
Continuous improvement is a key feature of environment management systems and it is a feature that should be applied to the design and implementation of a voluntary national land management certification system. Given that it is proposed that the certification system be voluntary forum participants saw no reason to delay its implementation. Participants agreed that it could be adapted to take into consideration any learning that arises from experience in its early implementation.
Forum participants agreed that the system needs to be able to credibly improve environmental outcomes. This translates to the system being independently (third party) audited and, at least potentially, for it to lead to international recognition, this being one of several reasons to choose the requirement for ISO 14001 compliancy. Forum participants agreed that it should operate on a whole of farm basis and they agreed that its coverage should be restricted to certification of land management.
They not only agreed on these issues but they specified the reasons for their conclusions.
Given the forum conclusions as above it is recommended that the Australian landcare management system be accepted as the core module of a voluntary Australian land management certification system, with options being available to add to the core module by, for instance, industry organisations, catchment management authorities, other managers of environmental programs and the marketers of farm inputs and outputs.
The next step is to establish the capacity to deliver and enhance the system in consultation with the range of potential beneficiaries including land managers, catchment management authorities, marketers of farm inputs and outputs, industry organisations, research and development corporations and public sector agencies responsible for improving environmental outcomes. Whilst adoption of the certification system will require localised action it is recommended that a central unit be established to maintain and enhance the system.
The central unit would be responsible for the integrity and marketing of the certification system and for maintaining the tools necessary for its adoption. Furthermore it would be responsible for the sale of services, in particular information services, to all participants: to landholders, to catchment management authorities, to the marketers of farm inputs and outputs, to industry and community organisations, to research and development corporations and to public agencies responsible for improving land management. In turn each of these participant groups would have specified roles and particular requirements which will need to be negotiated.
The core module would require participating land managers to:
The roles and responsibilities
of participating catchment management authorities, industry organisations,
research and development corporations, marketers of farm inputs and outputs
and public sector agencies would need to be determined. However the important
point is that implementing a national land management certification system
requires leadership and funding at all spatial levels and across all sectors.
A central tenant of the operation of ALMS Ltd is that the information generated through the implementation of ALMS remains the property of the land manager. However for this asset to become a driver for improving land management the information has to be collated and retailed. This would be a key function of the central unit and for this and other reasons it is recommended that the land management certification system be owned and operated by a landholder established not-for-profit organisation similar to the existing ALMS Ltd. ALMS Ltd owns a restricted licence to use myEMS and the limited intellectual property associated with ALMS.
Finally within its limited
resources ALMS Ltd will continue to advocate the establishment of a voluntary
Australian land management certification system and, to this end, it seeks
partnerships with like minded organisations and individuals
 
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